It’s raining on my Monopoly board

Impressive hardware

Today, we awoke to strong winds and ran in Dover. Lookin gout the window, we had a great view through the mist of the white cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle. We had booked to do the ship’s tour - London on your own - dropped at Trafalgar Square for five hours to explore on our own.

Since it was Sunday, not much is open until after midday, so we quickly found shelter in a cafe out of the rain - for a very expensive breakfast of toast, butter, jam and coffee for more than 25 pounds. 

The sun came out (as it did about 25 times today) and so we decided to walk up to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard - along Pall Mall - where we had seen the royal wedding carriages travel a few months ago. We were a bit early, so we asked a young policewoman for the best vantage point - she pointed us in the right direction and we had a great view in front along the roundabout. A very large crowd gathered, and this was a cold wet day - and the show is on everyday - one Englishman said that this was a very light crowd - just proves that the royal family still draw a crowd. 

While we were waiting we began to talk to a couple from Australia standing next to us, they came from Pittsworth, a small town in western Queensland, where I taught in the mid eighties - they knew many of the same people, so it was a pleasant interlude to catch up on all the births, deaths and marriages since I left. The parade started - the Beafeaters marched by - the band went past - and the skies opened. We quickly put on our ponchos - and looked like blue and orange smurfs as we ran for shelter under one of the big trees - the poor guards and police just had to continue to stand in the rain and get very wet. We watched the guards at Clarence house and the Queens Chapel - before heading back towards the Nelson Column in Trafalgar square. 

Everywhere in London seems to be named after places on the Monopoly board - we walked down Pall Mall, Regent Street, passed Mayfair and Charring Cross station, to Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square - luckily we did not pass go and did not end up in jail!!!!

The weather was not kind to us - it alternated between short bursts of sun and sudden heavy rainstorms - perfect weather to be inside the shops when they opened after lunch. I found a group of clothing shops along Regent Street, and Arnold patiently waited on a seat  in each shop while I disappeared in and out of the fitting rooms. In the first shop, he started chatting to an Argentinian man who was shopping with four teenage daughters and his wife - they commiserated with each other - by the time they sat together for the fourth time,in the fourth shop they were like best friends - laughing together and still shaking their heads as we went in and out of the change rooms.

We found the meeting point and reboarded the bus to return to the ship. While we were away, 900 passengers had disembarked and another 900 had joined the ship. The next segment is from Dover to Fort Lauderdale, and apparently, many American have joined for this sixteen day sector - it is still summer holidays in the states. 

Tomorrow, we are docking in Amsterdam - I have arranged a tour to Rotterdam and The Hague - Arnold left Holland when he was four and has only been back once, so we are looking forward to this port.

Cheers