Wednesday 21st July 2010 Day 39

Today is our last day together on our tour.
Michael and I are going home and Heather and Cookie are staying a few more days in London then going on to Germany. Our first stop today was Westminster Abbey. We had audio guides to use so we could go at our own pace. There are many famous people buried there. We then walked across the Thames for the last time and went past Parliament and Big Ben. We caught the train and got out at Hyde Park for another cuppa
at the lake cafe and to hopefully see more squirrels. We enjoyed the cuppa but saw no squirels.Then we went to Apsley House which had a lot of beautiful paintings and fine furniture.We then went up Wellington Arch for a final look at London. We caught the train back to get our bags and say goodbye to Wendy and Richard. We caught a very crowded train with Cookie and Heather in one carriage and Michael and I in the other. Im glad we knew where we were going as they had some of our bags. We were able to check our luggage in and then went to have tea together. We got changed and then said goodbye to Heather and Cookie which was sad. We went through security and I was putting everything away and I turned around to see Michael being frisked.He had left his Ventolin in his pocket. I tried not to laugh but it was funny.

We had a fantastic time and saw so many things and now have a lifetime of memories.Thanks Heather and Anthony for a great time.

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Day 38

Today we went to visit St. Pauls Cathedral and had a short talk before looking around for ourselves. We walked up over 200 steps to the Whispering Gallery and had great views of the cathedral. You could go even higher but we didnt.While we were at the cathedral we saw a choir which was from Sydney doing a rehearsal for a concert they were doing later. Their voices sounded amazing in the cathedral .After that we went and had a cuppa at the Crypt cafe. We left the cathedral and made our way across the Thames on the Millennium Bridge . We then walked along the Queens walk to the Tower Bridge where we were going to take the tour. You could see all around London but we didnt get to see the Bridge open up. We were never there at the right time a ship was coming in. We went to have a look at Harrods and then caught another train to see Paddington Bear at the station where we also had our tea before going back to our B and B.

Monday 19th July 2010 Day 37

Today we caught the train to Hyde Park as we were going to see The Queens Gallery and The Mews. As we were walking towards Buckingham Palace I said to Heather there were a lot of people ahead. We realised they were there for the changing of the guard. So we got there as quickly as we could and there were so many people there.We managed to see some of it but were very mindful of the crowd as the police had said that a lot of pickpockets would be there. They come especially for these events. We were glad we were in time to see it. Next we went around the corner to The Gallery and The Mews. Michael went to the Gallery and Cookie Heather and I went to the Mews. Michael enjoyed the gallery very much as we enjoyed looking at all the coaches. We walked around the streets for a while and had lunch at a corner pub. Looked at Victoria Station then made our way back through the park. Heather and I sat in the park watching the ducks,Michael did a sketch and Cookie went to a War Musuem. We then went back to the bridge pub for half price meals.