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In just on 9 hours we head home to New Zealand. It has been a great trip, lots of catching up with friends and having great experiences. We now have to climb on board a long-haul flight to Hong Kong then home to Auckland.

Homeward bound! Oh and farewell to the gorgeous puppies too - here's Leila!

Oxford

Today's day out was to Oxford, a beautiful university city only about 40 minutes away from Marlow. C.S Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien both attended university there and Charles Darwin first presented his 'Theory of Evolution" there too so it is certainly steeped in tradition and heavily laden in history.

We drove there and went straight to the Museum which is a true 'kid-friendly' museum. Everything says "PLEASE TOUCH" instead of please DON'T touch! Dylan and Abi thought it was fantastic! We spent about an hour looking at the main part of the museum then went into the section which is a huge collection from one guy - an extremely wealthy and adventurous philanthropist who went all over the world locating and collecting items from all civilizations. Equipped with torches for the darker corners, we explored ancient artefacts from every corner of the earth, including a mummy from Egypt!

We then set off on a walk (after a bite of lunch) to see more of the city. We saw the bridge of sighs (exactly the same as the one in Venice). We looked around some of the universities briefly and went through the markets, where we found a fantastic cake shop! 

Still think Oxford is the best of the university cities in the UK!

War Museum, Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey

It is a strange thing to have an Abi visit an Abbey but we did do that today! We caught the train into London for the third and final day of our London adventures, hoping off at Westminster. The kids were in awe of the sheer size of Big Ben and they looked around Parliament Houses from the outside before we hopped over to the awesome Westminster Abbey. I was slightly horrified that they charge so much to visit it, somehow having to pay to visit a church seems slightly wrong, but perhaps that's just me.

In Westminster, we did a great audio tour and there was heaps to see and read. I particularly loved the Poet's Corner, dedicated to many of my personal faves. Abi was thrilled to see a dedication to William Shakespeare and I loved Chaucer, Dylan Thomas and even Lewis Carroll. Only 2 of the poets are actually buried there but the rest have been honoured with a shrine of sorts in acknowledgement of their amazing writing and the impact they have had  in the literacy world over centuries.

We then traipsed over to the Imperial War Rooms. There were a lot of people out and about so it ended up being a long wait. The wait was definitely worth it though and again, the audio guides provided a unique and detailed look at an incredible piece of history. We were all amazed by how thick the ceilings were - up to 2m in places - to help them to be able to resist any bombings from above. It is a well-documented fact that Winston Churchill was in the War Rooms constantly throughout the war but seldom slept there. He worked from 9am until 2-3am daily, was a workhorse but had a great sense of humour and commanded an intense loyalty in those who served with him.

From there, we went across Green Park. Dylan made the comment that he had never seen a squirrel and POP hey presto! Out pop two of the cutest little squirrels, keen to eat out the hands of anyone who is keen!

After the feeding and videos, it was off to Buckingham Palace to visit the queen! The flag was flying so that shows that Liz was in! We took some photos and even attempted to make the boys in their buzby laugh but no luck.

We went into Leicester Square for the world's best ice-cream, well, my favourite - Haagen Daz! It was delicious and dreamy so when we walked 2 doors down and saw the M&M shop we were all in 7th heaven! I think that if Fishy had seen the shop, she may have just combusted on the spot. It was just M&Ms everywhere, everyhow and in everything!

All in all, an awesome day (again) in London!

Germany!

Well it has been a highly exciting and very eventful 6 days in Germany! We arrived in Munich and Barbara met us at the airport. From the moment we started hugging it was like we had never been away for 10 years. Somehow, with lifelong friends, it is possible to be apart and then when you re-enter each other's lives again the years fall away.

The left-hand side of the car for driving threw the kids a bit and they did giggle a few times about that! I (of course) attempted to get into the wrong side of the car and cross the road by looking the wrong way but Dylan and Abi set me right.

We spent the first day relaxing that evening and catching up. The next morning, Sabine, Tobi, Reine, Barbara, Tim, Max and the 3 of us set off for Neuschwanstein Castle. It is a lovely drive there for almost an hour through the countryside so the kids got to see the 'real' Germany.

We all enjoyed the tour and then went for a walk to a very old bridge where you can look back to the castle and take lovely photos. We hiked down to the car and then Barbara, Abi, Tim and I went to an old cathedral and the others headed back.

The next day we were off to Bamberg. We had a lovely slow start to the day and then it was 2 trains for 2 hours to get there. The weather had been quite cool but when we got to Bamberg we had one lovely evening of cool weather and then it was -1 the next day! We hiked for a hour up to the top hill in Bamberg and went to the fortress then went to lunch and caught the bus back to town. Dylan, Uwe and Tim hiked back in the drizzle and almost beat us back!

Easter Egg Hunt!

Today we went off to play mini-golf and then caught up with some friends while there, who took the kids and I for a cruise around Maidenhead in their Rolls-Royce. It is over 80 years old and was the most wonderful experience for the kids as we cruised in the old jalopy around the town!

