Ye Old Country

Here we are in the Mother Country.... Our flight from New York was good, but a long day. Left the Hilton at about 5 am and didn't get to our London apartment til 11pm. The flight takes about 6 hours but then you are losing about 3 hours as well.

We had an funny incident at Heathrow when we arrived. Customs was quite smooth and fast, but our bag didn't seem to be on the carousel.......
Tim went to get some pounds and as he returned I beckoned for him to rush back. I could see a big puddle of red wine on the carousel and this caused me concern. Meanwhile, a large Middle Eastern man was complaining loudly that red wine had been spilt over his luggage. We were concerned because we had packed a bottle in our bag. Oh no, it had broken and that's why it hadn't been sent out! We just stood there, too scared to admit to it as this guy was not happy. I waited for him to go before I tentatively asked the help desk where our bag was. As usual, the computer took ages to look up our bag check and I was waiting for the man behind the desk to frown and say 'You're the one who packed a bottle of wine!!! You'll be sued!!'. Finally the computer found our bag..........it was on carousel number 5, not 8. Phew, were we relieved.....

Our apartment is in a suburban area of London, called Stepney, near the docklands. The pic of the street is the view from our window, a street that looks like something out of 'the Bill'. The apartment is roomy and newly renovated, with a kitchen. The Hungerford Arms pub is just down the road.

THere is really too much to tell and too much to show. We were clicking our cameras like real tourists and Tim got some great shots. Here I have one of Durer's rhinosaurus woodcut, over 500 years old. I've been awestrck by it for years and now i've seen it in the flesh!!! This is in the British Museum (pic of the courtyard with amazing roof) which is awe-inspiring itself. The gates are the from the Queen's front yard, amazing wrought iron and gilding.

THe elephants near the tower bridge are like the painted cow exhibition we had in Aus. Artists were invited to paint these fibreglass elephants and they've been placed all over London. There are hundreds of them! They'll be sold to raise money to save the Asian elephant...good luck......

We've been walking everywhere basically. There is something to look at around every corner and we've seen the Tower of London, Tate Modern gallery, British Museum, Trafalgar Sq, Buck Palace.

Beetroot juice!! I've just watched an article on BBC 1 that proves that taking beetroot juice gives you more stamina and lowers your blood presssure. yay