Two bongs from Big Ben

We got the front seats on the DLR on the way to meet Ally and Cat and it was great fun pretending to drive it! We met Ally and Cat for brunch in a delightful French café called Chez Antoinette near St James’ Park, then made our way to Westminster for our Big Ben tour. We have toured the Houses of Parliament before, but none of us had ever climbed the 334 steps up to the bell tower. The tour was great, the tour guide told us so many interesting facts about the clock tower, its history and mechanism. We had fantastic views from the top and then came the main event; we were provided with ear defenders just in time for the bells to chime the hour, and since it was 2 p.m. we were treated to two resounding “bongs” from Big Ben (which is the name of the bell rather than the tower.) The whole experience was even better than I had hoped. After a quick coffee, Ally and Cat took us to Portobello Road to see the shops and the market. On the way we noticed that the actress Celia Imrie was sitting near us on the tube; when we disembarked Ally offered to carry her case up the stairs for her. She accepted and called him a gentleman - I was so proud of him! We have never been to Portobello Road before and it was vibrant and busy, we were reminded of the song and dance scene from the film “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and we saw the bookshop that featured in the film “Notting Hill.” We went to a nearby pub for a tasty dinner and then took the tube across London to the National Theatre to see Ballet Shoes. Ballet Shoes is one of both Cat’s and my favourite childhood books, in fact Cat gave me a copy of the book and a DVD of the recent film for my birthday a few years ago. So going to the play felt like a bit of a risk in case it didn’t live up to our expectations. I need not have worried; it was an excellent production and we all enjoyed it. What a great day we have had!