We then headed off to Cholsey to spend the afternoon with our friend Selma and her kids (as well as a few of the kids' friends). We headed into the local woods and the kids were set two challenges - firstly, to gather a collection of items as a team (girls vs. boys) and then, when the girls won that challenge, the kids headed off to find the eggs we had sneakily hidden! After the egg-hunt, they set off to create a bird's nest to put all of their eggs in. The design had to be able to hold 3 chocolate eggs and withstand rigorous testing from the judges (me and Selma!)

The kids had so much fun - plenty of competition and laughter! The boys easily won the Easter nest competition and the girls were uber-organised and managed to find all of the items on the list. A successful and fun day indeed. There was a spot of backyard cricket thrown in there too which seemed to go down well with the cake and goodies.

A Day In London

We spent an awesome (but long!) day in London yesterday. Our first part of the journey was a train trip into London from Beaconsfield. We took the overground train into Marylebone Station (check the Monopoly board!) and then took the underground (Tube) ride to Baker Street (famous for Sherlock Holmes) and then on to Tower Hill. When we emerged from the train, there was the awesome sight of the the Tower Of London in front of us. I had forgotten how incredibly formidable this sight is - the tower actually looms over the hill with 2 exterior walls and an inner sanctum which known as the White Tower.

We went around the side of the entrance to get a full view of Tower Bridge which is a wonderful sight also. Years ago, I was lucky enough to be in London one day when the tower bridge actually raised up to let a tall ship through, and I have never forgotten how incredible that was.

When we got into the Tower, we went on a tour for the start and then ended up breaking away and going in to see the crown jewels. These are a little bit surreal - it is a difficult things to describe when you see the diamond that has been cut from a 3,200 carat piece of diamond. Makes my ring look tiny! There were jewels, jewels and more jewels. The photo here is from googleimages because you are not allowed to photograph inside the crown jewel vault. The doors to the vault are around 1m thick and there are guards and Beefeaters everywhere.

We went around the whole site for about 3 hours and even went to the dungeons! Then we headed over the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. After that, we headed off to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. This is a cool themed cafe where the walls come to life! Everywhere there are rainforest animals that make noises and move. Every half and hour the thunder comes and the animals roar, honk, bellow and tweet all around you. It was so cool!



By the time we arrived home we had been out for 10 hours and we were VERY tired indeed but we had had a wonderful day! 

Abi's Birthday

Well today was Abi's birthday so we made a day of it. Started by getting her nails done (very lady-like and posh!) and then we went for high tea to Danesfield House. It is a beautiful old home which is used for weddings and parties - the view is absolutely gorgeous. It is a very British home with rambling countryside all around it including the river.

Henley Pix

Here are the photos from Henley, a very beautiful old medieval town. It is set on the River Thames and the very famous rowing event called the Henley Regatta is held here every year. One year we even came to watch the balloons over Henley which was amazing (I have included a photo here for you!) The buildings are quite topsy-turvy at times with beams here and there, leaning roofs and tiny doors. They almost seem fairytale!

Today in Henley - look what I found?!

A teacher took a stroll through the deep dark wood.

A fox saw the teacher and the teacher looked good.

"Where are you going to little teacher there? Come and have lunch in my underground lair."

"That’s terribly kind of you fox, but no! I’m going to have lunch with a gruffalo."

"Where are you meeting him?"

"Here, by these rocks. And his favourite food is roasted fox."

"Roasted fox? I’m off!" fox said.

"Goodbye little teacher!" and away he sped.

On went the teacher through the deep dark wood. A squirrel saw the teacher and the teacher looked good.

"Where are you going to little teacher one? Come and have lunch in my tree that’s fun."

"That’s terribly kind of you squirrel, but no! I’m going to have lunch with a gruffalo."

"Where are you meeting him?"

"Here, by this stream. And his favourite food is squirrel ice-cream."

"Squirrel ice-cream? I’m off!" squirrel said.

"Goodbye little teacher!" and away he sped.

On went the teacher through the deep dark wood.

A mouse saw the teacher and the teacher looked good.

"Where are you going to little teacher there? Come and have lunch in my hole by the stair."

"That’s terribly kind of you mouse, but no! I’m going to have lunch with a gruffalo."

"Where are you meeting him?"

"Here, by this lake. And his favourite food is chocolate mouse cake."

"Chocolate mouse cake? I’m off!" mouse said.

"Goodbye little teacher!" and away he sped.

All was quiet in the deep dark wood.

The teacher found some chocolate and the chocolate looked good! 

Hi Room 14!

Hello Room 14! Hello from sunny spring-y England! I hope you are all having a great time and been awesome for Mrs Low and Mrs Cutler.

We are having a great time and are enjoying beautiful weather which has brought out all of the daffodils and even some tulips! England in the spring is very pretty because most of the trees are deciduous so the spring blossoms are everywhere here. The nights are very cool but the days are blue skies and lots of warm sun.

We are going to Bath and London next week. I have posted the links to these places for you so click on the words above and you can see where we are going. We are going to the Tower Of London, The War Rooms, The Tate Gallery and the Natural History and Science Museums.

