Day 146 - 18 Nov '23 - West Meon. We'd had a couple of drinks last night, to celebrate our arrival in England. Unfortunately, this meant I was awake at 2am with a racing heart, as my body was trying to process the alcohol. It had only been three glasses of wine, but it had been months since I'd last had any.
I managed to get back to sleep around 3:30am, and then at 5:25am, Alex and Abi were making enough noise to wake up not only Dan and I, but Su upstairs too!
"Be quiet!" Dan quickly went and told them. "I'm really disappointed in you. How selfish you are being!"
At 9:30am we got out of bed to join everyone else. Richard and Su's boys' football games had been cancelled due to the rain, so we all spent the morning chatting and playing various boardgames.
After lunch we went to the nearby park for a game of football; it had stopped raining for a bit, so was the perfect opportunity to get out in the fresh air.
"Are you joining in, Nic?" Su asked.
"No," I replied, "anything faster than a walk and I'll have an accident!"
It did start raining again, and eventually the game was called off after a few slips and a couple of injuries. After that, we drove to Winchester to see their Christmas market, which was huge!
So many stalls selling their wares - I could have spent a fortune on all the yummy foods to try. There was a Crumble Hut, where you could design your own portion of crumble, which got served with custard! Even more impressive, was they had gluten free crumble available! There was also a gluten free flapjack stall, which Abi was very excited about.
The mulled wine and Gluhwein being sold, was being cooked in vast copper buckets, served from ornately gilded carts, which was rather impressive to see.
Once we'd wandered the market, we walked past the Winchester Cathedral and down the Main Street. Their Christmas lights had just been turned on, and even though it was only 5pm and not as cold as it will get, it still felt like a proper Christmas period.
We'd ended up spending an hour at the markets, and once we'd been to the supermarket for dinner supplies, we headed home. It meant we were eating dinner at 8pm, but it had been a lovely afternoon/evening.
Day 147 - 19 Nov '23 - West Meon. I had another interrupted sleep, with a random two hours of being awake in the middle of the night. Not sure why this time...
We all enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning watching the cricket World Cup final while all the kids did some homework. After some oven pizza for lunch, we went to nearby Arlesford to play 'walking bingo'.
It was so much fun! We were split into four teams of two, with a member of our family joined with a member of Richard's and Su's family. There was quite a bit of decision making over who was in whose team, then the rules were also debated and signed!
We had 18 items to find, ranging from a sheep and a squirrel to a bell and a pair of red shoes! It was super competitive, with the kids all running ahead and apotting for the other member of their team. One of the rules was the first person to spot the item had to get it confirmed by a member of an opposing team, and once that item had been spotted, it wasn't allowed to be used by anyone else! We also had two 'wild cards' where a picture of an item was acceptable (which was quite handy when it came to finding a steam train).
We walked through some lovely countryside lanes next to a stream, and saw some gorgeous thatched cottages. There was even one that was over a stream! At one point in it's life it was a mill house.
We had a hot chocolate in a cafe in town, then headed back to the house, where the kids all played Minecraft together, and us adults chilled out.
A roast vege dinner with Yorkshire puddings rounded out a very enjoyable Sunday with friends.
Day 148 - 20 Nov '23 - London sightseeing, day one. Our alarm was set for the first time in a long time, but I was already awake. (I woke up around 2.30am, and never got back to sleep, for some unknown and godforsaken reason). We left the house at 8:15am, and drove an hour-and-a-half to the town of Richmond, where we parked our car and hopped on the train.
Believe it or not, this was a quicker and cheaper option than getting a nearby train all the way into London, or staying in a semi-decent place in (or nearer to) the city. The return trip on the train would have cost us £127.80 for the four of us, and taken the same length of time as driving.
"Alex," Dan whispered to him while in line for a train ticket, "if anyone asks, you're 10."
Our first, and as it turned out, only, stop for the day, was the Natural History Museum. It was a fabulously ornate and old building, that housed a blue whale skeleton (among other things).
Unfortunately for us, Drumheller had spoiled dinosaurs for us; even though they were still incredible to look at, Alex and Abi got more enjoyment out of the animatronic T. Rex wearing Christmas attire!
Quite a few of the exhibits were sadly damaged by historic lighting practices (a giant panda was white and cream, for example), and some of them also looked quite tired. I imagine, however, replacing the items must come with a decent price tag.
We left the museum at lunchtime, and grabbed a burger from a place called Honest. We had to queue outside the shop for about 15-20 minutes before we could in, which was a new experience for us all!
After lunch, we went back to the museum to see a little bit more. We only had a couple of hours before we had to head home, so we postponed our original plan of going to the science museum or Harrod's until tomorrow.
