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.