Uk – Day 1 – London Town

We arrived at the Wynchgate B&B well ahead of the expected time of 9.30am. In fact, it was only 7.30am. Luckily for us our gracious hosts, Sabiya and Mark welcomed us. We were shown to our room which is gorgeous. It would perfect for 2 people but for us the couch gets made into the bed for the kids. Still it is much better than I’d hoped. Lots of storage space for us to unpack and place our luggage.

Nice little welcoming touches.

Best of all they quickly whipped us up some breakfast – which we totally weren’t expecting but was oh, so, appreciated – esp. the cup of tea!  The kitchen room looks into the conservatory which has been taken over by the owners rescue kitties – it was fun to watch them while we ate (I’ll be sure to take some photos later).

We then went up to our room to unpack, shower and change. I got a fright while in the shower when I discovered my left legs was all swollen with fluid. I freaked out because of having had a previous DVT (blood clot). I travelled on blood thinners and was up and down a lot on the plane but I didn’t wear a compression stocking on this leg (I always wear one on the blood clot leg). UPDATE – after a nights sleep wearing the stocking my leg is back to normal – thank goodness).

Then it was time to set off for our first day in London. We realized immediately that we weren’t dressed warmly enough but being only 9am we hoped the day would warm up.

We had a 10min walk to the tube station.

Luckily I knew in advance the tube wasn’t running the first few stops so we caught a bus to Wood Green. It took us a while to get tickets organised. Oyster (weekly) cards for Kevin and myself. Amy is just 2GBP a day and Christy is FREE!! We then headed down into the station where we quickly learned to etiquete of staying to the right so people can pass on the escalator :-).

Christy wanted to stand up and loved they should not hold on (something she’s not allowed to do on buses).

Upon arrival in Piccadilly Circus we had to hunt down a jacket for Kevin (when I packed I realized he didn’t have a comfy jacket – only a wind and padded jacket). We got him one at the Gap then set off to find the RIGHT bus. I already bought tickets for the Orignal London Bus tour as we really wanted a live guide.

It was a great tour. So wonderful seeing all the sights. Loved all the old buildings. Have never seen so many double storey buses in all my life. But BOY was it COLD!!!!

Trafalga Square…

Tower Bridge

Lots of beautiful flowers everywhere.

We had planned to get off at Buckingham Palace (mainly to see the gates since my grandfather once painted them and Christy loves that story) but it was cold and VERY busy since it was just after the changing of the guards. Glad we decided not to leave the bus as we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the gates anyway. Maybe another day.

I knew London would be busy but I was unprepared for how busy it would be. I don’t like crowds 🙁 and we misplaced Christy twice when she kept walking when we’d stopped – we’re just not used to losing sight of the kids in crowds. We decided to get off at the London Eye but first went in search of food as we were all hungry. We decided on this Chinese resturant (not what I thought our first meal in London would be). I couldn’t understand why the place was empty until we realized it wasn’t even 12pm yet. The food was as expected and warm (which was the main thing).

When we went back outside it was even colder and the line for the London Eye very long. The kids were getting cold and cranky. I was cold and tired. So we decided not to wait an hour or so in the cold and headed back for the bus. Hopefully we’ll make it again.

We spotted our first golden :-).

Back on the bus (sitting inside this time) we set off again. Amy then realized she had left her bag at lunch so we continued around and got off again near the London Eye. Christy had fallen asleep so we had to wake her.

Luckily her bag was there – complete with her money. Back on the bus we went to get our internet/phone things sorted out. That was quick and painless but we were all tired and grumpy by now and it was time to start the journey home. But first we had to find the right tube station. That accomplished we boarded the very crowded tube and when we got seats Amy promptly fell asleep. Then it was time for the bus ride (luckily the tube will be back to normal on Monday). Back in South gate we went to the local Tesco and picked up some supplies for dinner and snacks. We then got into our jammies. Kevin worked on getting the internet set up. I started writing up the blog for yesterday. The girls were asleep by 6pm, Kevin not long after, and I managed to last until 7pm.