Saturday and Sunday in London

I am currently sitting in my car waiting for Penelope as she is at singing. Since it is pouring down with rain I decided it was a good opportunity to catch up on my blog. The weather has been awful! Yesterday I got back out the kids winter uniforms and coats that had been put away. A friend knocked on my car window and I ended up gong with her to the supermarket so it is now the next day and I still haven't done Sunday in London!

We caught the bus from the strand into Oxford street as we had limited time and had some serious shopping to do. The bus ride was slow but eventful as the European cup was being played at Wembly that night and London was full of Germans come to support there teams. It was the first time that a final involving two German teams has occurred outside Germany. We drove through Trafagular square and could hear singing and the crowds were huge.



We got off at Piccadily and where there was singing and great excitement from supporters. We decided to grab a quick sandwich so went to a costa cafe. As I was waiting to pay for my lunch at the counter a girl of about 7 grabbed m sandwich off my tray and ran off with it! The staff were lovely and got me a new one and we decided that she was either thought it was her tray or was just very hungry. Either way I hope she enjoyed her free sandwich! Our first stop was the beautiful department store Fortnum & Mason where we got to admire the china.

We then decided to head to Hamleys which was great but very noisy and busy even for London. I think when we come back to London with the kids we will have to set aside half a day just for Hamley's toy store! Jasper could not believe it when I came home and told him that there was a whole floor of Lego.

A chima lego display.


I got my gifts for the kids and Mum managed to get some birthday presents for grandchildren then we set off back out into the busyness!

I love London shops and enjoyed gong back to Topshop and selfridges. I managed to get myself and the girls all lovely summer dresses (which I do hope we get to use one day soon!)

By this time we were tired out and wanted to get back to our hotel to change then go to for dinner before the show. We decided we could squeeze in one last London sight so headed into the Bond Street tube station bound for green park where the New Zealand solider memorial is. Unfortunately I lost mum due to the fact that my underground pass had run out of money and mum thought I was in front of her when I was behind her stuck at the gate! After a very stressful few minutes I got my card topped up and headed through the gates hoping mum was waiting on the other side - but no. I decided that she must have carried on to Green park so jumped on and off the tube and arrived at the memorial only a few minutes after her. A good reminder that it is always a good idea to discuss your destination just in case you get lost. Due to the huge amount of football fans mum had just got swept up with the crowd and was down the escalator before she knew it without an easy way back up. Lesson learned we headed home.

Show clothes on, dinner at Cafe rouge and then to Billy Elliot we went! The show was definitely a highlight of the weekend. Such a wonderful experience to attend a west end show and the performances were all of such a high quality. Billy Elliot was wonderful and even more astounding when you think that the main performers are children! Our Billy ( there are three Billy's who share the role) was fantastic and for a boy of 12 could sing, dance and act beautifully. Everyone in the audience clapped and stood when he had preformed his solos. We headed back to the hotel very content with the day we had had.

As our flight left at 2.20pm on Sunday we decided to not travel too far away on the tube so just went one stop to Sloane square. Even though it was too early for the shops to be open we enjoyed looking in windows especially at the lovely flower displays for Chelsea.




We then headed down to Chelsea bridge for one last look at the Thames before heading back to Victoria on the bus.








Mum had booked a shuttle to take us to the airport but discovered on Sunday morning that it was full. We decided to book a taxi instead and were glad we did as it took us straight to terminal 5 with no stops. Because we had not checked in online mum and I had both been given middle seats five rows apart! Oh well at least we were on. After a lovely lunch at Wagamama we got onto our plane and headed to France. What a great weekend!


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Broughton

Getting to Broughton is never easy, so I decided to make it even more difficult by going to St Nazaire first. To get to Broughton from St Nazaire you first have to take an hour taxi trip to Nantes - glad I wasn't paying the €200 bill.

I flew with Flybe because it was a lot easier, more convenient and a 1/4 of the price plus it got there at 4pm instead of 9:30pm! The flight went via Flybe's base at Southampton, which was a bit of a non-event.  My driver - John had a sign with my name on it as I came though the arrival doors. It was a nice afternoon and a pleasant change from last time I was in Manchester as last time, there was snow on the ground.

It was great being able to talk English again - not that I could get much of a word in. John was filling me in on all the things wrong with the world and most of the problems came from London. He was getting himself all worked up so I changed the subject by announcing that my parents were from Liverpool. This did the trick nicely as he was also from Liverpool - "what are the chances ah?" with a quick friendly hit to the arm. This was to be the first of many hits to the arm as he went on about the glory days of Liverpool. Somehow we got onto the subject of the Christchurch earthquakes - surely this would stop the barrage of hits to my now numb arm, but no - I think we were now long lost Liverpool brothers and I as described what it was like being thrown out of bed at 4 in the morning by the house splitting in two it was followed by a " oh my God"- whack!

