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We joined a Christmas tour yesterday. It’s lovely to celebrate Christmas with people from all over the world. Our tour guide is a Canadian. It’s really much better than staying at home. All tube stations were closed. London was “dead” on Christmas day.
We had a tour around London first. London looked extraordinary beautiful early on Christmas morning, especially the Tower Bridge.
Most public toilets were closed. We finally stopped at a hotel on the way to Oxford. All of us had to queue up for one toilet only. Qianyi did a wee wee around 7am. It’s already 10am when we used the toilet. Luckily, a kind American lady asked if my little girl needed the toilet urgently. So, we were allowed to use it first because Qianyi was the only kid on the tour.
While waiting for others, Qianyi enjoyed herself at the playground. Although our tour guide told us to “pee as fast as you can”, but there’s only one toilet available for the whole bus of passengers.
Oxford looks a bit like Cambridge but it’s not as beautiful as Cambridge. Our tour guide’s friend opened his souvenir shop for us. We didn’t go in because we were not interested in Oxford T-shirts or souvenirs. Qianyi kept running around. We could see bicycles everywhere, just like Cambridge. We visited the toilet of the cake shop next to the souvenir shop. As long as there’s a toilet, I would bring Qianyi there. We didn’t know when we could find a toilet after that.
We had our Christmas lunch at a pub in Stratford. It’s very Christmassy there. We had turkey and Christmas pudding. Qianyi ate a bit of bread and roasted potatoes only. But she had a good time watching us pulling the crackers.
Stratford is Shakepeare’s birth place. Hubby and I went there once almost 10 years ago. We visited it when the weather was warmer back then. There were lots of lovely flowers. It is winter now and it was getting dark when we reached there. So, it didn’t look as nice as 10 years ago.
On our way back to London (about 2 hour drive), Qianyi fell asleep. The Canadian lady who sat beside Hubby said Qianyi’s a very good girl. When she’s on the bus, she sat still with safety belt on. When she’s out of the bus, she would keep running around. So, it’s “sit sit sit, run run run”…hahaha.. She enjoyed Christmas very much! 
It’s Qianyi’s last day at Queensborough Nursery today. We bought some nice chocolate for the teachers. It’s just a small token to thank them for taking good care of Qianyi.
Every teacher knows our little girl well. We are going to miss them. I took photos of Qianyi with each teacher. They gave her a hug, some carried and kissed her. They really treated her well.
I felt sad too when they hugged me. They are my friends in London. I have joined them for outings, workshops etc. It’s Qianyi’s 3rd school. I didn’t feel sad on her last day at White Lodge and Hungry Caterpillar.
I’ve promised them that I’ll keep in touch with them via email. I’ll let them know about Qianyi’s progress in new school. They told me to find a good school for Qianyi where the teachers will take good care of her and find her a good speech therapist as well.
Goodbye Queensborough…
We are going back to Singapore very soon. There are 10 more days to go. Oh, how time flies…we have been here for almost 10 months!
It’s warmer today with temperature around 11C. We went shopping at Oxford Street. We’ll try to take more photos around London since we are leaving soon. We are going to miss here although we want to go home so badly.
Here’s a picture of my two precious darlings.
Some photos taken on the street, including one of the buskers… They were playing some fantastic Christmas songs.
Qianyi’s having a great time playing with toys at Disney.
As usual, the little one didn’t eat much during lunch. She doesn’t like to eat out. She had some ice-cream and French fries only.
Her teacher told me she ate very little at the nursery’s Christmas party too. When I asked her if she wanted to share my lunch after the party, she told me she had her lunch at the nursery. When I asked what she ate, she said “Qianyi eat crisp.” She was telling the truth. Her teacher told me she had a small plate of crisp only. She usually eats quite a lot of rice at home. She prefers to have home-cooked meals.
Qianyi attended the Christmas party at the nursery today. She had lunch with her little friends. I was told to join her at 1pm, so I had one extra hour to enjoy “me” time.
Father Christmas arrived at 1pm, that’s why parents had to be there because some children might be scared of him.
My little darling was so happy to put on the lovely crown her teacher made for her.
It’s the children’s happiest moment when they received a present from Santa Claus.
My little sweetheart walked home happily holding the present from Santa.
Hubby took a day off yesterday. We went to New Wimbledon Theatre to watch Cinderella! It’s the first time we visited Wimbledon. It’s a nice place. The theatre is huge and beautiful.
