Day 1&2 Monday 12/08 - 13/08 - London 21deg Sunny..... We left Amy and Maddie at the airport on a cold windy Melbourne afternoon and after a 23.5 hour flight on the Qantas A380 where we had great seats in the upper deck and with a short stopover in Dubai arrived on time at 5.30am to a sunny London to be met by Jen and Jon. We were so quick through customs etc, so different from our last landing. It was lovely to see them and both looking very well and happy with Jen glowing in her pregnancy. They dropped us at our hotel in Kensington and we were able to do an early check in. We freshened up and headed up Cromwell Road to Harrods, what a department store! We had a mocha, which mine was a shot of espresso and a pot of hot dark Belgian chocolate that certainly helped us wake up...and realised the cost was GBPounds not Aussies dollars. On our way we passed the British Museum, the queues at the museum were the largest we have ever seen anywhere, we were then told it was the start of the school holidays. Later we walked to Jen and Jon's place to see them and then we shared an early dinner at a cute "gastro pub" Bumpkin in Kensington with a relatively early night. It is lovely to be able to be spending some time with them. I seem to have a knack of losing my pedometer on a regular basis and of course this happened on the first day, so Harrods helped me out with a new one which has a lanyard, so let's see how long I keep this one for!!..luckily it was cheaper than what they cost me at home. Day 3 Wednesday 14/08 - London 21deg Sunny..... We enjoyed a sleep-in which we badly needed. Now to sort the Garmin GPS "aka Shirley" to help us with directions for our travels. After a 30 minute phone call which cost £30!!..John was able to sort the download for the Garmin, so much cheaper than buying a new one..now we may have some idea where we are going in Turkey and Greece..otherwise, as they say it might have been "all french to me". I have setup the iPad for the travel blog updates, storing our travel documents and our travel books, so much easier than carrying lots of papers. The day is sunny...and we had a great walk to Kensington High Street passing lovely homes, gardens and trees, mews and lanes. I love London in the late summer. In the evening we went on the train to the London suburb of Northwood for dinner at Margie and Glenn's, Jonathan's parents, where we had a BBQ and other yummy food. The trains were heaving with men in skirts, as there was a "friendly" football match at Wembley between England and Scotland, so the atmosphere was very noisy with supporters. Day 4 Thursday 15/08 - London 21deg Sunny, muggy/showery..... Another lazy morning, so nice not needing to be up early for tradesmen. John headed off to Jen's and I followed a bit later, with my new pedometer in action and securely fastened. As Jen and Jon move house tomorrow, 700metres from where they live now, many hands got into the job of packing, once again we were surrounded by boxes...déjàvu...but at least we don't have to unpack this time! After a full day we headed back to our hotel in Kensington and found a delightful restaurant across from our hotel, Evoluzione and had a delicious and healthy, so the menu advised us, Italian meal of Parmigiana di melenzane, rabbit ragu with the freshest pasta we have ever tasted and a lovely italian Pinot Grigio rose. The pedometer told me I had walked over 8km today...it is so good to be out walking again. Day 5 Friday 16/08 - London 21deg "Melbourne grey day"..... Today we headed to St Pancras station as we leave London for the train part of our journey having done the plane. What a gorgeous and bustling station. We had a coffee at Costa and John had the large, which needed two hands to hold the cup, it was delicious. We travelled on the 12.58pm Eurostar to Brussels, a very smooth process to board our coach #14 with very comfortable seats facing in the direction of travel, towards the front of the train, which resulted in a very smooth 2 hour journey. We passed through the English countryside and within an hour we were at Calais, France and within 2 hours in Brussels, Belgium. So much easier than flying and you get the bonus of scenery. We arrived to a sunny Brussels with blue sky and fluffy white clouds. Our hotel appeared close to the station however after walking around in circles for an hour as everyone who we asked directions of thought we were going to the Palace rather than the Crowne Plaza hotel, so once we realised this we caught a taxi and we were there in 2 minutes..so close but so far. We had dinner at a restaurant that has been in business since 1882, Au Vieux Bruxelles that specialise in Moules et Frittes, as they say "when in Brussels have the Mussels", so I tried them in a Fromage Bleu sauce, they were delicious, there were so many that John had to finish them for me!! We finished off the meal with a mini Chocolate Mousse and Creme Brûlée as well as a great coffee, a really lovely meal. As we had walked to the restaurant we walked back again to our hotel, which was about a 6km round walk, so this helped us to digest our dinner.