Day Trip to London to visit my Cousin.

Hi all!

I know it's only been a week since I went to London last, but I went again yesterday. It all started when I got an email from my cousin, Christa, saying that she would be in London for a week. So, we planned to meet in London and spend the day walking around and seeing sights. As the day started we planned to meet at London Liverpool Street Station at 9:20 Saturday morning. As it turned out three of the major tube lines, the Circle Line, the District Line, and the Northern Line, were all closed for the day. So, due to a lot of unforeseen backtracking and train changes Christa didn't end up getting there until 10:30. Long story short the tube is really not convenient when you need it to be.

Anyway, when Christa got there we went for a morning coffee and then headed towards our first stop of the day. The first place we went was the Borough Market. The Borough Market was quite nice and we walked around for a bit and then had a mid morning snack. After leaving the market we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and visited Ripley's Believe it or Not. I found Ripley's Believe it or Not quite entertaining as we saw things like the statue of the world's tallest man in known history, Robert Wadlow, who stood at 8ft 11.1 inches. We also walked through the mirror maze and the spinning tunnel. After seeing the rest of the exhibits of the five storey tourist attraction we continued walking down the streets of London were we had lunch at a nice little chinese food place. After lunch we carried on and did a bit of shopping before checking out the nearby British Museum. We walked through the Egyptian section of the museum until closing time and then headed towards the river. We followed the river for a bit and viewed sites such as the London Eye, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament. After leaving the river area we took one of the only working tube lines, the Central Line, back to Liverpool Street. We then went for supper at a restaurant by the name of Giraffe. After supper we went back to the train station and as it was getting late into the evening we said our goodbyes and I caught my train back to Melton. I had a wonderful time with my cousin on Saturday. Thanks Christa for a great day!

Till next time,
Rocky

Another Trip to London!

Hi all you Wonderful People!

On Friday Kathleen and I went to London for another amazing weekend. We caught our train shortly after 8pm and went straight to bed as soon we got to our hostel. The next morning we took the tube to Regent's Park. We then walked through the park to the ZSL London Zoo, which was on the other side. We got to the zoo just as they were opening the gates. We spent the morning seeing such animals as piranhas, gorillas, tigers, and penguins. We then had lunch and then saw the giraffes, zebras, meerkats, and otters. After a great time at the zoo we took the tube to Covent Garden. Upon arriving we walked to the Canada Shop, but unfortunately they were all out of stock of Tim Hortons Coffee and Kraft Dinner. After leaving the shop we had supper at a little pizza place. We then headed to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane to see Shrek the Musical (Thanks Janet for the tickets!). When arriving I was amazed by just the size and beauty of the place. The show itself was absolutely extraordinary! The performers were truly amazing to watch and I would recommend going to see this show if you ever get a chance. When the musical was over we caught the tube back to our hostel.

The next morning we went to visit the Tower of London. The tower was pretty awesome to walk through. They had statues of the animals that used to live there before being moved to the London Zoo. A fact that I found fairly interesting was back when the animals were kept there they would routinely attach a chain to the polar bear's leg and let him go for a swim in the nearby river. Anyway, they also had a crown jewels exhibit showcasing the most beautiful of the crowns of former kings and queens of England. Also in the tower they had the armour of many of Englands past kings such as Henry VIII and a dragon sculpture made out of armour. After a thorough tour through the tower we went to the train station, had lunch, and then headed home. We're already half way through our year in England and it was a great way to mark it. Hopefully the second half of our time here is just as great.

Till next time,
Rocky

Winter Wonderland

It seems like it has been an age and a half since my last post. But never fear, I am back.

It snowed! It finally is starting to feel like winter. Or at least look like winter. It is only about -1 out, so not very cold. As you can tell by my lack of touque. Yesterday it snowed a little, and when I told Rocky that it had snowed he was all excited to go look, but then sadly there was only about half and inch of snow on the ground. I was informed that that "did not count as snow" and Rocky went back to sleep. Of course, today when I told him it had snowed again, he was less inclined to believe me. But it had- about 4 or 5 inches, which apparently is almost unheard of amounts of snow around here. Which means that it has been a very quiet day. The only sounds we heard when we made our snowman were some other (much smaller) children also playing in the snow.

We had a bit of trouble making our snowman (named Slim) as it wasn't quite warm enough to roll balls of snow. Luckily we found a bucket and made our snowman similarly to how one would make a sand castle. And so the day was saved.

Just as we finished up Hillary came out to see what we were up to

 Leading to a delightful snowball fight between her and Rocky.

I'm definitely glad that today is a Sunday and I therefore do not have to try to get to work. Apparently roads are closed, buses aren't running, all sorts of delightful fun stuff seem to be going on. So I am going to be sewing all day long. It should be awesome. (Check out what I'm making at kathleengkerr.blogspot.com)

Later days!

Kathleen