Happy Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas to all my friends, those near and far!
Well, actually, merry Christmas in an hour and a half, being as it is currently ten thirty pm on Christmas eve, but I thought I'd sneak in a bit early with the well wishes :)

We are currently living full of the festive cheer in a little town called bicester which is about 15 minutes out of oxford, staying with my aunt and three cousins. And as if spending time with those nearest and dearest isn't good enough- to top it all off we are fast approaching a white Christmas! Yes there is snow a top the trees and underfoot, in fact as far as the eye can see! So so super exciting- especially for Adam who had lived 25 years without so much as seeing snow he will now have the chance to build a snowman on xmas day! Huzzah! Actually the snow has caused a bit of havoc for some- the blizzard hit last weekend and heathrow closed along with most of the motor ways, leading to the country grinding to a halt. By a happy coincidence we caught the train up from devon late on Friday night, so we were safe and sound and snug at my grandads house by Saturday morning. We spent the worst of the blizzard watching DVDs and baking lovely warm hearty meals (I even baked bread!) now at least the worst of the snow has cleared allowing us to jump aboard a train and head into London for our christmas treat day, it went as followed :

Up nice and early and on the 9am train into the city. Once we arrived we zoomed to the London aquarium to say hello to the fish and lobsters. The aquarium was good, lots of good displays, but I think that as Australians we are a bit spoilt when it comes to fish and sealife- compared with sydney aquarium the london one was a tad of a let down.

After an hour or so chatting with the fish we trotted down along the thames to the tower of London. The walk took about an hour, and the snow started to gently fall around us. We took a tiny detour to check out Shakespeare's globe theatre which was pretty awesome I must say- hard to believe that it's been there for so long and seen so many many magnificent shows- makes you feel pretty insignificant really!

Once at the tower of London we had a good wander and gander about- and talk about feeling insignificant! The place literally drips with history and culture- it's just amazing to walk through the same rooms that Henry the eighth strolled through and to see the crown jewels, as well as saying hello to the ravens. The ravens are pretty awesome- they have historically lived in the tower of London and a prophecy exists that says that if the ravens ever leave the tower the monarchy will fall- so to make sure this doesn't happen the guards at the tower have clipped the bird's wings so they can't leave! Talk about stacking the odds in your favour!

After the tower we caught the tube to the west end and watched the phantom of the opera. In a word: wow. Amazing. Fantastic . Actually, that's 3 words but the show was so good it deserves three. I love phantom but this performance was probably one of the best versions I have ever seen. So so fabulous!

Once the show was over we walked to hyde park for the Christmas markets which were huge- they were like a cross between the Vienna xmas markets and the Perth royal show - not all together a bad combination! We bad a good few hours wandering through before heading to harrods for a spot of wishful thinking - oh to live the life of a person who shops at harrods! 

And then, almost too soon we were back on the train beading out of town, after a lovely, glorious winters day in town! Not a bad way to spend the day before Christmas eve! 

And now it is not only Christmas eve, but it's late in the day and Christmas morning is fast approaching and so I think I will close now and put out the mince pie and carrot for father Christmas and his reindeer and then hang my stocking before tucking myself up all warm and ready for the big day tomorrow.

I hope you all have a safe, happy and memorable Christmas, wherever it is in the world you are spending it.

Lots of love
Lauren the liquorish strap and Adam the antler