Another bank holiday weekend

We are spending the current bank holiday weekend in London.  We are going to Copenhagen next weekend so we are staying home this weekend.  Yesterday we checked out the Tower of London again and this time did a tour with the Yeoman guard.  Im not sure how we didn't do it the first time round. The tour was very funny and lasted an hour and then we checked out the crown jewels - amazing.  We must have been at the tower for 2.5 hours then we walked to Borough market to find something for lunch, before walking along the Southbank to Embankment to get the tube home.

 

Today we planned to visit Kenwood House at Hampstead Heath. When we got there we realised the House is closed to tourists for renovations.  Luckily the weather was fantastic so we walked through Hampstead Heath to Parliament Hill to get a brilliant view of central London.  From here we contiuned walking to Kentish Town where we found a pub for lunch and caught the tube home.

Tomorrow we have bought tickets to the theatre - we are going to see 39 steps.  Apart from that we have no plans so it may be a day of house work and doing washing.  I am on mid term break for the rest of the week. Tennis on Tuesday with work friends, and dinner on Wednesday with another lot of work friends.  We are in Copenhagen from Friday-Monday (Yes we both have Monday off - so another long weekend for us).

The Home of Cricket

 We were excited to see day 4 of the test match between England and New Zealand at Lords, the home of cricket.  At the start of play NZ needed to get 4 more English wickets which they managed to do in the first session.  This left NZ chasing 239 to win.  This was well within our capability as we had nearly two days play to reach the target.  However, our batsmen were not reading the same game plan and managed to have a spectacular collapse with NZ all out for 67.  Shameful indeed.  Nathan and I had packed a massive picnic lunch that was to last us all day.  As it was it was the cricket that did not last so we headed to the pub to draw the day out and lift our dampened spirits.

London 7s

We had heaps of fun at the London 7's tournament yesterday which was played at Twickenham.  The theme for the tournament was Safari which was so easy and fun to dress up too, made easy by primark selling animal onesies.  A onesie was the perfect outfit as the weather was a little cool so we were nice and toasty in our costumes. We were with a group of 11, a mix of Aussies and Kiwis. The Aussies liked to hassle me for my croc costume as it was Australian colours and they were telling me I was supporting Australia.  I put on my NZ scarf and left it on for the day so there could be no more questions over my allegiance to NZ.
I managed to catch up with my brother and get a photo as he was also dressed as a crocodile.  Good timing - family photo for Mum for mother's day.
There has been a rather slow start to today and I don't think we will be doing much. Watching the final day of the 7;s tournament on TV at home.

May Bank Long Weekend

Cliffords Tower

For the long weekend we decided to stay in England, mostly as we hadn't been bothered to organise anything else.  We drove up to York and had a day walking the old city walls, visiting Cliffords Tower (it used to be a castle but only the tower remains) and catching up with Anna and Borrie.  They have officially left London and have begun their travels which will eventually lead them back to NZ. That night we stayed with Helen and Chris in Green Hammerton which is a little village 20min from York.

The next morning we took Lewis rock climbing at Brimham rocks and had a picnic lunch on a nice big flat rock.  After we spent the afternoon in Knaresborough, rowing up the river, playing mini putt (which Nath lost) and having a couple of beers in the local pub.



Bolsover Castle

On Monday it was sunny and nice not to be at work.  Nath and I were up early (thanks to Lewis) and left Green Hammerton by 8:30.  We planned to stop at two English Heritage sites on our way back to London. Problem was we were up so early we got to the first castle 30min before it opened! It is never a good idea to get up early.  We explored Bolsover Castle, which was the home of Sir William Cavendish. We then stopped by Hardwick Old Hall where William's Grandmother Bess had lived.  In its day it was a very grand estate.  Now-a-days there is a Hardwick New Hall which is just amazing.  Very grand.

Hardwick New Hall



Bolsover Castle

We are now back in London and only have 4 days of work this week.  This coming weekend we are going to the London leg of the IRB Sevens, and the following weekend we are watching the NZ v England test match at Lords.  Lots of fun sporting events to look forward to.