On the continent

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After three months of wearing fisherman pants and colourful scarves, sweaty pits a sad but constant feature (just slightly, we are ladies!) and living on only a few dollars a day we boarded the plane from Delhi to London….with just a week out from Christmas it was definatly a fun place to be headed! Arriving at Heathrow Airport, we ran out into the waiting arms (a real ‘Love Actually’ moment) of our two favourite brits’ Jodie Read and Chris Whiteman, a video camera rolling…..

We spent the next week based in Jodie’s hometown of Guildford enjoying clean sheets, tapwater that you could drink and chocolate that didn’t melt everywhere before you could eat it. We also went in and out of London catching up with loads of friends, shopping, sightseeing and getting a little overly-excited about a Winter Christmas!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE UK

Christmas Day with the Reads, definitely one of the best families in the Northern hemisphere! They spoiled us and showed us what a real postcard Christmas was all about! They made us feel so loved that any slight pang of homesickness was soon gone (Sorry Mum and Dad!)

Windsor Castle, Chris Whiteman took us here on a super-foggy and very cold day….driving was impeccable Chris! Livvy loved it for the architectural brilliance and Emma, blatantly the only existing royalist of her generation, loved it because the Queen actually lives there!...well, sometimes….

TopShop, the moment we entered this store on Oxford St, its was like the heavens opened, the stars shone brighter and we knew our lives would never be the same. Despite having no money left we managed to get a few little treats:

Justification from Emma - ‘Its my first winter Christmas and I need a new outfit for the day…and one for the day before, and the day after!’……and from Livvy - ‘Louie wants to buy me a Christmas present’…please note, Louie, the worlds ‘most amazing cat’ died 2 years ago, bless.

London was a brief but exciting time, we will return!! Boxing Day saw us on yet another plane headed to Val D’Isere in the French Alps…

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Photos

London
Quite like this artistic number from the plane window

London
Our first view of the motherland

London
With Jodie and Chris - such a treat to be met at the airport with hugs from them!

London
On the train from Jodies hometown Guildford into London

London
On the train from Jodies hometown Guildford into London

London
The London Eye, Parliament and Big Ben

London
Jodes and Em walking over the Thames

Guildford
In Guildford with Chris Jones, Chris Whiteman, Jodes and us...having a red wine at the local pub

Guildford
Picking out the Read family Christmas tree, a very important task!

London
Livvy and Anne...cute reunion!

Windsor Castle
Day trip to Windsor castle with Chris...it was soooo cold and so foggy that it took us ages to find the actual castle - apparently its behind us!

Windsor Castle
The queen mothers resting place

Windsor Castle
The castle...can you see it for the fog!

Stonehenge
Em and Jodes at a 'Little Chef', Ems standout memory of england as a 5-year-old was that she loved this place, photo taken especially for her brother!

Stonehenge
Again can't see it for the fog.

London
Art installation along the Thames

London
Art installation along the Thames

The Tate Modern
Installation of slides in the Tate Modern which we never had a chance to go on :(