How hard is it to keep left?

Today was going to be a fairly quiet day....instead we did over 27000 steps..... Hmmmm. Firstly was Westminster Abbey always a good start to the day especially with the audioguide listening to Jeremy Irons. Have a slight issue when we realised we should have picked up our Pre paid guide books on entry but got that sorted and made it 1/2way round before our scheduled time at the new Queens Gallery. This is a brilliant addition especially as it is the gallery level and as you go round you can look down over the Abbey. Man so they pump some people through that place. After this part we continued round the rest of the Abbey saw Stephen Hawkins burial stone and managed to see the coronation chair this time which was good. Of course we exited through the gift shop. A quick trip home to sort the rest of the day and pick up the umbrellas as we left in bright sunshine in the morning and it had started to rain quite a lot. We decided Winter wonderland would be the afternoon visit so headed off to Hyde Park. Winter Wonderland has changed a lot in 6 years hardly any stalls selling Christmas decorations and instead it is full of food outlets and rides and fair ground games. As everywhere is tap and go we imagine it could be quite expensive quite easily for some. We just visited the ice garden to see the sculptures. They had a forest and mythical theme and it was awesome. We then walked to Oxford Street via Mayfair and stumbled upon Annabels gosh they decorate for Christmas. We visited John Lewis and their Christmas bauble wall was amazing. To round out the night we went to Dennis Severs House once again an awesome visit and it was decorated for Christmas. As this visit takes place in silence and by candle light stepping back into really life is always interesting as you really notice the change. Our feet are hoping tomorrow's visit to Watts Gallery involves less walking!

We are Tate Britain people

Today we had a nice slow start as we didn't need to be anywhere till midday. Before our noon talk at the Old Operating Theatre we decided to find St Dunstan in the East a ruin of a Christopher Wren Church that was bombed in the blitz. It was very cool and we were a little stunned when 3 other groups also arrived to check it out.... Who knew ruins would be popular on Sunday morning??? We then headed to the Old Operating Theatre to check out the museum before the talk on its history and operating techniques  The woman who did the talk was amazing and really passionate about the building and its history. Maree was concerned when she started by saying everyone had to sit down as people faint during the graphic parts - the graphic part was short and Maree put her fingers in her ears! Again we were amazed at the number of people attending about 30!!!!???? Next we headed to Tate Modern we are not Tate Modern people we are not cool enough and we don't want to be cool enough we are happy being Tate Britain people. But they had a very comprehensive exhibition of the work of Anni Alber's - a weaver who broke boundaries turning textiles into art. Walking over Millennium Bridge was next on the list we may have hummed the Harry Potter theme song as we did this. Just cos we had membership we went to the Tower of London to see the Chapel where Anne Boleyn is buried as it is only open certain times. As the Tower was near to closing and not that busy we saw the Crown Jewels and had a quick tour of the White Tower it was closing so many parts were off limits but did manage to see the Norman Chapel. The Tower is always gorgeous in the evening.

Do you work here????!!!!

Today accuweather didn't have its predicting hat on correctly. We had to leave the house very - for us - early to catch a train to Cambridge. It was a what were we thinking when we booked this moment but we're happy when we picked the tickets up to learn we could catch any train home. Arriving in Cambridge we found it was raining accuweather had predicted fine with rain for a couple of hours around lunch. Oh well up went the umbrellas and off we walked to find the old part of town, the colleges and the Fitzwilliam museum. Due to poor luck both Trinity and King's college were closed and we were too cheap to spend £20 on visiting St John as it was quite cold and damp. We did visit the Round church who had a very good video of the history of Cambridge and the colleges, a quick walk across a bridge to see the river and a visit to 2 colleges rounded out the morning. We saw the Corpus clock on our walk back to the Fitzwilliam where we had lunch and a wander round. As we had entered through the cafe at the side we had no idea how stunning the entrance was till we were looking around. Unfortunately the English gallery is closed at present but we did get to see The Bridesmaid by Millias which was much smaller than expected. Also saw Human Frailty by Rosa which Maree loved - no surprises there. Went through an awesome sampler exhibition titled Sampled Lives which was an added bonus. We kept getting asked questions about the museum and where things were like we worked there.... very strange especially as there were many uniformed assistants around. Have decided we prefer Oxford to Cambridge. Headed home for some dinner and then made the poor decision to visit the Lego shop. In our defence the 'live' indicate on Google said it was not busy.... it was wrong very wrong. We had to briefly queue but it was worth it the stuff they have built is amazing. Cheryl may have made purchases.

