London day 3 – Exploring!

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We set out early again today as we had another full day, although nowhere near as early as yesterday! Weather was , yet again, drizzly and miserable. So, dressed in clothing that we would be wearing at home (where it’s winter) we set off...first stop Harrods! What a HUGE store! We could have spent all day exploring it! We did find time to stop and have a coffee and strawberry tart, which was very expensive, but delicious! Our next stop was the Tower of London. We decided to pay for the audio tour and take ourselves through the tower cos there were hundreds of people in the free tour, and we were having trouble hearing. What an incredible place, full of history. Hard to believe that it’s been around for so many hundreds of years...and that people still live there! The guides that show you around live there with their families. Rach and I learnt heaps, cos we are not quite the history buffs that Keith is. Unfortunately, trying to pull all those interesting facts from our memories is proving a little difficult at the moment, but there were many...and we recommend you doing the tour yourself to learn all about it! We saw a great display of the crown jewels...very impressive jewelled swords, crowns and clothing, all adorned with beautiful diamonds...and all actually worn by Kings and Queens!

We left the Tower of London and made our way to the London Eye. We had pre-booked a ride at 2pm...not something I was looking forward to because I’m so scared of heights...even stabbing on a ladder scares me so the thought of being at the top of the London Eye was not great! We queued up (just for a change) to collect our pre-booked tickets...only to be told to join the regular queue...with the hundreds of others! The queue moved steadily, and as we got closer, I was getting closer to skipping the queue altogether and not doing the ride at all....it’s HUGE...so SO high! We eventually got into the cabin, where I sat firmly on the centre seat, holding on! Keith and Rach were excitedly going from side to side awed by all the sights, while I peered through people’s legs to catch a glimpse of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. What an amazing view...except for the grey skies of course. When we were nearly at the top, Rach insisted that I ‘let go’ of the seat and stand up for a photo opportunity...which I did, and then spent the rest of the time standing, spotting the landmarks (very proud of myself!). One of the highlights! After smiling for the camera on the way down, Keith was appalled that it was 10 pounds to buy...how terrible! He took one look at the photo, and promptly bought it!

Our camera had almost run out of battery, but we spotted a little camera booth that charged batteries in 20 mins, so we decided to have a sandwich while we waited.

Off now to Piccadilly Circus to have a wander. We went into a humongous sports store called Lillie Whites...we didn’t buy anything, but had a good look around. We found Trafalgar Square and had our photos taken by the Olympic Countdown...24 days to go! We couldn’t spend long here because we were off to celebrate Mother’s day, a bit late, but a special gift from Rach...dinner and a show!

The dinner was awesome, an Italian place highly recommended by good ole trip advisor! And they were right...the owner was a lovely little Italian who welcomed us with a smile. There were photos all over the wall of Sergio with lots of famous people. The food was delicious...yum creamy tomato and mushroom chicken for rach and I. Keith ordered steak, medium-rare...both rach and I said “ Are you sure? You always order medium-well done”, but he assured us that he was sure. His steak arrived, and he cut into it, and said...”i can’t eat this, it’s still bleeding inside”. We reminded him that he’d ordered it that way, and he said ‘’i wanted it medium-well done!” He ate around the edge of it, but left the tender, but still bleeding centre! He was also very thirsty, downing 3 bottles of beer very quickly! Fortunately his dessert made up for his ‘incorrectly cooked’ meat. He had tiramisu, a favourite of his, and one that he will be sure to order, again and again we suspect!

Off to the show...Mamma Mia! It was AWESOME! We clapped and sang and really enjoyed ourselves...what a great way to spend ‘Mothers day’. The singing and dancing was amazing, and inspired Rach to start dancing again when she gets back to Edinburgh!

So, another full, fun day in London over. We are doing so well fitting so much into each day. Loving everything...except the bloody weather!

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