Monday 13^th July: This first day of our vacation we spend in the bus. The Calais-Dover ferry had to be done in bad weather. This was Martijn's first encounter with motion sickness. He didn't know that he was susceptible for that so he just couldn't stop vomiting. And he was not the only one aboard who felt that bad; the ferry was not allowed in the Dover harbour for more than an hour. But back ashore - for the very first time on English soil - it all cleared very quickly. We arrived at the Bayswater Inn late in the evening. This was our hotel voucher:

Tuesday 14^th July: We took a bus tour through the city of London and visited Westminster Abbey where we were not allowed to take pictures (sorry). After that we heard and saw Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and County Hall. After noon there was time scheduled for some really serious shopping and after that we took the London bus home through Oxford Street along Hyde Park. In the evening we got on the bus again for a "London by night" tour. Harrods' looks beautiful then…

Wednesday 15^th July: By bus we travelled to the River Thames where we got on a boat for a tour. We sailed under Tower Bridge which was partly under construction. At the end of the boat trip we could see the London obelisk. The London sightseeing tour continued subsequently by bus and we stopped to see St. Paul's Cathedral. At the end of the morning the bus took us to Covent Garden, where we had lunch at the wine bar. Then we waited in line to see the crown jewels at the Tower of London. We also saw some ravens within the grounds. There is a legend stating that should the ravens ever leave the Tower of London the Tower will crumble and a great disaster shall befall England.

Thursday 16^th July: A bit longer journey brought us to Windsor Castle, just in time to see the change of guards. We visited St. George's Chapel and Madame Tussaud's "Royalty & Empire". Before we were brought back to London, we were able to take a picture of the shortest street of England: Queen Charlotte Street. Back at the hotel we ordered in a T-bone steak with peas and fries for dinner, but we really didn't enjoy that. It was way too greasy, so we filled our stomachs with a king-size.