Em and Sam have arrived

On Thursday night we went to the Heathrow Airport to pick up Em and Sam. After a slight tube issue we arrived in Putney safely. On Friday we explored the Tower Bridge, and went to the Borough Market for lunch. That night we surprised them with a visit to Tower 42 one of the highest viewing points over the city. For dinner we took them to the old Royal Exchange Bank to a lovely French restaurant.

On Saturday morning we headed on a train to Oxford for a few days in the countryside. We saw the amazing college buildings and walked the cobbled streets. We stayed outside Oxford in this beautiful manor with over 25 acres of grounds with squirrels.

Sunday we used the hire car to explore the Cotswell region. We went through cute little villages such as Burford, Whitney and our last destination Stratford upon Avon. We discovered that Stratford was the birth place of Shakespeare. The countryside was so green, despite last week the news said that UK is in the midst of a drought. The landscape looked like a painting that you see in books with tiny little villages and churches scattered over the hills.

On Monday Ben headed back to work in London and we went to explore Henley. It was gorgeous on the river. We couldn't have asked for such perfect weather, sunshine the whole weekend. We had lunch by the river and explored the shops. Em and I made a few purchases. After a drive to Henley we returned to Oxford to catch a train back to London.

On Tuesday we went to Wimbledon. Em has decided Wimbledon is somewhere she would like to live. It is so quiet compared to the centre of London. We even got to see horses walking down the street.

Yesterday, we hired bikes to ride through Hyde Park. I have been wanting to hire bikes for ages. Ben told me to wait until Em and Sam arrived. The bike riding was a lot of fun until we had to return them. We had to ride around docking stations trying to find an available space. Poor Sam had to ride further to find one for his bike.

After riding we went home for a very quick rest before heading out to Brick Lane and Em and Sam's Christmas surprise. Due to a slight train issue it took us almost 2 hours to get into town, it was incredibly annoying as we were only one stop away from where we needed to be. We had a quick Indian dinner in Brick Lane and told Em and Sam that we were taking them ice skating at Somerset House. The weather was perfect and the ice rink was packed. There was varying levels of skill on the ice but most were not experts. There were quite a lot of stacks. Em did say that when the Brits fell is sounded so posh. Luckily for us none of us fell. It was a really fun night.

Tomorrow, Em and Sam leave us for Paris before meeting again for Christmas in Munich.