London

Wow, what a great city. I have been here before, but every time I come here I am overwhelmed by the grandeur and history of this city. Buckingham Palace, Parliament House, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey - all awe-inspiring, even in the pouring rain today. We did eventually escape indoors to the fabulous (and completely free) Science Museum. The kids really enjoy the science museums, so I can see that these will be a regular to-do list item in all the big cities.

Yesterday we went to the Tower of London - renowned for its bloody history, even with a Tower called the Bloody Tower. But I hadn't quite realised that it was the first royal residence for William the Conqueror, and had so much other interesting history (displaying my ignorance here!)

The day before was Hampton Court Palace and Ham House, and Rob and the kids have also visited Windsor Castle (I intend to go there tomorrow since I missed out the first time with other things I needed to do)

We have crammed as much as we can into the days here and we are a little travel-weary! As one of the people we met on our travels said, travelling is not a holiday, it is hard work!! All the decisions to make, the organising, the pounding of the pavement and the amount of information to absorb. Okay, I can't hear much sympathy out there from anyone for all this hard work we are doing! It's really just a prelude to say that I'm sorry we are not doing a particularly great job of keeping this up to date or e-mailing our friends with personal notes, but we are exhausted most nights!!

It's now nearly 1 am, so I must away, or I will not get to Windsor Castle tomorrow. Hope to get a few photos added tomorrow.