Vienna

Saturday, 10th September

For the first time since arriving, I actually slept well. Until 0005 hours, that is, when someone literally jumped on top of me and proceeded to kick me fiercely in the knees. Needless to say, half the hotel was woken by loud screams. His excuse? Someone was after him!

Woke again at 4.15 am for the transfer to Heathrow and checked in without mishap and cleared security with someone setting of the usual alarms and needing a pat down. Then it was into the British Airways equivalent of the Qantas Club for breakfast before boarding the plane for Vienna.

We arrived 20 minutes early, passed through Immigration and headed to the baggage claim area when himself's case appeared on the carousel almost immediately. We then waited, and waited, and waited until there was only myself and two ladies from Geelong still waiting. The ladies are staying at the Hilton Vienna, same as us (bit spooky!). British Airways said the bags will be forwarded to the hotel "when" they turn up. Twice we have travelled with British Airways and twice they have lost my luggage - not a good record!

The hotel is very comfortable and within easy walking distance of the city centre. This afternoon we enjoyed a horse and carriage ride through the alleys and small streets, with Cat pretending to be Prince William and waving to the crowds. This evening we are attending a concert at the Golden Hall - fortunately I decided this morning to wear my good trousers, blouse and shoes and not the usual jeans and hike shoes.

Vienna weather has been glorious with clear blue skies, mid 20's and no breeze. Supposed to be even warmer tomorrow.

Chauffeured!

Friday, 9th September

Overnight rain cleared early in the day, but the weather remained overcast (as usual) and very humid and warm.

Today we had to check out of the Thistle Westminster and transfer to the Thistle Heathrow, owing to a 5.30 am check-in tomorrow. Fortunately the suitcases were still big enough to hold all the royal wedding souvenirs and after leaving the luggage with the concierge, we headed for the Underground. First stop was Covent Garden Market and the Royal Opera House. Our hopes of a tour through the Opera House were very quickly dashed - no tours until next Monday! So we wandered through the Market - it was just like being back at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne but not as many stalls.

As we had plenty of time, we decided to continue our religious experiences and walk to St Pauls Cathedral, which did prove to be a little further than we perhaps thought. It was an interesting walk though, passing Australia House and then through the law courts area, with the little streets and old buildings (so easy to imagine this area 200 years ago!). We also passed the church of St Clements with its walls bearing shrapnel scars from the Second World War.

St Pauls Cathedral was a beautiful building, with its wonderfully decorated dome and ceilings - so much lighter and airier than Westminster Abbey. We sat in a small chapel in the Crypt, watched a wedding rehearsal and talked to a clergy lady - a very interesting lady who explained that anyone could be married in the cathedral provided their father was titled. Of course!

Back underground again for another train ride back to Oxford Circus and an hour looking at the large department stores (for one of us, anyway, while the other "rested"). Selfridges makes David Jones look like a K Mart - departments included all the large designer houses and there was even a queue to enter the Louis Vouitton section. Unfortunately, we had a time limit so couldn't wait.

Returned to the hotel at Westminster (another underground train ride - we were really like little moles today) where the concierge had organised a chauffeured car to take us to the Thistle Heathrow. A big black Mercedes with blacked out windows! At this point, the day became really "interesting!" The driver matched his car and talked non stop at about 500 words a minute - his accent didn't help either. We kept telling us that he was a gynaecologist and obstitrician and had trained with a Polish professor (gave Les his doctoral thesis to read while we were driving along) and that he was making more money (500 pounds in three days a week) that he would make as a doctor back home - never found our where that was. All went swimmingly until we arrived at Heathrow, when we realised this driver didn't have the foggiest idea where our hotel was. We drove up and down Bath Road before he pulled into a service station and asked a couple of blokes for directions. Each told him a different direction! Back onto Bath Road and were nearly to Windsor before he decided to do another u-turn and then pulled into the Sheraton Hotel to ask directions again. As he kept saying he was looking for the Thistle Westminster, we didn't have a lot of faith in his navigational skills. Fortunately, he found a couple of other chauffeurs who were able to point him in the right directions and we actually had to tell him when we finally arrived at the hotel. He was also a little crabby because he didn't get a tip.

The Thistle Heathrow is perfectly adequate for an overnight stay. The porter showed us to our room, which absolutely STUNK of cigarette smoke (a non-smoking hotel), apologised and immediately organised a change of rooms. The room is a little smaller than London, but very clean. The bathroom is also smaller and when sitting on the convenience, one has to lean to the side to avoid the toilet roll holder. A box breakfast has been supplied as we will be leaving before 6.00 am - cornflakes and an apple bar.

Tomorrow - Vienna.

