Tired of London - Never!

On the back of Glenn and Meryl's toilet door is a poster which quotes Samuel Johnson saying 'When a Man is tired of London he is tired of life'.  Even after a long holiday we found we were not tired by London.  Indeed we were very excited to be there and we could even read the signs! We jumped on the tube and headed to Holland Park to revisit Meryl's haunts of 30 years ago. The Norwegian YWCA where she stayed looked the same and Meryl was so excited she knocked on the door and we had a little tour and saw the very room she slept in.

It is a great thrill for us colonials to wander around Buckingham Palace, St James Park, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben which we did within a couple hours of arriving, so much to see and so little time to do it.  We eventually returned to our unit in Islington after dark (which is saying something as it didn't get dark till pretty late in northern Europe).

On Monday we split up for the first time on our trip.  Meryl,  Glenn and Kathy went to Ditchling to see Meryl's great Uni friend David and his wife Yvonne. I (Kathy) thought Keith made a very poor choice after we were fed the most delicious duck roast and went on a lovely walk in the South Downs! It was lovely to catch up and Meryl, David and Yvonne did lots of reminiscing.  Keith went to Greenwich. I (Keith) saw the Maritime Museum and a variety of other places but the best was the Observatory which marks 0 meridian so you can stand in the western and eastern hemispheres.  It is very interesting.

On Tuesday we went to see the Changing of the Guard, met up with Emily Stein and had a lovely lunch in St James Park.  Keith then went to the Cabinet Wars rooms which are a fascinating insight into the operation of the Second World War by the British government.  Kathy and Emily walked to Trafalgar Square while Meryl and Glenn headed off to see their friends Johnny and Julie Marshall.  In the evening Kathy and Keith went to a performance of Mamma Mia the musical.  It was a brilliant performance by a high quality West End cast.