I will make sure that I post lots of photos for you next week then! Work hard, have fun and keep blogging on the Room 14 blog so that I can see what YOU are doing too!

Love from Mrs R xxx

Photos!

Had to throw some photos in - we went for a lovely walk in Marlow which is on the River Thames. It has been beautiful weather - about 20degrees each day and really blue skies. Cold at night - the temperature goes down to about 5 overnight.

Anyway, we saw some swans come in to land on the river, chased a few geese and then the kids discovered a real British phonebox! They were wondering how you would text on it???

Day 3 - back to school!

Had a long day, 4 hours of driving around the English countryside. Dylan fell asleep on the way there and Abi crashed out on the way home! Must admit to wishing I could swap places by 6pm!

We went to see some coding and gaming with a Year 3&4 class in a smallish school close to Southampton. It was a great experience and fantastic to see kids controlling their own learning in such an authentic way. The teacher was relaxed and confident - clearly he has built strong relationships with all of the children in the school through being a float teacher. He teaches only ICT and releases teachers regularly to do this. The teachers seemed as happy as the students! I have some awesome ideas to bring back for Room 14!

We also went to visit the new puppy that Leanne and Alfie are adopting in 8 weeks. It was incredible to see a brand new, 16 hour old puppy. They were so cute and made little squeaking noises in search of their mum! We all got to have cuddles and are going back next week so the photos comparing how fast they grow will be cool!

Day 2 - Windsor

Hello from the sunny side of the world! I have good news everyone - I have discovered where our NZ summer went to - it headed over to England to wait for us to visit! Having had 2 glorious days of 20+ degrees and sunshine, blue sky and daffodils aplenty, I know where the good weather is!

We arrived yesterday morning just before lunchtime and came into the smoggy haze of London after circling it 4 times. There was no parking spot for the plane because we were half and hour early so we did some lovely big circles over London until someone freed up our spot! Customs and immigration was surprisingly quick so we made it back to Leanne and Alfie's place by lunchtime. Yesterday was a lovely walk to the local shops (the high street) and a late afternoon trip for coffee at the park. Dylan and Abi did pretty well with the jet-lag, but considering that Dylan only got about 8 hours sleep across 2 flights he ended up sleeping for 14 hours last night!

We managed to get to Windsor Castle today which was a great visit. The kids just loved the huge old doll's house which was originally Queen Mary's and then she gifted it on to Queen Elizabeth. I can't imagine playing with it - it's so delicate and ornate it seems criminal to imagine a child anywhere near it! Everything here is all around the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year so there was an amazing display of 60 photos depicting 60 years of her rule as monarch.

The funniest part of the day was watching Dylan around the buildings. You would think with an armory and weapons everywhere as well as suits of armour, he would be salivating over those, but no, my son couldn't get over the architecture and the buildings! He was constantly walking around the columns oohing and aaahing over the ornate decorative nature of them and dribbling over the lofted ceilings, stained glass windows, alcatraves and the chandaliers as well as the internal structures of the actual castle! As for Abi, in a typical girlie way, she oohed and aahed over the furnishing, lighting, tapestries and artwork! They both loved the castle and grounds. I was pleased to see the daffodils in full bloom everywhere we looked, the real England of my memories.

I did a visit to my old school, Cookham, and had a great catch up with the 2 staff who are still there from my time. Annie, who was the nursery nurse (like a learning assistant) in my class when I taught the new entrants is still there and recognised Dylan immediately. He and Abi got swept up in the most gorgeous of hugs about 20 times mixed with a few happy tears from Annie which was lovely. She was thrilled that we had called in to say hi and delighted to see us. The school has changed a bit since I was there but is still very much the same to look at.

Cookham is still the quaint little village that it always was, so some things never change!

On Our Way!

Well, we are sitting in the Koru Club, munching on some delectable nibbles and counting down until we depart. We leave here in 1 hour and 45 minutes and it's a 12 hour flight to Los Angeles (the home of Hollywood!) in the USA. You can look at the map of LAX, which is the airport we leave through if you click this link.

We then stopover for 4 hours and it's on for another 12 hour flight to London's Heathrow Airport. London has 4 terminals at Heathrow, 2 at Gatwick and another at Stansted - all airports that service the greater London area which is the exact same geographical size as greater Auckland (Orewa to the Bombay Hills.) In London, there are approximately 12 million people during the day, which includes tourists and those who commute by trains to the city. In the evening, London's population can drop to 6 million which shows you how many people work, travel and study there!

Anyway, in 12 hours time I will try to post from my phone and will add a photo of L.A for you. Then it will be halfway through the journey to get to England!

Oh and don't panic - I am hardly likely to get 'star struck' and wind up staying in Hollywood, although...who knows???

The Journey Begins!

Having been awarded the Shroff award this year, it is the beginning of the journey back to where I spent 10 years of my adult life, back to where my children were born, back to where I did 10 years of amazing learning and growing.

The next post on this site will be from Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where we are staying, so I have included a picture of the place! It will be guaranteed to be an amazing learning journey indeed...new memories and new experiences never to be forgotten.