Wednesday 30 December

For the first time this holiday, Belle woke us up instead of vice versa! Just before 9am 😬…but I am ok with everyone sleeping in until they are ready to get up, because I have rest times on holidays….and don’t push everyone to the point of exhaustion anymore…😇

After our cereal, toast and juice (no one is missing the full English breakfast just yet!), we wandered up to the end of the street for coffee and chocolate milk for the kids from Caffe Nero, and walked back through Green Park to Buckingham Palace. The kids loved seeing the balcony where the royals wave, and the opulence of the gates and statues. We were hoping to see the Changing of the Guard, but it is only every second day at this time of year, and not today!

   
 
Crowds were large, so it was not easy to get right up to the gate. When I edged through to be as close as possible, I discovered the guy next to me playing a game on his phone instead of looking at the palace! Photographic evidence below. There would have been more space for us if he had stepped back and played on his phone elsewhere!! 😕

  
We wandered back toward Westminster then, and stopped for a play in a little park with a view of the palace. 

  
From there we walked down to Westminster Pier to take a cruise down to Greenwich along the River Thames. I had researched cruises last night, and found a voucher for 50% off the standard price if said voucher was presented. So I took a snapshot of it, showed the ticket office, and we were soon on a hop on – hop off two hour return cruise for £3.50 each! Bargain! It left at 1pm, so we had time for Ross to grab some lunch from a nearby Tesco Express (another bargain: sandwich, bag of fruit and large soft drink or water for £3).

The cruise included commentary and took us past the Globe Theatre, Tower Bridge and Tower of London, the Shard, and many other iconic buildings and locations. We even learnt about Britain’s free trade agreement with the Dutch, and the meaning of “Dutch courage” (from the Great Plague era when the Dutch were the only ones brave enough to continue trading with England). 

   
 We alighted at Greenwich and explored the visitor centre to learn more about the history of Greenwich and the Greenwich mean line. I remember my last visit here having a photo taken at a GMT milestone, but it is now inside the Royal Observatory and costs £9 to visit, so we gave it a miss as that would have spoilt our bargain of a day! Instead we went past the Cutty Sark and visited the National Maritime Museum, where there were free exhibits and activities for the kids. And in a bizarre twist, an old business associate from Sydney in 2013 recognised me and stopped to chat. 

   
   
In another bizarre turn of events, Belle found an area in the visitors centre of dress ups! So while we dealt with Jarrod’s absence from his piano yesterday, we were able to give Belle time to play dress ups today! 

  
We ended up staying at the Maritime Museum until 3.30pm, so grabbed a coffee and wandered back down to the Pier for the 4pm boat back to Westminster. As the sun sets so early here, this cruise gave us the opportunity to see the same view as earlier but as the night lights came on. We then caught the tube back to Green Park and I took the little kids and Abi home while Ross and the boys went in search of dinner to have at home. Abi, Zac and I then had a movie night (Avatar) while Ross took the older boys to the pub across the road (!)….to watch Liverpool v Sunderland.