Sore Feet

Thursday, 8th September

Last evening we were lucky enough to have dinner with Les' nephew, Justin, who travelled from Oxford especially to see us. It was great to catch up with him again after a few years.

We are managing to stay awake later each night but one of us is still waking up about 3.00 am and then gets to listen to the other one snoring until breakfast time!

Today we simply walked, and walked, and walked. Set out early this morning for Westminster Abbey and managed to beat the main horde of tourists by half an hour. The Abbey seems to be simply a large cemetery and certainly looked much lighter on television during the recent wedding. (Wedding memorabelia is obviously still big business among the souvenir shops!) We paid our respects to Queen Elizabeth I and Winston Churchill, among many, many others and saw the Coronation Chair undergoing restoration work. Cat didn't think it looked at all comfortable!

After leaving the Abbey, we battled our way through the crowds and across Westminster Bridge for photo opportunities of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Then it was a stroll along the Embankment opposite the London Eye (if the weather hadn't been so grey and overcast, we would have considered a ride on the Eye) before heading to Leicester Square.

M & M have opened a store in Leicester Square - four floors of M & Ms and associated products. It would have been far more enjoyable if the background music had actually been background; it was a pleasure to actually get outside into the crowds again. It didn't take Cat very long to make friends with a young lady who thought he belonged to Postman Pat!

We continued on to Piccadilly Circus, and Eros, before heading to Pall Mall where we were halted by a large number of police (we estimated more than 20 uniformed and some were very well armed) who were waiting for a VIP to appear from one of the nearby buildings. We don't know who it was, only that he was Asian (or rather, Oriental, as they say in London).

After walking through St James's Park and looking at all the squirrels, it was actually a relief to arrive back at the hotel and put the feet up. Now we just have to stay awake!

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat ...

Wednesday, 7th September

I've been up to London to visit the Queen!

Today to went to visit the Queen, only she had to be in Balmoral but did leave instructions that we were to be shown around the Palace and have morning tea on the terrace, bless her heart. We arrived nice and early so as to avoid the thousands of tourists later in the day and after passing through airport type security screening, we entered the Palace via the Ambassador's Entrance, then into the Great Hall and up the Grand Staircase. Our mouths fell open at this stage and stayed that way until we were back out in the garden. It is not hard to imagine sweeping down the magnificant staircase, dressed in ballgown and tiara! We passed through the many staterooms with their gorgeous chandeliers, ceilings and cornices - not to mention the decore and furnishings - including the throne room, setting of the recent wedding photos. Each room seemed to be better than the previous. The first of the special exhibitions was a display of Faberge objects - one hears of Faberge's skill but to see his work was just fabulous. Not just some Easter eggs, but many flowers, boxes, photo frames and animals were amongst the items on show.

The second of the special exhibitions was THE wedding dress, THE wedding cake (complete with sword cut), the wedding shoes (with quite high heels), the diamond earrings and a replica (plastic flowers) of the bouquet. We were able to get quite close to the wedding dress, which was displayed behind a fine tulle screen.

Morning tea and refreshments were served on the terrace overlooking the garden, much to Cat's delight. He selected a vanilla slice (although it did have a very fancy French name) and Leslie settled for a scone with fresh strawberries and clotted cream, both served with freshly brewed coffee. The exit route was through the gift shop (naturally!) before walking along one of the garden paths which wound through the grounds and past the lake. A very pleasant way to spend the morning, even if we weren't allowed take photos inside the palace.

We also visited the Queen's Gallery which had a special exhibition of the work of Dutch painters, as well as the normal gallery exhibits. A magnificent Rembrandt painting was a definite highlight. Unfortunately, the gallery did seem very crowded as it is quite small (compared to the Palace rooms) and people tended to stop in front of paintings to look and read (which one does tend to do in an art gallery). It didn't take Cat long to make friends with a staff member who had a travelling frog.

This afternoon we went for a walk through the Belgravia district which its rather grand houses, many of which are now embassies. We strolled up Sloane Street for a bit of window shopping - all the shops in this street have security guards (wired for sound, too) on the doors! We did come across a children's wear shop with a lovely white fur coat on display - Emma would have loved it. We ended up in Harrods with all the tourists who weren't at Buckingham Palace - what a madhouse!

The weather today has been mainly fine, except for a shower this afternoon, and not too cold. It is most definitely windcheater weather.

Howzat!

Tuesday, 7th September

The overnight rain continued this morning, along with a very blustery wind.

