We had planned to sleep in a bit this morning, but a fire alarm malfunction at 5:50am  saw to it that we were awake much earlier than planned. After taking a while to get going, we succeeded in getting everything packed and were out of the hotel by 8:30 exploring London for the last time this holiday.

There was a very light drizzle this morning. We took the underground to South Kensington, and then followed the underground walkway, for what seemed like miles, to just up near Royal Albert Hall. Due to the early hour, the Hall wasn’t open so we wandered around it and took in all the charm of this (next time we are in London seeing a performance at Albert Hall will definately be on our to do list!) and the other buildings around it. The whole precinct seems devoted to the Arts, especially music. The King and I is currently playing at Albert Hall.

We then walked along through the edge of Kensington Gardens, onto Kensington Road and up to Knightsbridge. A short walk down Brompton road took us to Harrods. It was 9:50am when we arrived at the front doors and found a largish group of people waiting outside, it doesn’t open until 10am, a respectable hour I suppose!! After it opened we walked around inside for a while, sort of glazed over a bit at the opulence of some of the items for sale, and wondering what sort of home/manor/castle you would need to have to make the furnishing look appropriate. We eventually found our way to the food hall. We had always thought that David Jones had a good food hall, they have a lot to learn from Harrods. We bought some “sandwiches” for lunch while we were there. I got a fresh turkey baguette (made with freshly carved turkey, none of this turkey roll thanks!!), and Deb had a Lobster Club sandwich. The lobster was literally falling out of it when you tried to pick it up, yummmmmm.

We then left and got the train back to our hotel, finalised our packing and let them know we had vacated the room and got them to store our bags etc until later.

We then walked up the road to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. There were lots of people there. Deb asked a policeman where the parades came from and where would be a good place to watch it all. He suggested the island in front of the Palace where the statue of Queen Victoria is, it is elevated and you can move around a bit to see everything that’s going on. So that is what we did. It was interesting watching all the formality and ceremony of it all. At the very end of it, a very posh and regal looking car zoomed into the Palace grounds through the left gates. Deb got a couple of pictures of it. I asked a policeman who it was and he said it was the Queen. Deb was very pleased with herself.

We then walked over to Green Park, found a bench and had our lunch, very yummy and a great place to eat it, just over the road from the palace and in a beautiful park.

After lunch we walked over to St James Park, had a look around the lake (hugged a tree )  and then walked over to have a look at Clarence House and St James Palace. Both were very hard to see, high walls all around them. We walked around to the Pall Mall side and had a bit more of a look and then walked to Westminster.

On the way we walked through the parade ground for the Royal Horse Guards, down past the Ministry of defence and Downing St to Big Ben. We walked part the way across the Westminster Bridge and Deb got some great pictures of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and all the other “attractions” of the area.

Finally it was time to go back to the hotel. We got a train from Westminster Station to Victoria station and walked up to the hotel for the last time.

Its’ been lots of fun exploring London, I think we have nearly seen a complete Monopoly Board in  real life now!!!!   (I love it here, feels like home, I am going to find a cheap way to come and live in London, would love to spend a few months here, and soak up all the culture, well at least a small portion of it).

We checked out and waited in the lounge for our airport transfer, due at 4pm.

Our transfer arrived a little after 4pm and we were soon off to the airport. On the way to the airport I checked my phones, yes plural, the old one with the UK SIM and my Aust phone. I had missed a call from Linda. She left a beautiful message, we messaged Val & Vic and Cliff on the way, just to say bye, it is always great to see everyone, and it’s always so hard to say bye to everyone over here.  

We eventually got checked-in, instead of flying Qantas we were, apparently, flying BA, and our seat reservations had gone. We are still up top but  not as good seats (I am sure we will cope!!). We are in the BA lounge and I have had a shower to freshen up after the day and before the flight. Our flight leaves at 10pm and we get into Bangkok around 3pm tomorrow, a long flight and worse time zone change. Hopefully we can sleep.

We miiiissssss you tooooo Carly see you soon!!     (if we can find you!! )

Bye to all,

Us xox