Lethargy in London

So here it is, the final chapter of the Samara Family European vacation. We will pick up where we left off, having returned from a strenuous day visiting Oxford university and packing our bags to go to London....

Thursday morning (25th Jan) we left Nola's beautiful house in Bath to head for London. Before we left we decided to return to the pub in Bathhampton where we had dinner with Nola to take some photos as it was situated next to the canal and we had forgotten our camera the night we went there. As we approached the pub, we noticed that there was an old church across the road, and lo and behold it was flying the Australian flag! We thought that a bit odd, and decided to investigate. We approached the gates, to find that the iron posts were painted red, white and blue. The church was unlocked, so in we strolled!

What an amazing find, and one that was totally unexpected! We had stumbled across the church that Arthur Phillip had retired to upon his return from his First Fleet voyage and stint as the first Governor of New South Wales. He and his wife are both buried there, and there is a lovely chapel called the Australia Chapel which has stained glass windows with the coats of arms of each state of Australia. In addition to that, there is a list of the people who were on the first fleet, and a few other memorials and tributes. We decided to sign the guest book, and discovered that another Canberra family had been there only days before. Apparently the Australian Ambassador visits this church in October each year, close to the 11th which is the anniversary of Arthur Phillip's death, and attends a special service there. Since it was the day before Australia day, we thought we had been lucky to have this find, and it was a nice reminder of home!

We reluctantly left Bath and headed through Wiltshire for the bright lights of London. On the way we stopped at England's largest white horse at Westbury - carved into the side of the hill in 1778 and thought to be a tribute to Alfred's victory over the Danes at the battle of Ethandune in 878, it stands out for miles and is a spectacular sight. In spite of the cold weather, we climbed to the top of the hill and looked down on the horse, and spent some time watching four men trying to parasail of the side of the hill in very strong winds! It was freezing, muddy and wet, but well worth the effort.

Next stop was at Salisbury to visit Stonehenge. We went there 10 years ago, but the children could not remember it so we decided to visit again, and thoroughly enjoyed it. While we were there the sun was setting, so we took some (hopefully) spectacular photos of the sillouette of stonehenge against the sunset. Can't wait to see how the photos turn out.

Speaking of photos - we are up to about 1700 and counting. Thank goodness for digital media and the fact that we don't have to print them all, but it is nice to be able to click away without stressing about the cost of developing film!

We arrived in London at about 6.30 at the house of David Keiller (old family friend) and it was great to see him. He had dinner prepared, and we stayed up late into the night chatting. Unfortunately this back fired on us the next morning when it was time to get up and moving and make our way into the centre of London for sightseeing! Again, it was 10am before we got out of the house and on our way.

On Friday we went the the London Eye (spectacular views) and walked from there to the Houses of Parliament. Anura, Catherine and Jono walked to Thames House (home of MI5) and Whitehall while I visited the Florence Nightingale museum, which was fascinating. Then we met at Westminster Abbey and toured there - another one we had already visited but there is always something you missed the first time and it is such a beautiful building. Charles Darwin, Dr Livingstone, Sir Edward Elgar and countless Kings and Queens of England are all buried there, along with many famous poets and writers. Then we went to Madame Tussaud's to see the wax models (Jono's favourite outing so far). I had a brief encounter with Robbie Williams (fondled his hairy chest) and had my photo taken - sorry to make you jealous Jen! We were absolutely exhausted and didn't get home until about 8pm, as we stayed to see Big Ben and the London Eye lit up at night (also worth the effort).

Saturday we battled with a few public transport problems - the rail line between Red Hill (where we were staying) and London was undergoing engineering work thanks to a Landslide the previous week, and the underground district and circle lines were not operating. This meant we had a 2 hour trip to the city, which would normally only have been 45 minutes, and we didn't get there until after 12pm. We went to the Tower of London (fascinating, and Catherine's favourite) and then walked to St Paul's cathedral to meet old friends from Australia who are living/working in London for a year. Kylie and Paul have three very lively boys under 8, so it was a busy couple of hours! Unfortunately St Paul's closed their doors just as we arrived at 4pm, so we didn't get to see inside which was disappointing. Instead we walked down the Strand to Trafalgar Square, via Australia House. On the way we passed the church of St Clementine which has shrapnel marks along the walls thanks to the bombing raids on London during WW2 (remember the nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons, sing the bells of St Clemens"? That's the one...and we DID hear the bells chiming!). We then went to Buckingham Palace and back to David's...and off to a pub for a lovely dinner with him.

Sunday morning we didn't have much energy, and the rail lines were still not operating, so we decided to go for a drive in the country. We visited Runnymede - famous site of the signing of the MagnaCarta and then went on to Windsor and toured the castle there. We discovered that there are some bonuses to travelling in winter - we got to see the Queen's private apartments which are absolutely magnificent. In fact, that castle is probably the highlight of the whole UK visit. Sunday night we went to visit some relatives and had dinner with them - Marcel and Daryl, Max and Susan - it was a fantastic evening and we didn't want to leave! Finally tore ourselves away at 12.30am...

Today (Monday) we packed our bags and returned to Geneva after a delay at Gatwick airport. One more night here and we head for home. I have to say that although Catherine and Jono are desperate to get home, Anura and I are defintely not ready and would happily stay longer. Not only are we dreading returning to work and the busy everyday life we lead, there is so much here we still want to see and do. We already have lists of places to visit 'next time', and the length of the list seems to imply that there will be at least two 'next times'!

That said, it will be nice to catch up with you and bore you with our 1700+ photos, and 5 video tapes! We are also absolutely exhausted and need to come home to recover from these escapades.