The building itself was beautiful, with incredible architecture - there were animals all around the inside on the stone walls: snakes, birds, sea creatures, and even monkeys!
By the time we got back to our car at 4:20pm it was getting dark. We made a quick stop at a supermarket to buy some supplies for dinner, and I treated the kids to Angel Delight (a quick-whip mousse-like desert) and myself to Soreen Malt Loaf (yummy), both of which I last ate about 20 years ago!
Day 149 - 21 Nov '23 - London, day two. I had a better sleep (only stayed awake from 2-3am) and didn't feel like getting up, but up I got.
We again drove to Richmond to get the train; today's visit was to the Science Museum, which was right beside the Natural History Museum.
It had five floors of exhibits, ranging from the earliest steam locomotive, known as Puffing Billy, right through to the Apollo 10 landing module.
The kids had heaps of fun in a section full of household equipment through the ages, and even got to play Pong. I recognised an old upright Hoover that we had growing up, as well as a Betamax video recorder, and a Sinclair ZX Spectrum games computer.
After the science museum, we walked up the road to Harrod's of Knightsbridge.
It's a whole different kind of shop! Everyone walking around the upper floors was in some form of designer clothing. Most of the clothes didn't have price tags, but I did spot a party dress that would have fitted Abi for just £275...
On the ground floor, we walked through the chocolate shop and were gobsmacked at the prices - there were some half-balls of chocolates about the size of a 20c coin that were going for £2.50! There was also a delectable sounding snowman (mango, pineapple compote, passionfruit mousse, meringue and coconut daquoise) going for a mere £9!!
It's a cleverly designed store, with lots of little areas joined together with few windows, and no signs for an exit. You get lost trying to find anything!
We again stopped in at the supermarket on the way home to buy a few items to contribute to dinner; we're super conscious of making sure we're not eating them out of house and home, as it's pretty difficult to fill Alex these days.
On the way home I spotted the first Christmas tree in people's living room windows! It is a very Bristish thing, putting the Christmas tree in the middle of the window facing the road, and looking for them on car rides was a game I remember playing as a child.
Day 150 - 22 Nov '23 - London, day three. We were away slightly earlier today, as we had to get to Buckingham Palace in time for the changing of the guards. Strange as it may seem, they don't wait for tourists, and tend to run on time!
I had looked online for the best viewing spot, and therefore we went to the Wellington Barracks instead of standing outside the palace gates, where people were fox or six rows deep.
The band started their practice with the A-Team theme tune, which was cool to hear, and we only had to wait 10-15 minutes for them to lead the march of the new guard to the palace.
They were all wearing their grey winter coats, so they weren't as vibrant as the typical British red, but still impressive to watch.
We then crossed St James Park (where we saw some pale pink pelicans), and grabbed a spot on The Mall to watch the cavalry ride past, and then the old guard march to St James Palace.
We were also very lucky to see the South Korean prime minister and his colleagues, go screaming past on their police-escorted route into Buckingham Palace.
We then walked the length of The Mall to Trafalgar Square, where we sat and ate some lunch. It was 10°C but the wind was blowing, and it felt more like -4000°C. The concrete benches we were sitting on were definitely bum-numbing!
After lunch, we walked across one of the many bridges over the Thames, past the London Eye, then back across Westminster Bridge, past Big Ben, and onwards to Westminster Abbey.
Inside the abbey was astounding. It was quite surreal to think we were standing in the same place that the current King was recently coronated, as well as all the other kings and queens through the centuries.
The age of everything is incredible. "Please don't touch this 13th century wall" read one of the signs. There's graffiti from the 1700s and up. The tombs of kings and queens dotted around the place were also amazing to see. Queen Elizabeth I is entombed on top of her half-sister Queen Mary I. Mary Queen of Scots was also there, as was King Henry III who died in 1272! (Incidentally, his tomb used to be covered in golden mosaic tiles, but worshippers over the years had slowly taken bits away).
The tomb of the unknown warrior was surrounded by poppies, and had a wreath laid by the South Korean prime minister. Directly in front, the first one in the cathedral, was the tomb of Winston Churchill.
In Poet's Corner, it had the likes of Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Geoffrey Chaucer, the oldest writer enshrined. On the other side, Stephen Hawking had been given the honour of being entombed in Westminster.
We paid for an additional trip upstairs to the Queen's Jubliee Galleries - what an incredible view! We got to look back down the length of the cathedral, and could also see into the private area where the King was taken during his coronation.
And of course, that was the place that Alex dropped his audio tour headphones over the banister - they landed right on top of one of the pillars in the private room. Not retrievable in the slightest.
"HOW ON EARTH DID YOU DO THAT???!!!" Dan and I hissed.
