mybigadventures.com

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! 

We had booked tickets to visit St Paul's cathedral today, so, after a cheeky Eggs Benedict for breakfast, we set off for the station. It was an easy journey on the Met line, getting off at Barbican and then walking for about 10 mins. When we arrived, we were a little concerned by the snaking queue, but Ben joined the queue while I went to check out the business with tickets and lo and behold, we could skip it! We pretty much went straight in and wandered from there, looking at all the churchy decor and then we embarked on the journey upward... And it was quite a journey! About 259 steps upwards and it got steadily narrower and higher. We stopped first at the 'whispering gallery', then up to the 'Stone gallery', ending up on the 'Golden gallery' and looking out at the spectacular views across the city. 

From there, we went right into the depths of the cathedral, into the crypt, where we had a very welcome cup of tea in the cafe. Then we drifted into the crypt, admiring all the tombs of famous people - Wellington, Nelson, Wren, Turner et al. Quite a celebratory gathering! We then had a little wander in the area surrounding the cathedral, up towards the Millenium Bridge, and Ben took lots of photos of the buildings as the light was lovely - gathering darkness but with sunlight beaming through. 

To make the most of the afternoon, we went to visit the Museum of London, having passed it on our way in to town earlier. And it was free entry! And a surprising tardis of a museum, with room after room of exhibits! We drifted around for a while before heading home on the Met line, stopping at Sainsburys for a few essentials for our turkey pie dinner!  

We've been trying to make the most of the rest of the school holidays before September rolls around so have made a couple more trips out. We visited Buckingham Palace in the first week of September last year, and if you sign the back and keep the tickets, you can revisit as many times as you like within the year. It suggests on the website to book in advance but we thought we'd wing it, and, in a worse case scenario, get tickets for another day. Dani had found some city walks on the TFL website (tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/top-walking-routes) which looked good so either way we had a plan. As it happened, when we got to the palace we were given tickets for about an hour later, so we decided to wait. 

This time, there was an exhibition celebrating the Queen at 90, so several of the state rooms were set out differently to last year. There were 3 rooms showcasing some of the Queen's many outfits including christening, wedding and coronation dresses, in addition to outfits from several foreign tours. For each outfit, with matching hat, there was a short description of where it had been worn and who had designed it. It was very interesting. 

It was a nice day, although by the late afternoon it was a little cloudy. There's a few photos, but only from the outside as no photography is allowed inside the palace. Not that it stopped some people...grumble grumble... Enjoy!

So it's still the summer and we've been out making the most of it. On Tuesday this week we went on a cruise to Kew. We had a voucher for Christmas for buyagift.com so used it towards the cruise trip and entry to Kew. You can just head down to Westminster pier and pay for the ferry on the day and get your ticket for Kew for the same price but the buyagift combo is great if you don't know about it. We really enjoyed the cruise; it takes a little over an hour and for the first half you get a commentary explaining all the local sights. When you first set off, it goes past the Houses of Parliment offering one of the best views of the structure as you pass under the Westminster Bridge.

Kew was fantastic as ever, I think it's our third visit now. This time we were able to look at, and go in the recently added Hive installation. Its a giant metal structure that "encapsulates the story of the honey bee and the important role of pollination, through an immersive sound and visual experience" (www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/explore/attractions/hive). The hive is linked to an actual bee hive and the lights and sounds inside respond to activity from the real bee's. Certainly worth a look if you're visiting.

It was a lovely sumer's day and stayed really warm thoughout our visit. We stayed until closing at 6.30 before heading for dinner at the nearby Ask (we had vouchers). After a very filling meal we opted for a Uber back as it was only going to take 30 minutes over the 1 hour 30 minutes by train. All in all a great day out! Enjoy the photos    

This week was half term and unlike previous years we hadn't made any plans to go for a short city break. Our tenants at the house had given us notice so we had decided to have a look at the house in Leeds and get some estate agents around to value it for a possible sale. We managed to fit quite a lot in on Monday, getting three agents around and doing some gardening whilst there. So the short story is, we've decided to sell. Just a few bits to sort out and and then it'll be hitting the market.

In other news, I've added a few new albums to the site. We've been out to a couple of places over the last month, visiting Ham House and Hampton Court Palace. Both trips were pretty grey days in terms of the weather with plenty of cloud cover but thankfully the rain held off.

