London, Sightseeing & Theatre
As we arrived at Covent Garden, we were welcomed by a huge Christmas tree, full of
twinkly lights and brightly coloured decorations. The whole place had a lovely
Christmassy feel to it, and everyone wondered at the sight. We explored the
famous undercover market, which full to burst with stalls selling lots of
wonderful hand crafted and artisan products. 
It was such a beautiful day as we walked up the Mal to Buckingham Palace to witness the world famous Changing
of the Guard’s Ceremony. The Queen was at home as a helpful policeman kindly explained,
telling us that when her royal flag is raised above Buckingham Palace she is in
residence, We also found out that
today was a very important day as the Queen was meeting the new Ambassador! 
Once
the ceremony was over and we had watched the band, the guards and the beautiful horse and carriages, we walked through St James Park. It was then onto Horse Guard’s Parade
where we saw the Queen’s guards in their immaculate red coats and uniforms.
We took our seats in the Savoy theatre as it was nearly show time! Anticipation grew
as we waited for the lights to dim and we were not disappointed! Dolly Parton
herself (albeit a recording) narrated the show 9 to 5 staring most notably
Brian Connelly and Bonnie Langford as well as a host of amazing singers and
dancers. The show kept us all smiling, laughing and clapping the whole way
through and the whole gang thoroughly enjoyed the story! After giving the cast a standing ovation for a
fantastic performance.
A full day of sightseeing as we caught a
bus to the Tower of London; on the way we saw lots of interesting historical
old buildings and landmarks nestled between the more modern. Arriving at our
first destination we walked around the Tower and met a Beefeater dressed in his
traditional clothing.
We all gasped when we saw the London Eye.
We were blown away by the sheer size of it. We queued to get our tickets before
the 4D cinema experience where we watched a short film about the how the Eye
was built and what sights to look out for. Before we knew it, we were boarding
our own capsule and we took our seats as the door closed. It was so surreal being inside this glass
bubble, you couldn’t feel it moving at all. The best thing was being able to
walk around, enabling us to get the best views of the city. We spotted lots of
London’s best-known landmarks including Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament,
Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard and The BT Tower.
We
headed off to one of the world’s best known and loved toy store Hamley’s.
The Christmassy atmosphere was magical with dancing elves to welcome us at the
door and more dancing around the store. The place was buzzing with excitement
and Christmas cheer. We browsed all four floors and were dazzled
by some incredible gadgets and tricks
As the sun set the night sky twinkled. The whole place lit up like a winter wonderland.
We visited the iconic Nelson’s Column
and the Lions at Trafalgar Square. We also got to chat to a friendly policeman.
We sped along the river on the Thame Clipper and it was a great way to see London
from a different perspective. Back on dry land we saw the impressive Cutty
Sark, which we learnt was the first ship to ever sail around the whole world!
One afternoon, we stepped back in time at the Old Royal Naval College which is
steeped in over 500 years’ worth of history and was the birthplace and
residence on King Henry VII. The trust no longer gives guided tours to members
of the public but once again the Jolly Days gang were given the VIP treatment
and we were lucky to have a full guided tour of the College, its grounds and
the breathtakingly beautiful Chapel and Sackler gallery which some say equals
the beauty of the Sistine Chapel in Rome!
For
lunch, there was only one thing for it……a traditional London pie and mash. We sat and devoured every last mouthful; it certainly lived up to our
expectations.
We stopped at the Epitaph to look at the wreaths of
Poppies that had recently been laid by the Queen and other dignitaries and we
all took a moment to remember those who had fallen in service.
Our group of adventurous men hired some bikes
and trikes. With plenty of energy we were soon ready to
go. The peaceful pathways took us through the woods, up and down hills, past the lake and we
all loved ringing our bells! 
In the woods we stumbled across some funny computerised singing reindeer! They certainly bought some Christmas cheer to us all! 
We wrapped up warm for the firework extravaganza display. The
night sky lit up in a variety of bright colours, all set in time to music. The
LED light show had us watching
in amazement with a lot of ‘Oooohing and Ahhhhing’! 
We hit
the bowling alley for a nail-biting game of bowling. There were plenty of high
scores and we all jumped for joy when someone hit a strike 
