Sunday 30th September - Arriverderci Rome and Hello London!

Sunday 30th September
After an action packed and all too brief visit to Rome we got up and packed our final things before hitting the chaos of the Rome airport. At least the kids have had a taste of Rome and all want to come back for more though they are not happy they didn't get to see the Colosseum - ah well, next time. As the plane took off earlier, to the amusement of the other passengers,  Finbarr yelled out, "Bye Gelati!!"  We are on the plane now and I'm finally catching up on my blogging - before I forget what we've been doing.  Damian is sadly not joining us in London - he's got to get back to work, but he's softened the blow by using frequent flyer points to upgrade to first class - very nice!
Ok - it now much later, we landed in London and collected our bags to hear Finbarr's next clanger... While walking through customs he yelled out, "Why do we have to go through here? They'll find our guns!! (Damian had taken the kids to a wooden toy shop and the kids had bought guns and swords which were in their suitcases). Great timing Finbarr!
We sadly farewelled Damian - it will be strange not to have him here this week but I'm sure he's coping with the champagne and massages in first class! We made our way to London and it was so exciting for me, especially when we got into familiar territory - from about Hammersmith onwards. The girls eyes lit up when we went past Harrods, Harvey Nichols and started seeing other well known sites or names. We are staying in a great spot - in Mayfair just off Piccadilly. This place looks better than what we saw on the Internet (unheard of) and it's fabulous - we have the whole floor.  Tink has rejoined us, but best of all, we've met up with Stephen, Lillian and Daniel. We had dinner with them tonight after having a walk up to Piccadilly Circus, seeing the lights and the sites, and watching the very excited kids going crazy.  We headed home reasonably early as we have a big day tomorrow - off to Harry Potter world in Watford.  

In other exciting news, Downton Abbey series 3 is on here. Peggy's great line of the night was, "I hope Tink doesn't arrive while Downton Abbey's on - I won't be going down to let her in!!  It's going to be a great week!