The pantomime started at 2pm. We went straight to the tube station after picking Qianyi up from the nursery. It’s quite a distance from our place to Wimbledon.
This pantomime is a wonderful family show. It’s very christmassy. There were real beautiful ponies on the stage! Prince Charming’s really charming. He’s Gareth Gates. He was the runner up in the first ever Pop Idol back in 2002. A debut number one single and album followed, followed by a string of top five singles, five further number ones, sold out arena tours and to date a staggering 3.5 million record sales in the UK alone. But, I didn’t know him before I watched Cinderella..ha! I enjoyed his singing anyway. He has great voice. Cinderella was played by Joanna Page, a cute and petite girl. Alistair McGowan took up the role of Baron Hardup. He’s very funny. I didn’t know he’s quite famous either.
Qianyi enjoyed the atmosphere very much. Some kids sitting two rows in front of us were wearing costumes. A boy dressed up as a prince. They were full of pantomime spirit.
Our little angel would clap her hands and shout, “Yeah yeah yeah…” Hubby and I were so happy to see her in high spirit. She looked so cute! But she fell asleep later. The show started at 2pm and ended at 4.30pm. She fell asleep at 3.45pm.
Hubby took half day off today to attend the concert at the nursery. They presented a Christmas play called “The 12 days of Christmas”. Our darling girl dressed up as a goose for the geese a-laying.
She was holding a basket with golden eggs inside when all the teachers and children were singing the song.
She told us later that she’s a little princess because she was wearing a crown.
Oh, we have a real tree at home this year. It’s better than a fake tree. It smells nice!
We joined a coach tour on Sun. It’s a day trip. We love the 3 amazing places we visited. Our blue badge tour guide is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic.
We first went to Windsor Castle. Our guide told us to get our camera ready right before we reached Windsor. Our driver slowed down for us to snap some photos from our coach when he drove past some beautiful scenery.
Oh, it was freezing that day. We wrapped Qianyi up with Hubby’s scarf although she’s already wearing a turtleneck top inside.
Our tour guide showed us around before we entered the castle. We walked past a very special English tea house. It’s called the Crooked House of Windsor. This restaurant’s famous tilt is the result of unseasoned green oak being used in a renovation project back in 1718. We saw another restaurant called Falstaffs. William Shakespeare lived there in 1597 when writing “The Merry Wives of Windsor”. Hubby took a picture of me and Qianyi at the shortest street in Britain. It’s Queen Charlotte Street, 51 feet 10 inches in length.
Next, we visited Windsor Castle. It’s one of the Queen’s official residence. It’s the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world. The Queen spends most of her weekends at the castle. Our guide told us the royal flag would be flying above the round tower if the Queen’s there.
Windsor Castle is pretty huge and it’s absolutely fantastic. Hubby and I think it’s the most impressive castle in the world. There was no photography allowed inside the castle. There’s Queen Mary’s famous doll house, a great collection of drawings, pictures of the Queen and the royal family etc.
From the castle, our guide showed us where Eton College was. It’s the world famous British independent school for boys. Both Prince William and Harry attended the prestigious Eton College.
On our way to Stonehenge, we stopped by The Bell, a pub to have our lunch. We placed our order on the coach and our guide called the pub to prepare everything. When we reached the pub, they were ready to serve us with the meals. It’s great because it saved us a lot of time.
Stonehenge is the most outstanding prehistoric monument in the British Isles and is a World Heritage Site. We enjoyed the beauty of the stones. Our tour guide told us every time the stones were counted, a different result would come out. That sounded a bit spooky..haha..
Next, we ventured into Bath. Qianyi fell asleep when we were almost there. I had to wake her up and she wasn’t very happy. Well, she was cranky when we visited Roman Baths. She didn’t have enough sleep the night before because we left home at 7am on Sun. She was very tired and needed a nap. Luckily, she’s happy again when we had a ride on the merry-go-round outside Roman Baths.
Bath is a beautiful city. We didn’t get to take more pictures because the little one was grumpy. She fell asleep on our way home. It’s already 8.30pm when we reached our little apartment. It’s a long day but a good one.
London Underground is better known as the Tube. The nickname comes from the shape of its tunnels.
You can see the cylindrical shape of the tunnel in the picture above. Take a look at the passengers. They were walking to a circular passageway!
The platform itself looks like a tube too.
While we were taking the long and steep escalator, we realized we were inside a tube too!
Now, we know why it’s nicknamed the Tube.
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