We went to London!!!

  Yesterday morning, me and Andrea got up REALLY early when it was still dark!!!

We got a bus into town..... the Christmas lights look so much prettier when it's dark!!

 Oh wow!!!  Look at them!!!

 Then, we got on a big coach!!  We're going somewhere!!!!

About an hour later, we got to somewhere called 'Burbs!  Andrea said it was just outside London!

 Then, a little later on, we arrived in London!  We even got here 15 minutes earlier than expected!!!

We walked up the road to the train station, and had to get a bus.

 We got the number 38.  This bus stops right outside the Royal Academy opposite Fortnum and Mason's shop, which is very handy if we ever want to go see an exhibition there!!

 But yesterday we didn't - we got off at Piccadilly Circus!!  I've never been here before!!!

Then we walked down to Leicester Square and along towards Covent Garden.  We went in here but couldn't find what we wanted.....

 So then we got a 24 bus.....

 That took us to Tottenham Court Road Station!  We walked down the road a bit - and then saw Tas Restaurant!!  We've eaten there, it's yummy!!

And then we went to the British Museum!!!  Andrea said there was a Manga exhibition there!!!

 It turned out to be a really small exhibition and not really what we expected, so we were a little bit disappointed.  But, in the gift shop, we found the Manga book that the exhibition was about, so Andrea decided to get it!!!  It's all about this Professor here, and his adventures in London!!!

 Then we went down the road to Andrea's favourite art shop!!!

  They had a funny tree in the window!!!

 Then we went back to Tas for lunch!!!  We had taboulleh (yummy!!) and hot bread with a cheesey dip (more yummy!!!)

 and then we had lamb shish with couscous (more yummy again!) and a big glass of pommegranite juice which was FAB!!

 Then we got the 73 bus......

I really like riding London buses!!!

 We got off a Hyde Park Corner because Andrea spotted something.  We walked under the "Underpass" and saw lots of pretty tile pictures!!

 In Hyde Park they had a Winter Wonderland amusement thingy..... but it cost lots of money to go in so we didn't.

 Then we got a 16 bus which took us behind Buckingham Palace.

 And back to Victoria Station!!!

 Then we walked back to the Coach Station......

 And got the coach home!!

 JAFFA CAKES!!!!  Andrea remembered the Jaffa Cakes!!!

 I love these!!!

 Here we are in Sussex now...... you can tell because it's all green!!!

Here we are back home!!!

 We then got a bus back to where we live....

 And saw more Christmassy lights!!

Here's the Manga book we bought!!!  It's Professor Munakata's British Museum adventure!!

 And it's written and drawn by Hoshino Yukinobu.  Apparently he's one of the best Manga writer/artists around.   This book has a bunch of other stuff in it as well as the Manga story, including an interview with Hoshino Yukinobu.

We started reading this last night, and it's a really good story!!!

(Ed's note: this book costs £14.99 and if anyone's interested in getting a copy, I'd suggest looking at the museum website at http://www.britishmuseum.org/ - I think that has a "shop" section)

 We got some postcards too!!

at the art shop, we got these things - there's a hole in the metal end which you can put your pencil stubs into (when they're down to the last couple of inches!) and then you push the circular band up which tightens it.  So, you can finish using up all your pencils!!  Andrea says it might work with soft pastels too.

and we found two more of these as well!!!

What a fun day!

Beanie's Big adventure, Day Five

On Friday 12th September, we met our new friends, Corinne and Paul, Simon and the two Japanese ladies at breakfast. They let me eat the chocolate bread again since they knew it was my favourite! I hope there isn't a shortage of this stuff, I love it!

We then all went to a place called "Travel Agent" to try and find out how we were all going to get home. That's Simon on the left, and Paul on the right, with a very nice French lady checking on her computer for a thing called "Ferry". I don't know what that is, though. Andrea said not to worry, so I'll try not to!

In the window of "Travel Agent" there was a little TGV train! I wonder if we'll use one of those? By lunch time, Andrea said everything was sorted out, and we would all be travelling home together tomorrow!!


Andrea then took me out to lunch and she ordered me a "Caesar's Salad". Apparently "Caesar" was like the King or Emperor of a place called Rome, and Caesar's Salad was invented especially for him in a castle called "Caesar's Palace" which is in a place called Las Vegas. (sounds kinda foreign to me) Andrea says that since I'm eating food made for a King, I can be King Beanie of Paris for the whole day!!!

After lunch, we went for a walk by the river. Over there, that's the Palais de Justice. Maybe we should send Eurostar there for not helping us get a hotel last night??

We crossed over a bridge and had a look round. That's a fancy entrance, eh? Andrea wanted to show me a place called Notre Dame, but it was really busy around there because some guy called Pope had come to Paris to talk to lots of people. There was also lots of Police vans around too, so we headed back towards the river. After last night at the station, I don't like crowds.

Oh, isn't that a pretty clock!! That's on the Palais de Justice.

We walked past lots of street vendors and book sellers by the river. There's a picture there of a very angry looking cat - I wonder if he got stranded by Eurostar too?? I know the feeling...!

There's that pyramid again!! We had fabulous weather today, it was glorious!

We walked past a pet shop and saw some of my cousins in the window!! It's not fair that they don't have a bidet to wash in though.....

There's another outdoor shower thing! This one's bigger though.....

We then went back to the hotel for a rest. Andrea said that being stranded in Paris meant it was A Special Occasion and so I could start eating my Macarons that she bought me!!!

YIPPPEEEE!!! These are FABOOOOOO!!

We met up with our new friends for dinner again. We went to a Posh Restaurant for dinner and Andrea ordered me Salmon with a creamy salad which was very tasty!!

Corinne took this picture of me and Andrea sharing an "Iceburg" which is mint flavoured ice cream with hot chocolate sauce on top!!! I think Andrea likes icecream and chocolate as much as I do, she looks very happy there!!

Then we all crashed out at the hotel. Andrea said it was best to get an early night because we had lots of travelling to do the next day.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........