A Great Day With Friends

After a very fun day at Alton Towers we jumped back in the car and drove south into London. It was late by the time we got there and we were exhausted! We had 2 free nights to use with our Priority Club card which we earned in June when we drove to Scotland and back. It was a bit of a bonus really because you could use your free nights at any of the InterContinental Hotels - so of course we tried to pick the best! We earned our free nights from staying mostly in Holiday Inns - which are pretty good really, but very basic, so it was a nice change to stay somewhere with a few little extras - soft towels, comfy beds! (We usually have it so tough don't we!!!!)

Saturday morning was an exciting morning (even though we were tired). Not only were we in London again - to see a few more of the many sights - but we were catching up with Mick's best friend Girish, and his wife Pranjali and their daughter Priya.

I hadn't seen Pranjali since Priya was born in Hobart nearly 3 years ago. They moved to Canberra soon after she was born, but Mick and Girish have caught up a few times since then and are often on the phone to each other. Girish got a job in Cambridge which started in August so we have been anxious to see them.

We met up and had breakfast with them and found a lovely quiet spot on the south side of the river opposite the Tower of London. There is still so much we haven't seen in London, and I'm sure you could come a hundred times and find something new each time. We then walked across the bridge and went into the Tower of London. It was so lovely to be chatting with old friends and watching the kids play - all with stunning views in the background!

{Priya will be 3 in November}

{Not the nicest photo of me, but the only one I got with Pranjali. Why is it you always forget to take 'formal photos' when catching up with people - so annoying!!}

We actually ended up surrounded by rather modern buildings at one point. Not sure how modern, but pretty modern compared to the stuff we see everyday!!! It took a moment to register that we were actually looking at something built after the 19 century... amazing stuff!!! lol

{Tower of London}

{Setting up for street theatre}

{Tower Bridge - NOT the London Bridge!}

{The boys with their girls!}

{Artists doing their thing - looks like a pretty good life really!}

We took the guided tour in The Tower of London, the same one I went on with Mum and Dad. It was really interesting again, and easier to understand and follow the 2nd time! Our guide, The Beef Eater was great!

The girls were funny together, Leilani & Emily both wanted to sit next to Priya! I love how she is sitting so perfectly here, she is a beautiful little girl and loved copying everything Leilani and Emily did. They all got on well together, and Pranjali was happy for her to hear lots of English because they just spent a month in India and she was worried that Priya had nearly forgotten her English being surrounded by people speaking Marathi.

On our way out of the Tower we saw the Bridge opening to let a boat through - It was quite exciting I thought!

We happened to leave the Tower at exactly the right time to see some of The Tour of Britain! (I think Mick secretly planned this!) They rode past on one of their final laps just minutes after we crossed the road!! No way near as big as the Tour de France, but some very good cyclists here - so it was pretty cool to see! As we stood and watched them come past Leilani says "Oh no, not more bikes!' It cracked us up!

After lunch we took the 'Tube' to Madame Tussauds. It was really good, and we had some fun there taking pictures, dining with the stars, dancing (well the kids did) and all those other things you do at places like this....

It was kind of strange at Madame Tussauds because some of the people looked perfect - like you really thought it was them standing there, but others looked pretty ordinary and not like them at all. I thought that most of them really needed updating because a lot of the older stars were looking really young (which I guess is how they want to stay!)

We then headed into Oxford Street Circus where we said our goodbyes because it was getting late and Girish & Pranjali were catching the train back to Cambridge. On the way Mick was pretty excited about seeing one of his dream cars - A Red Ferrari! We had such a lovely day with Girish, Pranjali and Priya and we are looking forward to seeing them again soon.

On our way back to the hotel, as night was closing in Mick took this awesome photo... I love it!

It was about 8pm and as we are walking along Leilani says 'I would really like to go on the London Eye.' We said, 'We can probably do that tomorrow if you like' (It's included on our Merlin Pass - so we can go up as many times as we like). But then she says "But I think I would like to go up at night, I have never been up the London Eye at night!" I thought it was a bit funny really - poor deprived child, never been up the London Eye at night!!! lol Anyway, we had nothing else to do so we said 'Alright Lani, lets go up the London Eye!" Spoilt I know... but we did have something to celebrate because I just found out that ST KILDA were in the grand final.... and I was pretty happy!!!!!!

Mick's shot of the Parliament Building and Big Ben from the London Eye at night! Came out pretty well because we were moving and it actually started raining a little. He said he didn't think it would come out very well without a tripod (and because we were moving) but I knew he could do it!!!!!