"They fell off!"
"THEY CAN'T JUST FALL OFF! They're on your head! They're plugged in! How did the cable come out and then go up and over the bannister? Oh my god, what do we do?"
"I don't know."
So, in THE house of god, we just walked quickly away. Who knows if and when they will ever be spotted. I'm sure they will at some point...
Up in the galleries were the funeral effigies of kings and queens dating back hundreds of years, a massive stunning painting of Queen Elizabeth II, a chair with graffitied names carved into it that had some dated at 1784, and some stained glass windows from the original abbey, dated about 1250.
It was only after taking this photo that I saw the sign saying "no photography in the gallery". Oops!
When it came time to hand back our audio guide equipment, we avoided any embarrassing questions, as the guard had his arms full and was chatting to a colleague. We quickly dumped our seven-out-of-eight pieces of equipment in their boxes and left at a moderate pace. Phew! No judgement from them, just the man up high...
Westminster Abbey was a fantastic place to go and look around, and well worth the ticket price. It truly was awe-some.
Day 151 - 23 Nov '23 - London, day four. Today we went to our 'big ticket' sightseeing spot, the Tower of London. Su had told us about a National Rail promotion, whereby if you bought a train ticket to anywhere, you could qualify for a two-for-one voucher to certain attractions, of which the Tower was one.
One the journey into Richmond, I went online to try and find the shortest train journey to buy two tickets for (the discount was only on adult tickets).
"I've found one for Richmond to Kew Gardens. They'll cost £6.20 for both."
"Is it a train station or a subway station?"
"I think it's a train station because it's got the railway logo."
"Okay, well you should buy them."
"I'm not sure through. I can't tell if it's a train or subway. It's just got the same logo."
"Just buy them."
"I think I should wait and buy the tickets at the station."
"No, just buy them."
I bought the tickets, and we felt very pleased with ourselves. The adult ticket to the Tower was £33.60, so this ticket just save us a whole lot of money.
"No!" Dan suddenly said when he looked at the email. "It's an underground ticket Nic!"
"I SAID we should wait! I'm blaming this solely on you!"
We got to the Richmond train station, and stood in front of the ticket machine, trying to work out which ticket to buy.
"Why don't you go and ask the ticket attendant?" I asked.
"No."
"Well, I'm going to ask."
At the ticket desk, I asked the attendant for the name of the closest train station (not subway station) to Richmond. I then went back and told Dan, who then bought two single adult tickets to North Sheen, at a cost of £7.
Feeling rather pleased with ourselves (again), we then spent 10 minutes of our subway journey trying to buy the two-for-one ticket and use the voucher. No matter what we did, or how many different ways we tried, we couldn't work out how to input our voucher.
"I don't think it's going to work," I said. "The terms and conditions say the voucher MUST be printed, and we don't have a printer."
"Well, that's not going to work, is it."
"Oh wait, hang on, it said because some attractions can be booked online then the voucher doesn't need printed."
"Okay, so we keep trying to book the ticket?"
"Yes. Em, no. Another part says the ticket has to be one that goes to London or closest to the attraction."
"On no!" Dan agreed.
"I should probably have asked what the closest station was to the Tower, not to Richmond!"
"So we just suck up the £13 we've just spent..."
"...and buy the tickets when we get there."
When we got to the Tower of London ticket counter, I said we should still try to use the train tickets to get the discount; worst they could say was 'no'.
And we were very soon feeling very pleased with ourselves for the third time, when the man behind the counter not only said the tickets were fine, but let me email the voucher to their office for them to print! They must get loads of tourists in the same situation - travelling around and not bringing a printer with them in their suitcases!
The Tower of London is a great piece of history. The central White Tower (which gives the castle its name) was built in 1078, with the inner wall built around 1189 under the reign of Richard I, and the outer wall around 1285 under Edward I.
While we were up on the battlements, we were fortunate to see the Tower Bridge lifting. I'd already found out what times the bridge was lifting today, but we were lucky to be standing where we were to see it.
After watching the bridge, we carried on around the Tower grounds to go to the Crown Jewels exhibition. They really are a sight to be seen! I can remember the thrill of seeing them as a child, and taking my own kids to see them was pretty special. We weren't able to take pictures, but I'm pretty sure most people on the planet have seen them online or in papers.
After the Crown Jewels, we went to the rooms and towers where prisoners were kept. It was crazy reading the carved graffiti of prisoners; lamenting their fates, writing poetry or biblical verses, carving their family crests, or just their names.
Some famous prisoners were Sir Walter Raleigh, Anne Boleyn, Guy Fawkes, and the not-yet Queen Elizabeth I. There were also two young princes who were locked away and never seen or heard from again - many, many years later, two skeletons of children were found in a wall...
