Rugby world cup

For the rugby world cup final we went to a bar called the Green room in Shepherds Bush. There were a lot of kiwis there and I think one Frenchie. It was an intense game and you could feel everyone getting a little down towards the end, but when the whistle blew and we won the cup everyone went crazy!

Paul's first guinness

When we won the world cup!

Houses of Parliament

We had heard about the houses of parliament tour so we thought we would go along and suss it out. It was a great tour and we got to walk in the footsteps of the Queen when she enters the House of Lords for the State Opening of parliament. We walked from the Westminster Hall, where President Obama gave a speech this year, through to the tower, following on to the House of Lords then the House of Commons. Definitely worth the money and the tour guide was very informative. Unfortunately we couldnt take pictures inside so only have a shot of the Westminster Hall where it begins.

Westminster Hall

Shot of the Big Ben

The Occupy Protest outside St Pauls Cathedral - we headed to the protest after our tour

One of the many signs around the protest site

Buckingham palace and Paul's birthday

The Buckingham Palace opens its doors for the summer period so we thought we would go there and see Kate's wedding attire and of course the palace. It was a scorcher of a day so made it a perfect day out. Unfortunately you couldn't take photos inside so we couldnt get a picture of Kate's dress but it was amazing and she is tiny! It was also Paul's birthday today, to celebrate we went out on Saturday night for dinner with friends at an american styled diner.

Lauren and I outside Buckingham Palace with the acres of lawn behind us

Buckingham Palace - spot Paul..

Another picture outside

Lauren baked Paul a delicious birthday cake

Blowing out the candles

Greenwich

Another cracker day in London so we went out to Greenwich to have a nosey around. As it was a nice day we had a little picnic on the lawn and walked around where the Greenwich observatory is. We didnt go to inside the gates to see the time line as it now costs, maybe something we will do another time.

Paul eating his healthly Marks & Spencer sandwich

Greenwich Park

View from where the Greenwich observatory is

M & M World

Aunty Di and Uncle Larry were staying with us and we wanted to show them around town a little. We headed our for an indian curry on Brick Lane which is famous for haggling down the price and scoring free drinks, naan and basically whatever you can get. Lauren was our haggler and she managed to get us two free drinks each, free popadoms, and starter and main for I think around £8 it was the bargain of the century! We then walked around town and spotted M&M world where we went in and had a look, we didnt realise how many M&M products there were!

Outside the store

All the colours you could think of!

Paul with the red London M&M

Leeds

As Aunty Di and Uncle Larry were back from there trip around Ireland and Wales we headed to Leeds to see another family member, our Great Aunty Katherine. It was lovely to meet her! We headed up there on the train which took us around 3 hours. We had lunch with Aunty Katherine and a nice cup of tea while sharing stories about the family.

Great Aunty Katerine, Aunty Di, Lauren and me

Kew gardens

As today was a nice day we thought we would go for a look around the Kew Gardens. It was really lovely with the different themed gardens, much like Hamilton Gardens only a tad bigger :) Although it did start to rain a little it was still a good day out and about.

Paul covering from the rain at the beginning of the gardens

Professional photo from the Holly Walk where there are quite a few Holly bushes

Ash on the treetop walk - the walkway is 18 metres into the tree canopy 



Pagoda which is roughly 50 metres tall



Paul by the Japanese garden