A fitting London farewell.

Day ten, Wednesday 9th May.
Well today was our last day in London.We had planned an assault on the city, beggining with a visit to the London Eye. Although it was grey and misty we were nor deterred and thus hailed a cab on the Kings Rd and set of for Westminster. Now the Planner was aware that it was the opening of Parliament but imagining chaos worse than a bun fight she ommitted to mention it to the Payer who is a well known Royalist.  However on boarding the London cab our very pleasant cabbie (and one of the many knowledgeable cabbies we met on all our travels around London) informed us of the Royal event and said that trying to cross the Thames at Westminster would be nigh on impossible. In the end after much detouring and traffic jams we determined that if we cant beat them we should join them and so alighted from the cab and proceeded to make our way towards Westminster catherdral and on to Parliament. Whilst waitingcat traffic lights to cross the road we were adopted by a middleaged english gentleman, camera in  hand who proceeded to tell us in great detail who was in the passing diplomatic cars and where the best place for a view would be. It turned out he was a retired Doctor who lived in the country at a place called Cheltenham, and he had been up since 4am to catch the bus into London for the occasion. Now that is what one might call a very loyal citizen. We followed him around to a wonderful vantage point and watched the pomp and ceremony begin. Grannie thought she had died and gone to heaven and Stewart - well he was in awe, noting that it was not even on  his  London bucket list. Her Majesty, the Queen passed by in her gold coach, a bit like Cinderella and she was escorted by troops of horses and guarded on the roadside edges by the bushy headed beefeaters. Grannie waved, not quite believing it was real and we're quite sure the Queen waved back.
Departing the the crowd was no mean feat so the Planner secured the services of one of the Queens special services armed guards, (with machine gun no less) who parted the crowd and enabled us   to reach Westminster Bridge without taking out anyones ankles along the way. We headed for the London eye. Now some of you will know that the Payer has had a fear of heights for as long as we have known her, however imagining the crowds the Pusher and the Planner decided that we would need to take advantage of her celebrity status in a wheelchair to move us to the front of the queue and ensure a seamless experience. Grannie figured she had nothing to loose at 85 years old so armed with her sugar coated lollies for energy we wheeled her on board and for 30 minutes circled the London skyline. Even the  passing showers did not deter us and the views were amazing.
Safely on terra firma the Pusher requested one more gallery experience so we headed north to the Barbican gallery to view a wonderful display by the bauhaus art movement. We just had to have one more  English pub experience so we stopped at the 'Jugged Hare' just across the road where Penny had Venison sausages and mash, Grannie had crumbed black pudding and Stewart had Skate cheeks and chips.
A final foray into the retail world of Selfridges and as the rain came down we headed home. Packing was done before we entertained the Laura Jane and family for supper. A most entertaining night and tomorrow we head to New York!