Today was a little bittersweet. We didn't get a good night's rest due to being stuck in a room where the carpets were drenched and they couldn't give us another room (but they gave us free breakfast instead) until today. And then it all started...We made our way to the Eiffel Tower to get there for opening, and along the way was approached by a Muslim dressed lady asking me to sign a petition to get help for deaf/mute children. I was happy to sign the petition, but she didn't say anything about a donation. I reluctantly handed over 5 Euro, but then told me that it was a minimum ... read more

Over the weekend, we stayed at a friend's home in Cambridge. It was nice to have a couple of home cooked meals, get some washing done and have some space! We were fortunate enough for the boys to have a huge rear garden to run around in, I think 4 toilets in the house and we had separate bedrooms (well, the boys had the same room, I was lucky to have my own!). We enjoyed a late lunch at The Orchard on Saturday afternoon lazily on the deck chairs... img=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JU3C9rXrxDA/UbY3d2eKvuI/AAAAAAA... read more

Today we drove to Edinburgh. We opted for the motorway instead of the scenic route, but still managed to see a few country towns along the way. Edinburgh is such a pretty city! I was expecting it to be dull and drab, a little working class, but the streets were filled with gorgeous buildings. Our first stop was Edinburgh Castle - home to the Scottish Royal Jewels, and a place steeped in Scottish history dating back to the St Margaret's Church built in the 13th century. We had our Scottish kilt-wearing guide, Frank, giving us plenty of information, including laughing at his own about how tight the Scots are with money (we'll come back to that later!) and their fighting heritage... e... read more

After a massive home cooked breakfast at the Falcon Inn in Painswick, we travelled through the back roads of the Cotswolds and the Midlands to the quaint Industrial Revolution town of Ironbridge. It was lovely driving through the green fields, along the high walled fences, the tight roads and being interrupted by charming villages every few miles. The only thing that broke the beauty of it all was being stuck behind slow moving vehicles, including a AA van towing a car, a couple of dairy trucks and a van towing a rather scary looking load of timber that looked like it was going to fall out onto the road. The hard thing was, that the roads were too narrow, too windy and too congested to pass them safely, so we were stuck behind them. If they ... read more

Today was a BIG day! We left our hotel at 8am and walked around the streets of London, eventually getting back by 7.15pm. So what did we do? LOTS!First we went to London Bridge. Only to find it was quite the disappointment with its flat architecture. The only good thing was that you could get a great view of Tower Bridge. It was so quiet in the city at that time of morning, and we were lucky to have the sun shi... read more