Hi girls!!! London!

After a very long all night flight from Singapore, I finally arrived at Heathrow Airport, London!  Wow, what an airport!!!   It's humungous!!!!!  Just to get from the entry gate to the customs area was about a fifteen minute walk and then I had to stand in line to go through the usual security checks etc before I could move through to the greeting area.  There waiting for me with my name displayed on a card was the driver I have booked to pick me up and take me to my hotel.....so, even though he was pushing the cart with my luggage, it was still a trek to get to the private car park where he had parked......did I mention that this place was humungous?..........I felt like I had done a walking marathon just to get to the car......thank goodness I didn't have to drive too! 

  This is just a portion of the terminal I was in and there are three!!!

Even though it was by this time only 7AM, the traffic was already beginning to back up on the M4 which is the main motorway into the city itself.

On the way to the hotel, my driver gave me a good tour of a lot of the everyday London and it was very interesting, seeing the different eras of the city by it's architecture and seeing the old along side the new where they are now expanding to make more living space.  London is now a city of 10,000,000 people and it shows.

This was my first glimps of the famous double decker red buses of London and they truly are a site to behold!

After arriving at my hotel and getting settled, I freshened up and headed for the city where I took a bus tour of the well known land marks of London.  The bus on which I travelled was on old double decker bus that had been converted to make the top open to the air and the most perfect view imaginable.  I saw the marble arched gate way to Hyde Park,

 The beautiful fountains of Trafalgar Square,

 and a whole lot of the beautiful historical buildings that have been built to replace the detroyed ones of the Great Fire of London in the 1600's.  It is amazing to think that when London was rebuilt after that disaster, they literally followed the streets as they were and did not widen them at all even though that would have been a perfect time to do it.  The most dominating building in the whole of London I think, is the glorious Cathederal by Christopher Wren.  Where ever you are, you seem to be able to glimpse that dome of that wonderous building!

  The tour on the bus finished at the famous Tower of London.  I always pictured in my mind that this building was like the castles of fairytales, you know huge high walls with turrets and battlements etc? well the reality is, even though it is a castle and the walls are high, it is not as imposing as I though but none the less amazing and capable of invoking the imagination to run wild as you put yourself in the place of the young Queen Elizabeth 1st as she was taken to the tower through the Traitors Gate on the Thames and escorted to her prison cell or the fate of her mother, Anne Bolyn who was imprisoned and beheaded by a cruel selfish King.

  To complete this day, I journeyed back to Knightbrigde and to Harrods for an exquisite afternoon tea of cucumber sandwiches and little cream cakes..........it was truly decadent and delicious!!!

  By the time I had finished, it was time to make my way back to my hotel so I decided to try the London underground!  Wow!  what a ride!!!!!  Very fast and efficient way to travel in London, and to top it off, not realising how far down the road I had to go to get to my hotel, I rode a modern, red painted double decker bus which stopped just outside the door to my hotel.  By this time it was 5.30pm.  I had had a very long exciting day and after a shower and food I headed to my bed and even though it was only 7.00pm, it was time for me to sleep!

The second day in  London, I decided to take it a bit easy so after I had breakfast and spoke to my DH and family, I headed to the underground once again and made my way into the city where I spent most of the day in the Victoria and Albert Museum checking out all the exhibits and have lunch and a cup of tea in the most amazing cafe that I have ever been to!

  And this is the entrance to the Museum.

 After an exhausting day looking at a lot of beautiful things, I headed back to the hotel via the underground and after a little nourishment, a shower and the repacking of my belongings, I was once again ready for sleep and the morning would bring with it the next leg of my journey, the USA!!!!

Love n hugs all.  Chrissy