London!!!!

I'm writing this on our last night so I have a whole week to talk about so I'll break it into a few sections...or are they bloggettes?

I'm SO pleased we set aside 7 nights for London. it's only given us 6 days as we arrived late last sunday and although our flight tomorrow is at 4.00 we have to be at Heathrow at 1.00 and there is some serious packing to be done. We brought a spare bag but we've also purchased another suitcase..between the Hamleys visit, Bruce's model trains (!), and a few handbags of mine and a few clothes it's starting to add up. Bruce has somehow lost a T shirt but that in no way compensates!!

Anyway.. Day one in London (Monday).
We have moved sleep patterns dramatically..all through the country it was early nights and reasonably early starts. In London we very rarely have left the house before 11.00 but it's been much later nights. I'm so grateful that Michael is a great sleeper and will sleep in if he is tired.

Once we got going we headed into town to the Tower of London..something I hadn't seen last time I was here and really wanted to. There was a wee drama at payment time..nearly every attraction we go to asks UK residents if they want go 'gift aid' their admission which gives the charity extra tax back (almost the opposite of the NZ scheme for donations). Sometimes the gifters receive extra benefits i.e. One years free entry. At the Tower (and a few other London attractions) they have a published price which includes a 'voluntary' donation - but the price board doesn't have the 'base price' clearly posted. I spotted this so asked for our admission without the donation. After signing the credit card I realized they had overcharged us. She then went to reverse it...and it charged us again! The staff member and her colleague couldn't work it out..so they referred it to their supervisor who worked 'downstairs' (wherever that is). So we were walked through the entry gates and told to come back afterwards and it would all be sorted.

The Tower is certainly worth the money and had something for each one of this wee family. The history and stories for me are fascinating and I really enjoyed the medieval section. The Tower has been around since William the Conquerer and the main building was done by Edward I of our Northern Wales castles fame. There are remains of some old Roman walls on the site...nothing seems new when it came to building fortifications in Great Britain.

I also enjoyed the jewels and even Michael can tell you about Royal Orbs. There is am impressive Armoury exhibition and while this was more interesting for Michael and Bruce than me it still was worth a browse.

We were lucky enough to come across some actors telling the story of...ooops I forget now..Edward ??? mysteriously died in the tower, his wife (who was one of the characters)and son and the succession from there.

We met up with Stuart later that night for dinner and that was nice to catch up. It was pretty late coming home- around 10.30- but Michael coped really well.