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We got off to an early start today, with bowling booked for 9.50. After our little jaunt to the bowling alley earlier this week, we got a 50% off voucher, so thought it would make a nice birthday activity. We had 3 games booked, although managed to score a cheeky forth after the bowling machine gave us another game. After bowling we headed to John Lewis for a cream tea, dropping in at the Lego shop to pick up a little set (mini Ferrari F40). Back home I opened my cards and presents which included a new watch, a Lego voucher and some Lego, and then made eggs Benedict for a late lunch. I spent some of the remaining day having some drinks, building some Lego and after a nice dinner, blew out the candles on a homemade lemon meringue pie! Happy bithday to me!

As part of our planned days out this week, we had booked tickets for Windsor Castle online so after a bit of a lie in and some breakfast, we set off. Windsor actually isn't that far away, and only took 40 mins or so to drive. We managed to find a space in the long stay car park about 10 minutes walk from the castle, and paid enough to take us through to just after 5. There was a bit of a queue to get in, but after a quick check, we again found we could skip the queue having booked online. We collected our tickets and went through security and then we were in.

We picked up the free audio guides to take us around. After a consult of the map it turned out you could visit the different parts of the castle in any order, we decided to see the state rooms first. It was all very impressive with the Waterloo room a real highlight. There was also an exhibition about the recent wedding of Harry and Megan, and their outfits from the day were out to look at including the outfits of the page boys and bridesmaids.

From the staterooms, we visited St George's Chapel, it has a pretty spectacular ceiling and is where many past members of the Royal family are buried including Charles I and Henry VIII. It was starting to get dark as we left, and after a quick snack at Starbucks, we had time for a quick wander around the town before heading home. We ended the evening at Pizza Express, using our taste card to get 241 and gift cards to pay. A pretty cheap night out really. We're going to take the decorations down tomorrow and then its my birthday on Saturday! 

Today, we headed into London town. Having bought a voucher on Groupon for a deal at 'Fatburger' in Camden, we went directly there to have lunch. We hadn't been to Camden for a long while and it was quite busy when we arrived. But it was only a short walk to the restaurant and it was decidedly quieter there, so we settled in for our burgers. The burgers were fairly good, with a good meat-bread ratio and some nice pickle additions. But the chips made it - I had Cajun curly fries and they were really crisp and spicy! Yum! We were full up pretty quickly, so we went for a gander about Camden, wandering into the market to have a mosey about. I don't think we'd been into the actual market before - at least, not for many years - but there were some interesting items on sale and a lively atmosphere. We also stood on the bridge watching a couple navigate the locks on the canal which was quite exciting!

From there we went into Wetherspoons for a tea, as it was quite cold and we needed a pick-me-up. We sat nursing hot drinks for a while and then made our way across town. It was very busy out and about - so many tourists wandering about! We ended up going to the Natural History Museum, and we had a little look at the ice-skating out the front, and the pretty lights! We then thought we'd go in - there was a couple of hours until closing - and we hadn't seen the newest addition of the blue whale skeleton hanging in the main hall. Plus, there's the dinsoaurs... 

As usual, everything was pretty awesome - the building is a work of art in itself! We wandered a bit, looking at the blue whale from all different angles, and also at a huge segment from an ancient sequoia tree, dated as 380 million years old... Pretty impressive! From there, we headed into the dinosaur exhibit, taking in all the fossils and information. It was still pretty busy everywhere and we were getting tired, so we headed out - it was closing time anyway. We looked round a bit more, taking in the lights and atmosphere, before heading to the tube and making our way home.  

Happy new year everyone. We went bowling on new year's eve but upon our arrival it turned out we had gone to the wrong place. Hollywood bowl were very good though and transferred us across rather than making us go to the correct centre. We hadn't played for ages but had a fun couple of games - I even managed a couple of strikes! We did a bit of shopping before heading back to finish off the side table that we made on Sunday. We did actually finish it on Sunday, but decided it was a bit tall so it needed a bit more work. It's our first experiment with copper pipe and uses one of the old table leaves for a top. We're pretty pleased with it really. We had steak frites for dinner which has become something of a tradition before seeing in the new year with fireworks on the TV and outside.

After a bit of a lie-in today, we headed out to National Trust Polesden Lacey. It was very busy and we were told as we queued in the car on the way in that both the main and overflow car parks were full and it was one-in-one-out. In reality, it turned out there was loads of parking (although we were directed in to a bit where it said no entry). We started with some lunch at the cafe, which, despite being very busy, seemed to be working better than most National Trust cafes we've been to and shared a cream tea and a sandwich. We decided to have a wander around the garden which was typically bare for this time of year, though we were impressed by the clever touches that included a Polesdon monopoly game that you could play and over by the bees, mini stockings as "even the bees have been caught up in the Christmas buzz".

We also got timed tickets for the house, going in for the last entry at 3. It was decorated up for a 1930s Christmas with at least one Christmas tree in each room, and an impressive tree in the entrance hall. There was lots to see including some amateur dramatics with several actors dressed up in period costume performing fictional scenes from the time period with some talk of the abdication of King Edward. We finished off our visit with a wander around the shop, before heading home for a bit of New Year bake off on the TV.