Day 13 London, UK

A fantastic day exploring London with our personal tour guide, Alanna. She lives 20 mins by foot from our Air B N B and arrived at 10 30am. We used two tubes (again very helpful to have her with us! ) to get to the fabulous food market, Borough Market. The atmosphere was cool but packed with people. Alanna and I had a delicious pastry and David had fish and chips. (not so good for our waist lines but no scones yet on this trip!) . We left there on foot and walked for an hour along the Thames River all the way to Big Ben. So much to see and a very mild day and no hat even needed. After many photo stops we continued on until we came to Victoria Station (another hour) and got on the Afternoon Tea Bus Tour. What a cool experience that was- being driven all around the sights of London atop a double decker bus, while eating an amazing high tea. There was some commentary but also lots of 80s music which people were singing along to. The service was amazing and the glass of Prosecco topped it off. We all loved it. The next hour was spent roaming the streets of London, viewing the Christmas lights and the spectacular window displays of Selfridges. We then headed to Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland experience which we had booked from NZ. That was amazing- a whole theme park, rides, bars, food stalls, and fair games set up in the park for Christmas. It was massive and lots of very extreme and some tame rides. It too had a great atmosphere and everyone was out with their friends and families. The highlight for Alanna and I was going on the highest Ferris Wheel ever. We were actually in capsules and shared one with four others. The view down was amazing but too far for us to spot David waiting below! We enjoyed a cocktail in the Ice Bar and a 3D ride as well as a pork sandwich and some attempts to win prizes in the games. By 8pm we were all done and thankfully the trip back was a repeat of last night- Cental line tube and the 7 minute walk to our accomodation. Alanna is at work tomorrow so we will be making our way to Windsor Castle for the day and meeting her after work.Read more