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!
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!
So happy for you - love Windsor! Tell Dylan I could definitely spend hours looking at the architecture too. Glad to hear you caught up with old friends.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!