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Once more a rude awakening, courtesy of Motorhead, at 7:30am. Still, after getting to London for the weekend, no point wasting it all sleeping during the day, so I jumped into the shower and Caitlyn followed whilst I was getting dressed. After Caitlyn was ready, Marlyn got showered and Caitlyn and I did the breakfast thing, much the same as yesterday! We had a nice breakfast and remembered a coffee for Marlyn once again. We left the hotel and again headed for Hammersmith tube, via Starbucks, of course, then after a large, strong coffee we were ready for the day! First was a trip to Buckingham Palace, we'd decided to head for the changing of the guard and got there about 10:45 - a whole 3/4 hour early! Even so, there was a large crowd gathering but we were early enough to get a great view of the proceedings and come 11:30 it was mobbed, we saw a couple of bands marching into the Palace and half a dozen soldiers marching out, then a friendly Policeman told us the soldiers who marched out would make there way to Horseguard's Parade and come back in about an hour. At that Caitlyn mentioned she was bored, so thinking we'd seen enough, we decided then to call it a day. It was lunchtime so we again decided on a Subway sandwich for lunch - they are delicious! Then we were all set for the Lion King, we made our way to the Lyceum, via Covent Garden Market - saw some funny street performers there, just a pity we didn't have time to see more but we'd a performance to catch at 3:00pm. Come 3 o'colck, we were sitting comfortably (in the front row) and waiting patiently for the performance to begin. I'm not a fan of either musicals or The Lion King but I really enjoyed the show - the music, the costumes and the performers were all absolutely excellent, far better and much more enjoyable than I expected, so both Marlyn and I enjoyed it, Caitlyn absolutely loved it - she was spellbound for the whole performance - the tickets were worth it just for the look on her face! The whole performance lasted approximately 3 hours, though that included an intermission, that said, it didn't seem that long - even though we were listening to the music of Elton John!

We left the theatre and decided it'd be an idea to go to Picadilly Circus (well, we had been scooting up and down the Picadilly line on the underground all weekend) and let Caitlyn see it in darkness, we walked from Covent Gardens through Leicester Square to Picadilly Circus, unfortunately it was still daylight when we got there! Still, we had a look at the Statue of Eros and managed a couple of pictures - then again it was a struggle as it was really busy. Then seemed like a good idea to head back to the Hotel as it was getting late and we'd planned an early rise the next day. Once again, Subway was Caitlyn's preference for a bite to eat - I think she'd have lived off subs all weekend given the chance.

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After months of careful planning, the big day arrived - a family weekend in London. My daughter, Caitlyn, was really excited - we'd decided to fly down and this was her first ever flight, albeit a quick one from Edinburgh to Heathrow. We reached the airport in plenty of time, my dad dropped us off just outside Departures and we checked-in, making sure Caitlyn got a window seat, then with an hour or so to kill, had a coffee (that was the start of a theme throughout the weekend - so many Startbucks and so little time to try them all), Caitlyn bought herself a little notepad - she wanted to keep a diary of her trip, it was a great idea so she ended up with a notepad, pencils and colouring pencils - just what I needed - more luggage! After an uneventful flight, we reached London, pity it was so overcast as I'm sure Caitlyn would have appreciated seeing London as we flew over it, however we did manage to spot the London Eye, which was good as we were heading there later in the day. We only there for a long weekend so had decided to go "hand luggage" only. It worked out well, we were able to step off the plane and make a quick getaway towards the underground. Then spoke to one of the guys at the underground "info" office who told us the "Oyster Card" was the best option for a cheap and hassle free way to use public transport, I'd recommend them, they're reasonably priced and easy to use on ALL public transport! But the best news was that under 11's travel free when with an adult! Caitlyn scooted around London for 4 days without paying a penny for the pleasure, so kudos to London Transport for that one! Tickets in hand, we headed for the tube and half an hour later reached Hammersmith Station. We'd booked our hotel months in advance and chosen Hammmersmith as it wasn't too near the city centre, yet still within easy reach of "the attractions" and I'd stayed in the area before whilst working at "The Ark" (seen ITV's Primeval? That's the big glass building the primeval team operate from!) Anyway, reached our hotel early afternoon and checked in before having a quick(?) lunch at Pizza Hut, pizza for Marlyn and Myself and Caitlyn decided on Chicken and potato wedges, and we all had the salad option, just for that healthy touch! Then we jumped back on the tube to head for "The London Eye", discovered Big Ben just outside the the underground and walked over Westminster Bridge to get to the eye. I was surprised it was as big - each of the car's can hold 40 punters! But we got a great view of the city, even though the weather was a bit overcast and definitely rainy! So after a half hour queue, we finally go on - though the eye doesn't stop, it just moves really, really slowly and you have to hop on as it goes past. The ride is approximately 40 minutes, though it doesn't exactly feel like a ride! The thing moves so slowly it's almost impossible to tell you are going round, great fun though, and a great place to start a weekend - we could see all of London and point out some of the obvious attractions to our daughter, who was enjoying herself immensely! The photo shows The Houses of parliament and Big Ben taken from The London Eye, when we were at the highest point - and Marlyn even managed to get a red London bus in the picture, just for that authentic tourist snap sorta deal!

It was back to the hotel after that, though not without drama, Hammersmith tube station was closed due to a fire and we'd to get off at Baron's Court, the station before Hammersmith and walk a bit further, disaster struck when the heel came off Marlyn's shoe, she was struggling anyway, her comfy shoes turned out to be the opposite and her feet were killing her! So we then hailed a cab and took it to the Hotel. I stopped at Subway for a nice foot long sub (or 3!) before going in and having a bite to eat with Caitlyn and Marlyn. I took a walk down the street and found a JD Sports where I bought Marlyn a nice pair of comfy trainers - she finally gave in and put a decent pair of walking shoes on (the London fashion, according to Caitlyn, is jeans and trainers!). After that, it was time for an early night, the only thing left to do was for Caitlyn to complete day 1 of her diary, of course!

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