Third day in

Dear Friends,

we have been in the UK for three days now and enjoying the fantastic weather. I know those concepts (more than one day of fine weather) shouldn't go together, but they do from our experience! We have had a shower each afternoon for all of two minutes and haven't even got wet from it.

Day 1: Local Marlow

as described in the previous entry.



Day 2: Windsor Castle and some of the surrounding area of the town, no the Queen wasn't there so we didn't have tea, but enjoyed viewing one of her family homes, complete with wonderful art work by Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Reubens, Lawrence, a music clock which played Handel's Water Music (composed for the Royal family who lived by the Thames) and much much more. We even saw a Changing of the Sentry up close and personal. Probably heaps better than the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace as we were only four feet away from the action, and the loaded automatic rifles! The local guide advised us that most of the home guard were young servicemen who had recently completed duties in Iraq, Afghanistan etc and not to feel too sorry that they looked slightly chilly standing in one spot for a few hours.

After enjoying the afternoon at Windsor Castle we drove to Runnymede, and viewed the field by the Thames were the Magna Carta was signed. We then drove on to Henley-on-Thames, famous for the rowing regattas. We enjoyed an early evening stroll by the river and looking at the various canal boats and houses by the river. A very pretty town with a stone bridge and lovely church next to the bridge. We arrived home (as the kids now insist we call John and Nikki's) to again have a lovely family dinner and a relatively early night.



Day 3: London ( we feel like we're in a game of Monopoly)

Today we caught the train from Taplow, near Maidenhead, to Paddington Station in London. From there we used the Underground to get to Oxford Circus. We located Regent Street and walked the length of it past many wonderful shops, stopping at Hamley's Toy Store where the kids, and I, could easily have spent the entire travel budget! It has been operating for over 200 years and has 5 floors of toys and gadgets with several people employed on each level just to show off the products. Imagine being employed to draw or throw boomerangs or do magic tricks!! Eventually,we had a picnic lunch at St James Park with a view along the avenue to Buckingham Palace. We decided not to visit, as the Queen was obviously too busy yesterday to entertain us at Windsor. We then walked on past the buildings containing the powers of British government such as the cabinet rooms and 10 Dowling St, past Big Ben (which was much more beautiful than I had imagined with gold work and delicate carvings), the Houses of Parliament and Westminster, across the river to the London Eye. A huge ferris wheel type construction built for the new millenium. We enjoyed relatively good views over the city of London. London is BIG. From there we walked to Waterloo Station and caught a double decker London Bus to West Hampstead (#139 for those who are interested). We enjoyed seeing many streets and the changes from inner London, past Selfridges etc, to inner city terraces to the residential suburbs of London. We even drove across "The" Abbey Road crossing!
When we reached West Hampstead we caught another train on the Thames link to St Pancras and saw the new International rail station where you can catch the Eurostar to Paris (2.5 hours), and then walked across to King's Cross station and found platform 9 and 3/4, famous from Harry Potter stories. Then another underground train to return to Paddington for the final train home. Just the sort of travel that Andrew loves doing in Sydney and enjoyed in London too.
During the day many monopoly names where spotted, at least 15!!

Today we might take it a bit easier and stick closer to home. The jet lag has been manageable. We are getting tired early in the evening and waking early in the morning. Our feet and legs are sore but our excitement is high.