London

We got to London and the weather was beautiful, the city was still in festival mode for the Paralympics and we were greeted by a great host - Debbie, a family friend. All this added up to the fact that it was hard for us not to love London. We even got a home cooked curry on our first night!

Our first trip into town we went up on a cable car, checking out the start of time line and some cool architecture.

We went to see Buckingham palace not realizing that it was the changing of the guards. Needless to say we couldn't get a very good view of the palace or even the guards; the number of tourists was incredible!

Debbie kindly took us on a day trip out to Leeds castle in Kent. I had heard that this is one of the most beautiful castles in Europe, and it didn't diassappoint, especially because we got perfect weather. The grounds were spectacular and although the castle wasn't huge, it was still very impressive.

We watched a very impressive birds of prey show on the castle grounds and met one of the owls after the show.

There was still plenty of London to explore. We enjoyed shopping on Oxford and old Bond Street, checking out the crown jewels at the Tower of London, watching a show in West End, drinking pints in the old pubs, going round the London Eye, visiting friends in the suburbs, watching the Paralympic closing ceremony in Trafalgar square and generally just wandering the streets of this famous city. It was really fun being in the city for the Paralympics, there was a real buzz around the town and watching the ceremony/Coldplay concert on the big screen with all the Brits was better than expected; I kind of wished I knew the words to God Save the Queen to get into the spirit of it all. Overall, I think we got a pretty good feel of London in a week stay here and it is definitely a city we would visit again.

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We got to see a bit of an air show for the Paralympics

As a parting gesture Rita and Debbie, our generous hosts, took us out to the edge of Greater London for afternoon tea (or high tea). The three tiered plate of sandwiches, cakes and scones were delicious and an excellent way to cap our stay in the UK.

 

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