We visited Ham House on a weekend in the middle of January. It is National Trust so the cards came in handy for free entry. We spent a couple of hours in the gardens but didn't get into the main house as there were only limited tours and we didn't fancy waiting an extra hour at the end of the day - maybe next time. The gardens were nice although obviously not a huge amount to see for the time of year. The sun was warm when it came out from behind the clouds but it was otherwise quite a cold day. 

We managed to get half price tickets for Hampton Court Palace at the beginning of February costing £8.25 each instead of the usual £16. It was quite a cold day when we visited, so we stuck to the state rooms and other parts of the house's interior. It is quite a vast estate and the signs didn't seem to be the most helpul in getting you from place to place. We did have a free audio tour and I suspect if we had followed it more closely, navigation around might have been a little less haphazard. We had lunch at the cafe and stayed until about 4.30pm when everything was starting to pack up. The wind had picked up quite a bit by this point and had blown a few of the trees outside the orangery over. The gardens looked nice from inside and I think it will be well worth a visit another (warmer) time.

This week after sorting the house out, we had a day out and about around the capital so I've added a few more of the usual sites, Tower Bridge etc, into a new album.

We were there until dark but some of the lights on Tower Bridge didn't seem to be working. London Bridge was lit up in bright orange though which I don't think we've seen before. I think I'll leave it there for now. Cheerio ta ta!

Well, today we had a trip out to see the Queen, only she wasn't in, so we had a look around her house instead.

We had booked state room tickets online and had a bit a queue to collect the tickets, but once we had them we were pretty much straight in. The rooms were quite splendid, as was the audio guide provided which gave some interesting bits of information, images and short video clips which was good. The weather stayed nice with a bit of sunshine to top it off. We had cake in the cafe at the palace and in the evening when to the cinema. All in all, a nice day!

It's that time of year where everybody else starts to curse teachers again for their long holidays and the teachers themselves get to feel a little normal for a while, that's right folks, school's out for summer! It's been another busy year and the holiday in many ways seems to have come out of nowhere. We haven't booked anything yet, but we're hoping to get away for a little bit of sun, perhaps Italy or something.

I think that's all for now, no more get-up's! I think we'll make the most of our Sunday with a little wander in the big smoke. See you next time!

Hello again, just a quick one today to let you know I've been busy uploading some more pictures. You can now find a few of our London photos online. Enjoy! 

Hello one and all,

I hope you're all enjoying Febuary 29th, I'm not sure I know anyone that works for the National Trust and has rather nicely been given the day off so I imagine it is just another day for most of you. I thought I would mostly take the opportunity to post a little blog on here as the day comes but once every 4 years so haven't got an awful lot to say.

I'm now on the second placement of my PGCE course. I'm at a mixed school in Streatham, mostly observing this week (as its my first week here). The teaching should start to pick up over the next couple of weeks though which I'm looking forward to. Meh. I think I've run out of words really, didn't think this through perhaps I could have typed something a tad more comprehensible.

Oh last week we went to see the Natural History Museum which was rather cool - good to see they still have the big whale suspended from the ceiling and not forgetting all those dinosaur bones. We had an awesome time and took a few snaps which I may stick up here if I happen upon another spare moment. On Sunday last week we also visited the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms which was pretty cool - we managed to get in for on a 2 for 1 dealio that we cut out of the Metro (free newspaper).

I think I'll leave it there. Maybe get another update on here sometime next month.

Cheerio ta ta

I'm really getting pretty bad at updating this now we've got back! It must be this busy lifestyle I'm living! We are at this moment back in a hostel - this time in London on a flat hunting expedition. We've seen a fiar few places so far but the final decision is still evasive! Theres a couple of places we're interested in so far but the question is do we choose the really nice or fall for the mildly cheap!?

I think the cheap has the edge for me (predictably some might say) but I think the nicer one currently has the edge with Dani. We shall have to have a second look - and probably by the time we reach a decision the one we want may have gone :-S - I do hate this flat hunting business! It's Dani's birthday on Friday and we're going to the zoo which should be very exiting - I can't wait to see the elephants (my favourite). Other than that there isn't a terrible amount of news, we had a holiday in Swansea a little over a week ago, which was pretty cool - lots of sunshine and some excitement with an air ambulance (which blew a couple of tents away).

Right I better get back to looking on gumtree, checking email and hitting a few more estate agents (not literally). Congratulations to anyone reading this, I think I may have lost my readership since stopping the email updates. See you all soon!

Cheerio ta ta