Despite the fact I now had lost the use of my right arm, John was a supper guy and very proud of the area he calls home. To prove to me that they were nothing like those bunch of nob heads down in London, he took me on a quick tour of Chester - my destination for the night.  John dropped me off at my hotel, reached for my arm and shook it ( I could no longer lift it to offer it to him) and we said our sad goodbyes.

I quickly dropped my bags off in my room and headed back out to explore Chester. John had given me a few pointers, I wanted to go to a few shops before they closed but as it was after 5pm there were only a few open, quite a contrast to France were they would not think to close until 7pm. I was really taken with Chester, I walked the wall which took me around the city taking in all the historic sites along the way. I ended my tour at a pub recommended by John and it was great, good atmosphere and a friendly publican who I could actually have a conversation with. He was a young student and was quite surprised at the answer I gave him when he asked what I had been up to today and I told him that my day started in St Nazaire!  After a couple of good pints, I walked across the road to the "Upstairs at the Grill" and had a great steak, I really wanted some NZ wine, but they only had it by the bottle, so had to settle for an Aussie red.

I had a taxi booked for 8.45 reception rang at 8.40 to let me know that he was waiting, I was ready so went down to check out "ello James" whack, yes it was John and yes I had a bruise from the day before. Luckily this trip was only about ten minutes so there were only so many hits that could he get in as we discussed the good looking hotel receptionist and how great Chester is.

The inspection at Broughton went without too much drama. I had decided to catch the train down to London, as it was cheaper, just as quick and more comfortable especially as I was travelling first class. Unfortunately the National rail service lived up to its name and there was a delay for some unknown reason so we had to go another way that added an extra 45 mins to the trip. This was going to make things pretty tight as I had to catch the underground from Euston to Victoria and then the Gatwick Express. Made it to my flight with plenty of time to spare, easyjet lived up to their name and had a easy flight back home to Toulouse.

Shopping and a show

Friday morning I headed to the airport to catch my plane to London. The flight was a bit of an adventure as we ended up being delayed due to an aircraft leaving Heathrow that had engine trouble. Heathrow ended up being closed to all departures and then not after we landed the airport was closed. We were delayed about an hour but I was very thankful to arrive and not end up getting diverted to Stansted or Gatwick - especially since I had already booked my ticket for the paddington express train.

I managed to meet up with Mum at Victoria station and we walked up the road to our hotel. Mum had been staying there for a week but had been in a single room and so we moved to a twin room. The room was tiny although I think that is pretty standard for London. The location in Victoria was great and when I go back with the family will definitely try to stay in that area. Mum had been to the Chelsea flower show the day before and caught the bus just down the road and then when we went to Billy Elliot we discovered the theatre was just on the other side of Victoria Station.

As it was raining when I arrived we decided to go the V & A museum for lunch. It is a beautiful building and we could of spent all afternoon there but mum had already been there so I had a quick look on the way to the cafe. The cafe was very noisy and busy - which is very typical of everywhere in London! We got our chicken, potatoes and veges and found a table.

From the V & A we walked in the rain up to Harrods stopping at Gap on the way for a bit of shopping. Harrods was great although very busy and the toy department was a bit of a disappointment as was quite small. I could have bought a British bull dog from the Harrods pet store for £5000 but decided to pass!

When I lived in London 15 years ago my favourite shop was Harvey Nichols so it was a bit of a treat to go back again. Mum and I decided that it was time for afternoon tea so went to the lovely but noisy cafe on the 5th floor and I had a coffee and mum had a cream tea which came with two yummy scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam - enough to share!

From Harvey nic we headed to Covent garden and when we came out of the underground it was pouring down with rain. We had a poke around all the lovely shops and sat and watched a busker for a while.

We carried on walking into leister square then ended up to Piccadilly Circus where we stumbled across a big sale in Lily whites sport store. We decided that we had better save some shopping for the rest of the weekend so headed off in search of dinner. We found a great restaurant just off leister square that served fish n chips - yah!

We awoke to blue skies on Saturday and headed out without jackets. Even though I had lived in London for two years 15 years ago I never went to St Paul's so Mum and I decided to head there. It is truly a beautiful building and after paying our entry fee of £16 we got to have a look around. We decided to head to the whispering gallery first which is where you can walk around the inside of the main dome looking down at the people in the church and whisper to each other across the empty space. I decided to brave my ever increasing fear of heights and go up to the next level. Mum had done this previously so decided to head down to look around the church. The climb was narrow but fine and I came out outside the dome.

I decided to head up to the next level although was not mentally prepared for the metal staircase that wound up inside the dome with being able to look straight down into parts of the church. I almost turned round but as it was one way I had no choice but to carry on. I eventually made it to the top and came out onto a tiny viewing area that went around the outside of the dome. The view was spectacular and worth the climb.




We then went down into the crypt which had an amazing display of plagues of people that had been involved in the church (including the organists)as well as artists. There were also memorials for soldiers that had fought in past wars as well as people that had contributed to London. The crypt gave me a real sense of the broad history of London and the church and was really worthwhile visiting.



We then wandered over the millennium bridge to the south bank.






Will post this now and write about the last little bit of our holiday tomorrow.


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