I don't know what to say

Today was a blue sky day all day so we began with a trip to Tate. The exhibition is still fantastic and since it is Tate members Christmas shopping weekend it seemed rude not to par take in 20% off purchases. We may  have bought a wee bit of stuff so much that the cashier was a bit stunned. Maree said we came from New Zealand for the exhibition and it was the reason for the holiday. The poor chap looked shocked and said I don't know what to say...  Surely we are not that strange.... A quick trip home to drop off the purchases and it off to Bexleyheath for Red House - a perfect day combination Burne Jones and Red House. Unfortunately Red House is under going some outside maintenance so had a lot of scaffolding which greatly reduced the photographic opportunities. It was our first time seeing the house decorated for Christmas and it was not quite as good as Speke. We saw some new uncovered original features and had some others pointed out so an excellent day. The gift shop had some new treasures so again would be rude to leave them there. Ventured to Earls Court for KFC for tea as the local one is closed - how rude. Tomorrow is an early start for a day in Cambridge.

Veiled urns pointy finger angels and Victoria

Today we started out late as it was wet in the morning and the plan was to visit Kensal Green cemetery but the weather improved so we headed off. Kensal Green is no Highgate it is much more open and contains large numbers of veiled urn tombstones under whelming angels and very randomly placed graves including quite new ones. It is still a working cemetery and while there we saw a horse drawn hearse leave. And boy was it windy very windy. A couple of good squirrel photos were also taken. We then headed back to the apartment for a change of footwear and headed to Kensington Palace. This is always and interesting experience and once again some bits we good but others a touch poor. Diana's dresses were still on display so enjoyed viewing them but the Victoria section of the Palace was a little disappointing we preferred the setup last time. It felt very bare this time. To round out the day we headed to the V and A after checking out the Albert Memorial still not sure it was good use of public money. At the V and A we once again struggled to find our way round trying to find certain rooms is difficult. We visited the embroidered casket, The Beasts of Dacre, and finally found the painting gallery and Rossettis The Day Dream not his best work it must be said. Popped into the Natural History to see what the entrance looks like without Dippy and the blue whale skeleton is no where near as good as Dippy. It was then home via Sainsburys tried the brussel sprout chips they are different.

Even after all this time... Always

Today was the long awaited visit to Warner Brothers for the Harry Potter studio visit. This is a very well organised and run place, even though there are a large number of people visiting it never felt crowded. The day begun with a short introduction and a wee film then we were taken to the Great Hall where the group is given about 5 minutes to enjoy it before being dispatched to the rest of the tour. From here you move through at your own pace viewing various props and stages and taking as many pictures as you want ..... We may have taken a few... maybe a lot. Every aspect of the films is covered with highlights being Dumbledores office, the Forbidden Forest the model of Hogwarts and everything Professor Snape. Halfway through we visited the cafe that sold butterbeer so it had to be tried. Better than expected but possibly doesn't have an exact flavour. We then had a look at the outside pieces and decided to live dangerously and have a butterbeer ice cream - the biggest ice cream known to man. The ice cream was nicer than the drink. It was a highly enjoyable day that well lived up to expectations but once again we exited through the gift shop without buying too much. Choosing pics for tonights blog will be difficult!.

4 gifts shops and hardly any purchases

Today was yet another grey day but for a change it turned into real rain not that thus stopped us. We began with a later start as the first stop was Buckingham Palace and a visit to the Queen's Gallery to see an exhibition based around the Russian English monarchy relationship. It said it opened at 10 and it only contemplated opening at 10 but after full security check we made it in. The Web site did a really good job of selling and possibly over sold as it was mainly portraits of various family members and went over 2.5 rooms we were a tad shocked when we realised it was over especially when they have produced a guide book that is about an inch thick. We are not bringing one home. There was also an exhibition of pictures from the Crimea war. There were a lot of people going through these exhibitions and the gift shop was doing a roaring trade. Next we headed to the Museum of London to see the refurbished Pleasure Garden especially the archeress as Maree had followed it on Instagram. This was an interesting visit as what seemed like every school in London was there some were very poorly behaved. Then we went to the Museum of the Order Of St John housed at St John Gate. We were early for the tour that you need to go on if you want to see the building so looked at displays for way too long. Our tour was a small group of 7 and we got to see both the Tudor and rebuilt Victorian parts as well as visiting the crypt under the church. Unfortunately we were unable to go into the church as it was being rewired but as the church was rebuilt in the 50's we didn't miss much. As there was still time in the day another quick Tate visit had to be done before we quickly ate pasty's at the train station - classy I know - as Cheryl headed to Bat out of Hell the stage show and Maree came home. Bat Out of Hell was awesome but the lady next to Cheryl sang quite loudly so she is now a touch deaf. Tomorrow is Harry Potter day...

exciting.