Spent some time this morning in the always interesting Covent Garden markets where we enjoyed the craft market stalls & bought a few small souvenirs - they have to be small & light to fit into our luggage! There was a band busking in the lower market space with it's great acoustics, playing & dancing with a very happy baby strapped to the back of the fiddler - legs dangling, she's probably been doing this since birth! We spent most of the afternoon at...

Spent many hours in Kew Gardens on a lovely sunny day, enjoying the vast spaces, huge trees, pretty flowers & interesting glasshouses. Strangely the gardens are directly under a flight path to Heathrow & the planes pass overhead very low every couple of minutes! I wonder how that affects the plants? We were surprised that the lawns look much like ours at home in the summer - not lush & green but fairly sparse with brown patches & lots of dandelion...

We were lucky enough to have discovered that Buckingham Palace is open for tours during summer when the Royal family are away so I had arranged tickets from home. A quick underground trip brought back happy memories & took us to Green Park where we walked to the palace. Our tickets gave us entry first to the art exhibition featuring Scottish artists from the Royal collection followed by entry to The Mews where we saw all the carriages, stables & even a co...

Arrived in London from Dublin with a wonderful approach over the city with some great views from the plane even though we didn't have a window seat. Who would have imagined a flight path going right over the river on the way to Heathrow! Our hotel Radisson Blu is right on one corner of the perfectly located Seven Dials near Covent Garden & very close to Neal's Yard where we both had a walk-in seated massage for our tight sore backs - too much sitting on plane...

After the wedding we spent 4 days exploring with Sarah & Chris. Visited Fota Island where Chris had played golf on our way to see Cobh which was the last port of call of the Titanic on it's fateful journey. This pretty coastal town is full of history as it was also the departure point of the first immigrants to New York via Ellis Island. Climbed up the hills to St Colmans Cathedral for a birds eye view of the port. Also had a couple of hours in Paul Street Co...