Day 29 - Back to London via York
Today we travelled back from Morpeth (North England) to London and detoured via York. The first thing you notice when you arrive in York is the wall that surrounds the city area. It has gates to enter the city at differing points within the wall however the original wall (somewhat restored and preserved over the years) still stands and would cover approximately 85% of the city.
As like most other towns that we visited up north, this is also an extremely old city with a lot of the original buildings still standing. One shop we walked past was built in 1432 with some of the pubs dating back to the early 1800's.
We had lunch at a place called the Punch Bowl which is a traditional English pub serving traditional English grub such as mushy peas, sausages and mash, steak and ale pies and fish and chips. Unfortunately whilst enjoying a nice lunch, the rain started and as we did not bring any umbrella's we had to make a dash back to the car and did not get a chance to completely check out the old city.
The remainder of the day was spent relaxing in our people mover as our gracious host come chauffeur Stephen drove us safely back to Battersea. Our chauffeur then turned chef and made an excellent chilli con carne that was enjoyed by all. We are definitely being spoiled rotten by Stephen and Nikla.
To top it all off, Nikla then informed us of a surprise day that they have planned for us tomorrow. This is split into a boys and girls day up to tea before we meet up and head to see Thriller: The Michael Jackson show at the West End. During the day the girls are off to Oxford Street to a place called Top Shop which is the latest trendy shop in London attended by all the stars. Whilst there they are being pampered by having the assistance of their own personal shop assistant and dressing rooms. After being treated like A-grade celebrities they are then heading to the Ritz for lunch. After which some extra shopping may be in order. For the boys, we are off to a tour of Lord's at 10.00am before going to a traditional cockney pub for pie and mash and maybe some jellied eel before hopping on a speedboat and travelling along the Thames on a James Bond style tour where you see all the famous James Bond sites. Needless to say we are all very excited about the big venture tomorrow and then culminating in a show on the West End will be a brilliant way to spend a day in London.
As like most other towns that we visited up north, this is also an extremely old city with a lot of the original buildings still standing. One shop we walked past was built in 1432 with some of the pubs dating back to the early 1800's.
We had lunch at a place called the Punch Bowl which is a traditional English pub serving traditional English grub such as mushy peas, sausages and mash, steak and ale pies and fish and chips. Unfortunately whilst enjoying a nice lunch, the rain started and as we did not bring any umbrella's we had to make a dash back to the car and did not get a chance to completely check out the old city.
The remainder of the day was spent relaxing in our people mover as our gracious host come chauffeur Stephen drove us safely back to Battersea. Our chauffeur then turned chef and made an excellent chilli con carne that was enjoyed by all. We are definitely being spoiled rotten by Stephen and Nikla.
To top it all off, Nikla then informed us of a surprise day that they have planned for us tomorrow. This is split into a boys and girls day up to tea before we meet up and head to see Thriller: The Michael Jackson show at the West End. During the day the girls are off to Oxford Street to a place called Top Shop which is the latest trendy shop in London attended by all the stars. Whilst there they are being pampered by having the assistance of their own personal shop assistant and dressing rooms. After being treated like A-grade celebrities they are then heading to the Ritz for lunch. After which some extra shopping may be in order. For the boys, we are off to a tour of Lord's at 10.00am before going to a traditional cockney pub for pie and mash and maybe some jellied eel before hopping on a speedboat and travelling along the Thames on a James Bond style tour where you see all the famous James Bond sites. Needless to say we are all very excited about the big venture tomorrow and then culminating in a show on the West End will be a brilliant way to spend a day in London.