We saw the same King's guards dotted around
We went to the armoury to see a selection of weapons and armour. There was an impressive full set of King Henry VIII's armour, including that of his horse, as well as his jousting armour, and one with a rather enlarged codpiece!
We then went to the torture room, where we saw a rack, some manacles, and something known as a Scavenger's Daughter; this was an iron shape that you were folded into and then it was tightened until blood would apparently come out of your ears and nose. Even the Jesuit priests of the day felt this particular method of torture was inhuman!
Our next site to visit was Tower Bridge.
We climbed the steps to the top of the bridge and walked to the other side, at times walking over their glass panelled floor - now THAT was a tad unnerving! Way, way below us was the bridge, with cehicles and pedestrians making their way across, and further below them, the boats on the river!
On the other side of the bridge we got to go into the engine room. The two massive flywheels of the old steam engine were very impressive, not only for their size but for their painting! There is absolutely zero reason to decorate a piece of machinery, but they looked beautiful.
We were home just with Finley until 7:30pm, as Su had taken Haddy to football. Poor Rich didn't get home from work until after 10pm!
Day 152 - 24 Nov '23 - London day five. Today's first activity was Madame Tussaud's, the famous wax works museum. We bought the two-for-one tickets online, and also bought our train tickets, before we'd left Richmond - organised!!
We had to take a couple of different trains to get there, so we finally got to experience the labyrinth that is the London Underground.
We got I n the queue for the museum with only five minutes to wait, which was great. A man came round to scan our tickets while we were waiting, but didn't ask for our train tickets!
"Bugger!" I said. "That was £20 we spent we didn't need to!"
"Oh well," replied Dan. "They might have checked. We've still made a good saving."
The adult tickets were £37 and the kids were £32, but you couldn't buy two-for-one kids tickets. So we bought four adult tickets and only paid for two, and once we'd taken away the train tickets, still saved about £50!
The models were phenomenal. The detail on them is incredible. We'd watched a documentary on the wax works and were amazed to learn that each strand of hair is plugged in individually!
We were surprised to discover lots of the stars were shorter than we expected. Even Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was smaller than we thought he'd be.
There were so many amazing models, but I think my favourite would be the King and Queen. I didn't get up close to them, but even from a distance, they looked so real!
Dan's favourite was Sir David Attenborough, whom the kids stood next to. No detail has been spared, even down to creases on their clothes.
We went through the 'dungeons' area, with Abi clinging to my arm and crying into her jacket. There wasn't anything scary to see as such, as the models were just of some serial killers (one was a man sitting on a chair reading the paper, but he'd killed people and stuffed them in the walls). Despite my repeated assurance there wasn't anything scary to see, the screams and other sounds coming over the speakers was too much for her.
After that, we went through a selection of Avengers models, watched a 3D video of the Avengers fighting, then walked through a Star Wars section, and then got to sit on a theme park style ride through the history of London!
We all had lots of fun, and marvelled at the talent of the artists who make the models - an incredible skill!
We grabbed some lunch from a nearby Tesco Express, and ate it in Regent Park. We've been eating their lunches all week, and are loving them! They have a meal deal for just £3.40, that is a main, a snack, and a drink. What a bargain! I have been seriously enjoying my coronation chicken sandwiches (even Alex has said they're yummy), and have been indulging in childhood favourites of prawn cocktail Skips, cheese Quavers, and Wotsits, while chasing them down with IrnBru!
After our finger-freezing lunch, we hopped back on the subway to visit King's Cross Station and see platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame. The station looked very impressive in its size and age, with the trains coming into the middle of the station floor under a huge domed ceiling. Off to the side, a huge cross-hatched ceiling covered an atrium of shops, and had a large Christmas tree in the middle.
The 9 3/4 platform was a bit of a have though. The infamous 'trolley through the wall' had a MASSIVE queue, that we reckoned would take at least an hour to get through, just for you to take a picture holding the trolley handle!
We abandoned that plan, and got back on the subway to go to Camden Markets. We didn't spend too long here, but did walk around and admired their oversized Christmas decorations and another huge tree.
We went to a local bank to change our £10 notes into current ones - it seemed the notes we had in the drawer at home and brought with us, had been replaced and were no longer accepted!
After this, Dan was done. We didn't really have much else to do other than wander around, so we headed back to West Meon. There was still an awful lot of things to see in London, but I think we'd done a pretty good job in five days, especially when we spent four hours of travelling to and from each day.
We had an enjoyable evening with Rich and Su, sitting around the table drinking wine and not solving any of life's problems, and hit the hay just after midnight. A great way to end the week!
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