Lastly, London

Day 1 - The London Eye, Greenwich

We arrived in London Waterloo and found our hotel, which was right next to the London Eye, in the old County Hall.  It is a great location, so central to many of the things that we wanted to do.  We said goodbye to Shannon, who went back to her own accommodation in East Croydon and settled in to our new home for a few days. The first thing on the agenda was to go up in the London Eye, as it was so close and it was a nice day.  Because we were so close, we were able to avoid most of the long queues that can occur there and in about 5 minutes or so we were soaring at 1mph on the London Eye.  There are certainly great views over London and it is a "must do" in London.

We decided to take a boat up to Greenwich next and really enjoyed a great commentary from the cockney crew on the way up the Thames.  We were able to see many of the sights we had seen on our previous trip.  It was great to see London Bridge bascules being lifted for a sailing vessel to go through.

When we got to Greenwich, we were surprised by what a lovely place it is.  There is a lovely feeling of openness around, with a lovely "park" and all the surrounding buildings, many of which are also very interesting.  We strolled up to the main attraction, which is where the Meridian Line is and the museum with all the history associated with this.  We were fascinated to find inside a plaque commemorating 4 vessels from a fleet that had run aground on 1707.  There on the list was a G CLIST.  No photographs were allowed, so I mentioned to the guy on guard there that this might have been one of my ancestors, so he told me no photographs were allowed, but he had suddenly been called outside for 2 minutes on unexplicable, but urgent business....  So, my ancestors were probably amongst those listed as having died through poor navigation, which ultimately gave rise to the establishment of the Meridian line and the lines of latitude and longitude that are still used today... Interesting...and we got our photo.

We then wandered down to the village and had a pub lunch and wander through the local market, before checking out some of the other buildings on the green.  We were making for the Queen's House (built in the 1600 and the basis for the design of the  White House in USA), when we came across the "Painted Hall".  This was an amazing find, with a classical concert going on in this place, with highly frescoed walls and ceiling.  We were impressed and soon a lady dressed in period costume came along and gave a great story of an Irish Pirate woman who had sought an audience with Queen Elizabeth I in this very place.  Later on there was a private wedding being held in this wonderful venue.  After leaving here we walked up to the Queen's House which is filled with artwork.  We are totally saturated in this department now, so after a brief look through, we wandered back to the boat for the trip down the Thames to our hotel.

Day 3 Westminster Abbey, Covent Garden

On Sunday morning, we headed to Westminster Abbey to experience a church service in this historic place.  It was a real experience, where by chance we managed to catch "Matins" and had the full monty.  Only those attending the service were allowed in, so we bowled in and ended up sitting in the formal pews right next to the choir.  They were primo seats.  All the clergy, including the choir filed in with someone with one of those golden staff things, with the organ at full blast and us all standing.  Most of the service was sung by the choir with a sermon by the resident Canon.  It was a great experience.

We then headed up to Covent Garden on the Tube to meet Shannon and Abi  for lunch.  They were treating us as a "thank you" and it was really lovely.  We had spent some time looking at all the street performers - you could have spent most of the day looking at them.  They are "vetted" by the local council before being able to perform there and each one has a time slot allowed.  Some of them are very good.

Day 4 Buckingham Palace

As our time was drawing to a close it seemed that we picked up the pace.  No resting time now, we hit our straps with a great day.  Firstly we walked through St James Park down to the Palace to catch the changing of the guard.  It is a lovely park and finally I saw some brown squirrels. Last time we had watched the Changing of the Guard in the pouring rain and saw a very much abridged version with soldiers wearing rain ponchos and and many instruments covered up.  This time we managed to see the full ceremony and it was worth the 2 hour wait.  It was entertaining to see how some people wanted to cheat the wait for a good viewing posi and walked up and down the foot path between the crowds, but passing the main gate with cameras poised, while the Police chanted "Keep moving please!!" and forced the reluctant tourists on with the authority of the white horses they were mounted on.  It was also great to be standing right between two huge statues that were engraved on the side as being "Gifts from New Zealand"!!

After a review of an Italian art collection in the palace, we headed for the State Rooms of the Palace itself.  Wow, this was really worth it and the audio guide was excellent, with more detail if you wanted it.  It is a very impressive place and it was fantastic to be able to actually go in the rooms that the Queen entertains heads of state etc.  This one exceeded our expectations.  Really worth a visit.  It is the only working palace still in operation in the world.  Amazingly, we knew that one of Abi's friends was working at the Palace, and who should be on the security check but her!  Then on to the Royal Mews.  The State Carriages and other things here are also very impressive.  Seeing where "all the King's (Queen's) Horses are kept was also very interesting.

The remainder of our time was spent catching up with friends and relatives.

Our final impressions of London were a collection of feelings:

• We loved the way we were treated in a friendly and welcoming way, even for security checks and other government agencies who had no commercial motives
• It sometimes felt you were in a country at war, and of course you are.  The security around some of the sensitive sites is very evident and also other places you wouldn't expect.  eg, there are NO rubbish tins at ANY train stations or many around the streets any more.

Overall, we loved our time in England this trip and look forward to returning again at some stage. We now have some great friends and we look forward to maintaining these relationships.