Friday, July 16, 2010

13 July 2010 London

Ok so I was up at 350am and could not get back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. So I got up and had a muesli bar and looked outside (by the way we have the largest balcony) should I have been surprised that it was overcast and freezing!?! No of course not this is a wonderful summers day in London L 21degrees Celsius oh well lucky we packed jeans and jumpers for trips (or so I thought I packed Levi’s jeans) Grr!
Anyway the boys and Iain went to pass some time in the pool and I popped on the internet to check our the timetable for the trains into London.
At about 8am we got the shuttle back to Gatwick airport and found the line up for the train tickets. Online at home (Aust) I found return tickets on the train for £54 family ticket. So when we got the return ticket and all day use on the tube, bus, and overground for £22 we were very happy. We also were very happy to get 2 coffees, 2 sausage rolls, a croissant and apricot danish for £7.50 (we could not get it for $7.50 in Aust) I mention this because many people always think (inc me) that if something costs $2 in Aust it cost £2 in UK well it doesn’t if you look in the right place. For example we were walking past Harrods and we were handed a discount for MacDonalds (Big Mac and Medium drink £1.99) Well guess what we had for lunch….
Anyway back to the train ride, Gatwick to Victoria on the normal local train is only 3 stops and 35mins from Victoria station you can walk anywhere. So we started on our way to Buckingham Palace but on the way we found the double decker tour bus and decided to take that option £86 for 48 hours of hop on hop off with running commentary. These buses take you to all the tourist attractions and when you have done the tour you just hop on and off anywhere. We only got half way through the blue tour of the city when they said Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain and I had to get off and go have a look. So not something Iain was interested in but I love Diana so I dragged him and the boys across Kensington Park to find the fountain. When we found it I saw that you are supposed to sit on the side an put your feet in the water and yes I did it (COLD!!!) Also the fountain is actually a ring of granite and not a great fan fair of a fountain, no water spraying just flowing in a circle, very pretty and child friendly (of course from Diana).
We left Diana and walked alongside the Serpentine lake back to the shops for lunch (maccas). We walked past all of the embassies and Belgrave Square. Iain took photos of , yes you guessed it all of the cars in the carparks were Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces and all those other fancy cars (Iain was in heaven). LOL.
On the bus tour so far we have seen the Ritz, the Anzac memorial, Victoria and Albert museum, Science Museum, Harrods, Burberry, Channel, Prada etc… amazing buildings, Hyde Park, Notting Hill, Kensington Palace.
After a very long day of walking we headed back to Victoria station and caught the train back to Gatwick where we purchased pasties for dinner and some fruit from Marks & Spencer (2 fruit salads for £5).
We ended up getting a taxi back to the hotel because we were so tired and the shuttle was late £16 (it ended up being someone elses taxi going to the same hotel …hehe).














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