Surprise surprise

Our last night in UK for this time was summed up so well by Maia, that I will let her speak on her own:

"It all started at my uncle's and aunty's house in England. We were getting dressed for the big surprise party for my mother that we had planned for weeks. We went outside and it was very cold but we walked anyway. When we got to the restaurant she was really surprised and said double thank you to my cousins, uncles and aunties and to me and my father.

After all the thank yous we ordered food and drinks. The grown-ups talked and talked and talked ... I was starting to get bored so I played on my new iPad that I got for Christmas.
In the mean time of all the talking my mum got a badge that said "birthday girl" on it.

When all the food came we ate and then we ordered desserts. Right after that the lights went out and all the service guys came out with a big smile and a birthday cake and put it on the table in front of her. 

She was so happy that she cried. Meanwhile we all sang "happy birthday". 

The cake was chocolate, my favourite (NOT). 

We ate the cake and took ALOT of pictures.

It was starting to get late so we went back home. When we got back we were so exhausted we fell asleep right away."

Crocodile Dundee at Witney

Our tour d'Angleterre took us next to a town in Oxfordshire called Witney where Ian's cousin Anna lives with her husband and daughter. Together they run a B&B - The Laurels, which we can highly recommend if you would ever find yourself in this part of the world. We were lucky, they had a couple of vacancies over the holidays, so we got a room at the inn.

Great food, lovely company and a nice day out at the ... Crocodile Farm?!

Crocodiles of the World

"The zoo owes its beginning to one man – our founder Shaun Foggett.
From the first scribble on a notepad right through to the building's construction, Shaun has been the driving force behind the zoo and the Crocodiles of the World organisation."

"The ultimate aim of Crocodiles of the World, and all those working for the conservation of crocodiles, is to see wild populations of all crocodilian species recover to unthreatened numbers and to promote well managed and sustainable use of resources in crocodile habitats."

It is a truly amazing place! Imagine finding crocodilians and hard work to recover threatened species - in Oxfordshire!

 Feeding time

We learned a lot and had a good and completely unexpected day out.

Sausage rolls, Christmas pud and a wee mince pie

It was a wonderful albeit hectic week in UK. Ian's family has spread out a bit so we have the good fortune of seeing a bit of the lovely English countryside visiting aunties, cousins and childhood friends. 
We had a very nice couple of days just outside Abinger Hammer south of London with the family.

Christmas Day presented itself with the most fabulous weather, perfect for a long walk to work up a good apetite.

After almost an hour's walk we arrived in the little village of Abinger Hammer and crossed the bridge ...

... looking the other way was a quaint little house that used to be a mill - the stream was running under it so probably one would find a water wheel inside.

We went in and did find a water wheel, and a nice watering hole ...

Brilliant! Just what we needed.

 Merry Christmas everybody

Well, at some point we had to get back to the turkey. On the way I spotted this door and had to take  pic :-)

Before everybody went into a food coma time to check out if Father Christmas had been in the night.

 Jem got his share as well. "Wait for it, wait for it"

 "Go"

Father Christmas seem to have left his elf behind. Oh, well, pick him up next year. He's nice so we'll keep him.

Off to the kitchen whoever has the urge.

 

What time is it Maia? Oh, lovely watch there ;-)

We had a lovely Christmas Day and the traditional Bubble and Squeak on Boxing Day, with a famous visitor ... times three.

Thanks! See you next time.

Christmas Eve with Harry Potter

Yeah, Christmas Eve was a little out of the ordinary this time - the Stokoe Westbergs got out of bed early on a day off!!! On top of that, the day was spent in Harry Potter's footsteps throughout the wonderful city of London.
First out King's Cross station. We searched and searched, got bruised bumping into walls here and there, but alas.

Finally we spotted a long queue of people inside the station - aha!

If you go there, do visit the fabulous Harry Potter Shop next to the famous platform 9 3/4.

 Remember, swish and flick!

 Next stop - wobbly Millenium Bridge. No death eaters in sight on that day, pew!

A walk along the Thames took us to ...

... Gringott's Wizarding Bank. Well, they used the inside of this building, which is the Australia House.

It was getting late and we had a dinner appointment in the evening. Before that we just had to pay a visit to Hamley's 

Meet my family :-)

Father Christmas arriving on a ... bicycle rikshaw? This Christmas Eve certainly is out of the ordinary. Did make us feel a bit "at home" though.

We managed to find a double decker bus (check) to take us back to Victoria Station and as luck would have it the front seat upstairs was free, in fact, we had the whole bus to ourselves (for a while anyway).