Greenwich and Hampton Court

After along leisurely breakfast with Lisa and Kev, by which time Rebecca had been waiting for us in the lobby, we headed out to Greenwich. Michael had always wanted to go back here, especially to see the Cutty Stark, the last remaining tea clipper to sail between China and London. It was also used to transport wool between Australia and London. The restoration of this boat is excellent and was opened by the Queen in 2012. It has also won awards as a tourist attraction. It is an impressive ship. From there we trekked up the hill to the Royal Observatory. The views over London are beautiful, as are the trees and commons area around the Observatory. The actual Royal Observatory was okay, Michael is more interested in it than I am (or Rebecca).

Back at the hotel we bumped into Lisa and Kev who had a visit from Lisa's nephew and his partner. We decided on a very late lunch with them before we headed of to meet up with Lynn and her partner Ron. Lynn is an old varsity friend of mine who shared many Social Policy classes together. We had a great evening together. Reb had ditched us for a dinner in the dark experience!

Tuesday
We said farewell to Lisa and Kev who fly back to LA today. Michael had the day to himself so went off to visit the Clink, a prison museum, while Reb and I headed out to Hampton Court. We caught up with Trish and her sister Mary from Cambridge and spent the day at the Hampton Court Flower Show. Just envisage the Ellerslie Show but on a must bigger (and grander) scale. It was a great day, despite the heavy down fall of rain which we managed to escape by heading into a massive marque which held one of many exhibits. Hampton is beautiful, with the Palace alongside the Thames and the boats riding up and down the river.

Tonight was our last time with Reb as she is flying off to Croatia in the morning for 9 days, which includes attending a festival this coming weekend. We won't see her now until Xmas next year. We ended up saying goodbye in the tube station as we headed off in different directions after dinner together. It has been a great couple of weeks catching up with her, and we have no worries that she is home sick or not enjoying herself. She appears to making the most of her 2 year working visa......