Day 128, 9 November 2012, Off to Surrey. Far from our base in Essex, today we ventured to entirely the other side of the map to Surrey - Hampton Court Palace (Henry VIII's home) and Kew Gardens. It was a huge day before we even reached Hampton Court Palace - Train to Stratford, change to Jubilee line, off at Waterloo and train directly to Hampton Court - an hour or more perhaps? Word to the wise... don't avoid weekends because of the children. Avoid SCHOOL DA...

Day 127, 8 November 2012, Phew! Going crazy London style - St Paul's Cathedral, Royal Albert Hall, Squirrels!!!! in Kensington Park, Kensington Palace, the High Street and free hot chocolates at Crussh. The most excellent No. 12 bus, Household Cavalry Museum and a pub curry on Whitehall Must. Struggle. On. Having so much fun... and no one ever actually died from sightseeing. Did they? We started the day at St Paul's Cathedral - amid flashbacks of the first Ro...

Day 126, 7 November 2012, London Pass - getting up momentum now...Train to the city, Docklands light rail (DLR) to Greenwich (home of the Cutty Sark), National Maritime Museum, Cruise up the Thames to Westminster Pier, first glimpse of Big Ben and hearing the chimes, saw the London Eye up close, Westminster Abbey and finally Churchill's War Rooms under Whitehall - the secret bunker where he ran World War II. Without wanting to seem like we have a St Paul's photo...

Day 125, 6 November 2012, London - Day 2 of London Pass extravaganza. Need to ensure we spend the equivalent of £50 per day on entry fees to ensure we get maximum value... managed £145. Great stuff. London Bridge Experience and London Tombs, Britain at War Experience, HMS Belfast, Old Operating Theatre Museum, Borough Market, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (No. 3). We started this incredible day at the London Bridge Experience and London Tombs. Now we learned...

Day 124, 5 November 2012, London Calling! Train to the city, Tower of London - and the Crown Jewels! Tour with a Yeoman Warder, Tower Bridge Exhibition (pictured), Christmas Lights on Oxford Street switched on (by Robbie Williams no less). Movie in Soho - Tubes, trains and our first red London double-decker bus. Big day indeed! I've always longed to see the Crown Jewels, but we held off heading there immediately and instead joined one of the Beefeaters of the ...