Tower of London

Our day had to include the Tower of London and the Crown Jewell's. We did the usual, queued to see the amazing crowns and accessories, can you believe the size of some of those gems! We went up the bloody tower and learnt the story of the two unfortunate young princes who were murdered by suffocation. The legend of the Ravens is interesting, apparently Britain is very paranoid because it is said that if the 6 resident Ravens leave the Tower of London then Britain will fall, so they have had a wing clipped to stop them leaving, even though some do leave anyway! They keep 7 Ravens there, having one spare!

Our feet were aching by the time we had wondered round so headed for the souvenir shop and the exit. We bought two magnets in the shape of Beefeater's for our fridge. On our way to catch a bus we wondered by this crowd that were all buying London scenes on canvas, they were very good. They were selling at £20 each which we thought was a little steep for what they were, as we were walking away the seller said we could have one for £10, so we bought one. We bought a black and white canvas with Big Ben and a black cab,with a bright red double decker bus on it, looks great in our kitchen.

Admission price for adults to the Tower of London are £17

HMS Belfast

HMS Belfast is a large and powerful light cruiser and the only surviving vessel of her type to have been active during the second world war. HMS Belfast served for 32 years playing important parts in the second world war, the Korean war and carrying out peace keeping duties. The ship is now part of the Imperial War Museum and is open to visitors. You can tour the ship with an audio guide at your own pace, following the arrows. There are staff to advise and help and many of them are veteran crew. They have waxworks on the ship that show you how each room would have been. We thought this was a really good museum and we think that you don't actually have to be too interested in naval history to enjoy this attraction.

Admission prices for Adults to HMS Belfast are £12.95

Walking Around Westminster

As you can see from the photo's it was a lovely day in London. We strolled around the Houses of Parliament, debating on whether to go inside or not. The queue was pretty massive and not moving very fast so we decided to give it a miss. We will visit London again, so maybe next time. We walked over the Thames and headed towards the London Eye. Steph has been on the London Eye a couple of times and Andy wasn't too keen and again there was a huge queue. We headed off in search of HMS Belfast.

Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms

Churchill's Bedroom/ office

the red phones were for intelligence

switchboard

planning/ stratgegic/ meeting room

Churchill's dining room

Andy's favourite quote from Churchill!

The interactive table

Enigma Encoding machine

one of Churchill's uniforms

Churchill cigar

retro typing

trying to win the war

Our Anniversary - London 2009

We went to London for a long weekend at the beginning of September 2009 to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We have both said how the time has flown and we don't feel any different in our relationship than we did when we were not married, we feel this is good.

We stayed in a Travelodge hotel in Covent Garden as we had also booked tickets to see 'Thriller Live' in the West End and thought walking distance between the hotel and theatre would be a good idea. Additional plans to the weekend was to do some sight seeing as Andy hadn't visited London since he was a child, so some of the usual tourist traps were on the cards.

We spent our first day doing a lot of walking! We walked from the hotel to Trafalgar square and onto Westminster, stopping of course to take in the sights. We spent the day visiting the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War rooms, Parliament and Big Ben, HMS Belfast, the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels and Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. A very full on day and Steph had broken one of her own rules which caused some discomfort! Steph was wearing new trainers and didn't think they would rub and cause blisters, but whenever Steph has new shoes, she always rubs vaseline on potential blister areas on her feet to prevent any and it has always worked. Steph had neglected to put vaseline on this time and had pretty sore feet at the end of the day. Fortunately we stopped at a pharmacy and found a miracle cure, Compeed blister plasters, Steph recommends them highly!

Ok, so after taking in Trafalgar, we carried on towards Westminster, stopping at the gates that lead to number 10 and stopping at the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War rooms. It's a pity you can't get any closer to number 10, but oh well not much to see anyway. The war rooms are well worth a visit if you're interested in Mr Churchill and Britain during the second World War.

The museum is actually set in the underground rooms where Churchill and his staff spent most of the war. It would have been hard going for the staff as it wasn't very comfortable and quite claustrophobic in places. The museum contains all the rooms recreated as they were back then. You can see Mr Churchill's room and Mrs Churchill's room, they had separate rooms. Cabinet staff rooms, strategic and meeting rooms, intelligence rooms, etc... All containing original furniture and accessories. There is a fairly large room which contains artifacts including Churchill's clothes, honours, letters, etc... There is also an interactive table where you can touch certain eras of the war and find out information, pretty impressive.

We stayed in the Travelodge in Covent Garden, £89 a night for a double room.

The entrance fee for Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms is £14.95 per adult.

We ate our evening meal at the Loon Fung restaurant in Chinatown.

Blast Shakes Town!

Shrewsbury is normally a quiet town, so when an explosion happened yesterday morning, it was big news. It is believed that the explosion happened as a result of a gas leak in a flat. The flat was above an empty shop. The blast destroyed the building and caused damage to surrounding buildings. Fortunately there were not many people around, but unfortunately the explosion still injured 12 people, seriously injuring 2 of those. Emergency services were quick on the scene. Many roads in and out of the town have been closed. Shrewsbury residents are used to road closures though as the town has suffered from bad floods in the past. No photos as basically there isn't much to see and you can't really get that close due to the area being closed off. Best wishes for a full recovery to those injured.

Our next trip report will be about London, we visited in September 2009.

Hello 2010!

Andy's New Years Resolutions are to get fitter and not to drink beer during week nights, Steph's is also to get fitter as she put on a little weight due to lack of exercising because in 2009 Steph dislocated her knee and it has taken its time healing! We're both looking into a trip to Rwanda in 2010 and planning a joint party for our 30th's. We're doing a little decorating in our house, living room next and we have ordered a new suite. It's back to work for the both of us on 4th January after a good 11 days holiday over the Christmas period and Steph is back to her studying as well in February.

Wishing you all the very best for 2010!

Good Bye 2009

Great Christmas, one day of snow and Steph suffering from the flu on New Years Eve again! (two years in a row now!). Christmas day was spent at Steph's dad's house as it is also his birthday. Also present on Christmas Day was Steph's sister Leanne and her partner Rich, Steph's brother Dave and all the pets, Spike Chewy, Holly and Ozzy (all dogs), Molly and Noddy (two cats). New Years Eve was spent at our friend's house, Steph just about lasted until midnight!

Hope you all had a good 2009!