Off we jolly well go!

I'm writing this now because I'm not quite sure when next I shall write. This time tomorrow I'll be on my merry way to spend several days in dear old Blighty. I'm so looking forward to it - not least because I'll be catching up with friends and relatives whilst sightseeing and taking our two youngest to experience the sights and sounds of London. The last time they were there, they were four and six years old respectively so this time, at ten and twelve, they should be better able to enjoy all the things we will do.

The preparations for such a trip take a disproportionate amount of time and effort but the hope is that everything will be plain sailing, no stone will be left unturned and that all and every cliche known to man shall be used in hastily blogging these words of farewell. Lest the marauding masses be on hand to study our every move I shall refrain from blogging our itinarary, but you can be sure that I will report back in detail at the end of the month.

Don't forget me while I'm gone!

Planning the next trip

Having developed a new love and respect for New York over the weekend, I must plan my visit to London for April and make sure I can find enough to excite and interest the offspring whilst we are there. Hopefully we wont have too much rain to spoil our walks out and about.

What might be a good idea is to approach my planning more as a teacher than a tourist. Randomly moving about London to see different things without focus and attention might be distracting, so I'm thinking of teaching them about the Tudors. (I don't think either of them have encountered the Tudors in their Soical Studies classes yet, so this will be a good start for them).

Before we leave for England, I'll find some stories for them, so they can learn about the Tudors. Then, once in London, we'll go to the places that make them come alive. First we will visit Hampton Court Palace, haunt of King Henry VIII. If it's a nice day, the gardens are nice to walk around, and, of course, there is the maze which ought to be usable in April. The palace itself is a masterpiece of Tudor architecture and one of my favourite "stately homes". We will see for ourselves how royalty lived back then.

Next we'll visit the Tower of London where we'll see Traitor's Gate, Tower Green (where two of Henry's wives were executed, as well as Mary Queen of Scots and others), and the tiny cells in which some famous prisoners were kept for many miserable years.

Later we'll visit the Museum of London to learn about the development and growth of London through the ages, and perhaps we'll also visit Shakespeare's Globe but that will depend on how tired we are!

Finally I want to take them to Madame Tussauds to see the waxworks. I haven't been there in donkey's years and it's another of my favorite places. Last time I was there, I tried to pay a waxwork figure in the gift shop, thinking it was a real person!

I might well take them to the Science Museum or the Victoria and Albert Museum which are two of my favourites and which are also free and we'll definitely do the London Eye. Oh what fun! I can't wait!

More on photography

In 2006 I got a new camera which I loved, but in the space of a year it was all but completely destroyed. Fortunately it was still intact the last time I was in London. These are my favourites of the photos I took at that time.

Something Old, Something Blue is a fascinating juxtaposition of one of London's newest landmarks with one of its oldest. I hope to get more from within the Tower walls this year. I love the Gherkin and the Tower buildings themselves are a mishmash of different kinds of architecture in this picture, so as long as there aren't too many more gherkins in the pipeline and the old architecture remains in its rightful place, I like it.

Blue Sky, London Eye uses one of those colour-accent effects that my camera has - my newer camera doesn't have that feature, sadly. I really like the greys and the contrast with the blue.

Britain in the Sky is one of my especial favourites. I managed to get the British Airways plane in the sky as it flew over the (formerly) British Airways London Eye and as it passed a cloud which to me looks strangely like a map of Britain.

Rope Line gave me a rare opportunity to see some photographers waiting for.... whom? This was The Mall and there was a red carpet and a gallery of some sort, so I waited with them. Sadly I didn't recognise anyone who walked the red carpet that day, despite hanging around for over an hour. It was fun people-watching though.

A few weeks later the poor camera was flung rather dramatically (and accidentally) into a swimming pool. It was dried out and continued to function, but not quite as well as before. A few months later it was jammed into a locker door and dropped a couple more times. It's now in Jamie's possession and I have a new camera, up from 7mp to 12. I hope to be able to get some good shots this year.