London

London is a favourite city of ours. No trip to the UK is complete without some time in this so-alive capital city. We drove south from Cambridge religiously following the GPS to get us to the campsite at Crystal Palace on the south side. One surprize was that there is still a car ferry across the Thames. We lined up with other cars and some enormous trucks and after only a five or so minute wait drove onto the ferry, a large rusty affair. In no time at all we were driving off on the south side of the river - almost as quick as a bridge!

The campsite is at the edge of a large park and only a short walk from the bus which is a direct trip right into Oxford Circus. Perfect!

Despite the intermittent rain, at times quite heavy and accompanied by a drop in temperature at every shower, we joined a London Walk taking in the Southbank area. In the afternoon we opted for a matinee of a West End show. We saw a show that seems to have been around forever but we hadn't ever seen - The Lion King. Being a matinee, the place was full of kids but we had the good fortune to have no-one sitting directly in front of us and so we had a marvellous view of the stage. We had intended to do another walk but good old London transport put paid to that. Had the bus not stopped by the side of the road for no apparent reason for 15 minutes, we would have been at the meeting point in time… as it was we had no chance of getting there, so we took ourselves off to the British Museum instead for a few hours and immersed ourselves in some of the fabulous antiquities there, including the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles. On the bus on the way home, we were treated to another gem from London Transport. The bus was clearly marked for Crystal Palace. About halfway through the trip, an announcement somewhat surprised us (less surprised were the locals…) which told us that the destination for our bus had changed! Nothing much then happened for a few more stops until we were all told to pile off. With no-one having much clue about what was happening, the bus driver then started to shout "Run, run" to us passengers. It was all a bit bizarre but it eventuated that the shouting was so we wouldn't miss the bus that was now pulling into the stop and which would take us the rest of way!

We were treated to a light show at the campsite one night. Next to the site is a huge Eiffel-like communications tower. To celebrate the switch over to digital TV, the tower put on a light show with colours and searchlights and lasers. Being the highest point in the London area, it could no doubt be seen from many places and we had a ringside seat.