We caught the train back to Dianne's house on the Monday morning. When we arrived she had a full house! Chirs, Desree, and their two children, Richard, Bronwyn, and their four children, Dianne, Hilmar and Phillipa, Pete, Gillian and our four children. Phew, that's 19 (and just to round it off, you could also count number 20, Bronwyn's 5th which is due in a few months) Oh and by the way, they live in a two bedroom flat!
We had bought a small cake for Dianne and we all sang to her.
Far too many people to feed lunch to, so it was off to a local carvery for lunch. We walked in and asked for a table for 19. The lady actually shouted 19??!! It was so funny! We put the kids at one table with Cheryn and Zeek in charge.
And the adults at the next table. It was a really lovely lunch and great to be with like minded South Africans again. I really enjoyed this time catching up with old friends and it made me realise how much I have missed this kind of thing. Hanging out with people you have history with is great!
Cheryn kindly offered to stay with Rachel and Corbin at the hotel while Pete, Zeek and I went to watch Mission Impossible at the Imax theatre. It was amazing to watch it on such a big screen, felt like I was there in some of the scenes. No pictures of my own though.
The next day everyone but Cheryn (she was tired and wanted to stay at the hotel) went to the Imperial War Museum. I spent most of the time either crying or fighting off tears. I don't like war. I felt exactly like this girl who for the first time finds out what humans are capable of (she is an alien by the way).
On the way there
Needless to say I was glad to get out of there. Here is the building with some massive cannons.
You can see Rachel at the base, they really were massive!
This is a piece of the Berlin Wall. I felt very fortunate to be able to walk all the way around it and not be caged in by it.
Sleeping on the tube platform during the blitz. I think I would have been frightened of being trapped down there.
This is the Natural History Museum building, I thought it was beautiful. The high ceilings inside were amazing too, not sure why I didn't get a picture of them. Only Rachel and I went there, everyone else was tired after the war museum.
When you go to the earth display - everything to do with the planet, core, plats, rocks, water etc. - you go up the escalator through this 'earth'. There is so much attention to detail here.
They have an earthquake simulator. You go into this 'grocery store' and and earthquake happens, it is only 4 on the Richter Scale, but if that was the solid ground underneath my feet and not just a large metal plate I would be terrified! It really does rock from side to side, something a boat does not the ground!
This sign says: "Pele's hair - these remarkable fibres, made of volcanic glass, are named after a Hawaiian goddess. They form as lava thrown up by a volcano, is drawn out by the wind like honey." It really does look like golden hair.
That was our last day in London. We really enjoyed it, thanks Pete for being such a diligent worker, you made this holiday possible for us.
For those of you who are not Dr Who fans, you should be! Ok, maybe it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I really love this show! I said we were going to the Dr Who Experience for the kids, but I think I actually had more fun. I felt like a child going into the Tardis, I was so excited I could hardly contain myself! It really is bigger on the inside! You are not allowed to take any photos or video footage inside the experience, so these are pictures of the exhibits before and after we went in.
Corbin likes the Cyber Men, and what is so exciting about this museum and it's exhibits, they are the actual costumes/models/props used in the TV show.
Dalek like to do this to people, they are not very nice.
This is the current Dr. (Matt Smith), well actually it's a wax model, but I'm sure you realised that.
This episode was titled: 'Family of Blood' and was quite scary. The scarecrows were not very nice either.
The silence are sleeping...
Why do I have a tally on my hand? Can't remember, oh well, can't be anything important... (if you are lost and confused, you probably will stay that way until you watch the show, sorry)
Inside the Tardis
Rachel and I did the green screen photo shoot,
We had a fabulous time. I'll definitely go back next time we are in the neighbourhood.
After our boat cruise we went back to the hotel and dropped the kids off, then Pete and I headed down the road to the Camden Markets. He had read about it and it had been recommended to me by James and Elaine. It was amazing, everything you could think of was for sale there. And the food! Think of a country and they had a food stall.
The marked consists of an old Horse Hospital, formerly used to care for horses injured pulling canal barges, and the stalls used to house the horses used for the barges. So the whole of the stables section has bronze horse statues, they are quite beautiful. I also liked the lady pillars.
We came out the tube station right next to Big Ben. I love the Houses of Parliament, the building is so beautiful!
When you go into your pod on the London Eye, they don't stop, so you have to board while it's moving, a very unnerving experience for some of the people there, and very amusing for others!
This is the queue we waited in! If you look on the left by the ice rink, behind those circular buildings,that is where the queue begins, then there is that gap in between and then the second half of the queue. It didn't feel too long though because they put about 20 in each pod, so it moves fast enough.
After the London Eye we went on a Thames River Boat Cruise, it was quite different travelling on the water through London.