We decided to visit Lords Cricket Ground this morning and to avoid having to change Underground trains, we had a "stroll" in the rain through Green Park (lots of squirrels running around here) to a station on the Jubilee Line. This took us to the nearest station to Lords and we then had a choice of turning left or right out of the station. Of course, we turned right and discovered this was the long route! The tour took two hours and was well worth the effort, apart from having to put up with the comments about England winning the Ashes. We were able to look through the museum before being taken into the Long Room and the two dressing rooms, as well as stand on the balconies. Unfortunately, we were not allowed take photos in the Pavillion and had to wait until we were actually in the stands. Compared to Australian cricket grounds, Lords is very small, only holding 30,000 spectators. Cat was quickly noticed by the guide and upheld the honour of the Australian Cricket Team. The tour also took in the ultra-modern looking media centre (looks more like a space ship, actually) and we were able to look out over the ground from up on high. At the end of the tour, one of the party (no names mentioned) made a dash out onto the hallowed turf before being noticed by the guide! Of course, we had to exit via the obligatory gift shop.

Back to the hotel for lunch (baguette so I was informed, not a roll), after battling our way through the thousands (or so it seemed) tourists on bus tours around Buckingham Palace - no wonder the Queen goes to Balmoral at this time of the year!

Fortunately, most of the buses had departed by the time we returned to the Royal Mews for a look at the royal coaches, including the car and carriage used by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day. The Australian Coach was also on display - a very modern coach complete with heating and electric windows. The Golden Coach is so huge (and garish) that it has its own storage room, the wall of which has to be removed whenever the coach is used. We even managed to walk into the indoor riding hall, before being told that we weren't allowed and that the rope barrier had not been replaced after being removed for some reason. Of course, we had to exit via the obligatory gift shop.

London

Monday, 5th September

At last the long wait was over and we were finally on our way. Our flight from Hobart was on time and we made the transfer to the international terminal at Sydney without any problems. Cat became very excited when he discovered the Qantas Club Lounge provides free wine for visitors! Must say it was a very pleasant place to wait, with comfortable seating and free food and beverages.

Our flight from Sydney to London, via Singapore, was on board a Qantas A380 - a huge, double story plane with separate entrances to the aircraft so that first, business and economy passengers don't have to mingle. (We were lucky enough to exit the plane in London through the first class area - definitely the way to travel, if only ...) We had a short stopover in Singapore; just enough time to leave the plane, have a quick walk and then through security screening back into the departure lounge before reboarding. We even managed about six hours sleep between Singapore and London, which was good. Needless to say, Cat slept most of the way. We arrived in London at 6.30 am local time and were rather pleased to see both suitcases appear on the carousel and even more excited, after departing Customs, to see our name being held up for our transfer into London.

We are staying at the Thistle Westminster, which just happens to be across the road from the Royal Mews and Buckingham palace. We were pleasantly surprised with the standard of the room and were lucky enough to be given access to our room when we arrived at 8.45 am (normal check-in is 2.00 pm). After another breakfast (five hours since the last one!!!) and three cups of coffee, it was a wonderful shower and change of clothes before heading out to see some sights.

We were fortunate to come across the Horse Guards performing their particular version of Changing of the Guard, then had a look through their museum after watching the horses being unsaddled and stabled for the day. A quick look at 10 Downing Street (this is Cat's first visit to London) - the security has definitely been increased since our last visit in 2007, then off to Nelson's Column and Trafalgar Square. There is a large bottle containing a model of the Victory, as well as a living mural on the wall of the National Gallery. This is made out of a variety of plants and was very impressive. We had a slow wander through the National Portrait Gallery before walking along The Mall to Buckingham Palace and back to the hotel.

It has been quite windy today, although mild. Without doubt, it will be early to bed tonight!

One More Sleep

Friday, 1 October

Today was sunny!!! All day!!!

We decided to visit the Melbourne Leisurefest, which is being held at Sandown Racecourse, only a short distance from where we are staying. This show was advertising caravans, motorhomes, tents and campers, 4 wheel drives and all associated accessories. We arrived at the opening time of 10.00 am and discovered that most of the car parks were full! We had a lovely time, looking at numerous caravans, deciding very quickly that some we didn’t like, others had features that we liked, and ended up deciding we were quite happy with our Jayco Sterling.

Despite spending all day at the show, were only looked at a small percentage of caravans (not even pop-tops!) and a limited number of brands. Kathryn was very intent on looking at Winnebagos and quickly became disillusioned! However, the Sunliners and Jaycos were more to her liking – and ours! If one was interested in motor homes, of course.

There were plenty of accessories to look at (no shortage of dream pot type appliances) and we actually purchased a shade screen for the awning. We also came home with a few pamphlets for other “good ideas.” It was while we were looking at accessories that we met a couple from Traralgon who we had spent time with last year in Cairns (and kept in touch with). I think we spent a good half hour talking madly!

It was a good day, although the feet are now rather tired. An email from TT Line has informed us we do not get a shorter trip tomorrow night because of Daylight Saving commencing, we simply will arrive an hour later.