Buckingham Palace
Katie on the London Eye, Ohhh how can she stand so close to the edge
Meryl on the London Eye

Me trying to be brave at the end, on the London eye

Well Today is Tuesday and we are still in London. Today we will leave Doug and Royale’s home. We are very thankful for their hospitality and letting us stay with them and their sons! We have had a great time here. We are going to go and stay with Chris and Stella Fair today. We were able to catch up with them a bit last Sunday and it was wonderful.

Yesterday we did some touristy things – we went on an open top double decker bus and did a tour of the city. It was great and I would recommend it to anyone who was coming here. We got to see a lot more than we would have by ourselves and learned lots too.

We also did the London Eye. For those of you who don’t know what that is – well it is like a VERY HUGE ferris wheel. Instead of being in little seats you are in a big pod sort of thing that can take 25 people I think! Well, I don’t like heights as you all know, but I still thought that I would be brave and go on it anyway. I got on and it wasn’t so bad I thought. Then all of a sudden I looked out and there was nothing under us and unfortunately I was not brave anymore! I told Donald that I wanted to get off but the only way down now was to finish the ride, or push the emergency button and then you could get out and walk down the stairs, (ummm I don’t think so!!!!). Ohhhhh dear. I sat on the wooden seat in the middle of the pod with my eyes shut and my hands over my eyes! My knees were like jelly. My hands were so wet and by now I actually felt like I was going to be sick! My everloving husband told me to pray and then I would be over it! Ummm My lovely daughter tried to console me but I didn’t want her to miss the opportunity to enjoy it – she isn’t scared of heights! I told her to just go and enjoy the view and that I would be alright! On our way down now and it is a bit better as I can now see all the bits of the BIG wheel we are on. I never did get off the chair until it was time to get off. Katie said, ‘Mum at least you can say you went on the London Eye’. An old man when he saw that I wasn’t covering my eyes anymore came over and asked me if I was ok now and that he has been on the London Eye a lot of times and that there had never been any trouble and it has been going for 10 years! Even that wasn’t very comforting as it has been going for 10 years so isn’t it about time for something to break!

We also had Donald’s sister with us for the day and it really was great to see her.

We also went on a boat ride on the River Thames and that was wonderful as well. There is so much history here and it is all very interesting. We got to see Buckingham Palace. The queen was in but was obviously too busy to come and say hello to us! Hehe We got to the Westminister Abbey but got there 10 minutes late. We got there at 3.40pm – not very tourist friendly hours that is for sure. But anyway even the outside was amazing. Katie was a bit disappointed as she didn’t get to see where David Livingstone grave! Ohhh well at least she got to see the building where he was buried. We saw lots of other churches and buildings as well. They are all incredible!

We got to see Big Ben up close. Wow the photos just don’t do it any justice! I don’t know what other word to use but amazing! By the way did you know that Big Ben is actually the bell and the clock is actually called the clock tower – I didn’t!

We went under the Waterloo Bridge and did you know that it was built by women. The men had all gone off to war so the women built the bridge!

We also got to see the London Bridge. Did you know that it has been rebuilt 6 times! The second time was when the nursery rhyme London Bridge is falling down was started. The Saxons would throw rocks at the Vikings that would come up the river and so they tied ropes to the bridge and pulled it down! Just some other useful little bits that I have learned while being here!