April in London

Several of us read or half read "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffineger last year. When we met up and talked about it most of us said it was disappointing, nowhere near as good as the Time Traveler's Wife but we would like to visit Highgate Cemetery (where it is mostly set).

So that is what we did yesterday. We met up for lunch at Cafe Rouge in Highgate. Highgate village is REALLY nice but probably not the cheapest part of London. Trev had printed off a Google Map which let us down somewhat meanwhile Erin was directing us with the GPS on her smart phone. It all got rather competitive and it meant that we saw a great deal more of Highgate then we had intended. I felt that the extra exercise totally justified having chocolate cake for pudding after lunch.
Lunch was lovely with much talk of the royal wedding, of course. After which we ventured to the cemetery. Luckily Linda had a better map and a better idea of the area so we followed her advice. The cemetery is in two parts. The East which is the current working one and costs only £3 to go round and you can just wander round yourself and the West which you have to go round with a guide and costs £7. However you can't book a guided tour on a weekend but it said if your party is less than 10 you can just queue and it is first come first served, there were 9 of us. However that was not the way the hatchet faced battle axe at the gate saw it.
Three people went in before us then she let people in after us because we should have booked apparently. Brian did try and argue with her but she was having none of it. Wearing her badge of being a volunteer as a deadly weapon.
So we went to the East side which I actually think suited us better. We could wonder round at our own pace and it had both Douglas Adams and George Elliott who are better than the Rosettis anyway!

It is absolutely beautiful. Incredibly crowded with graves of all denomination and design. It is overgrown in places with ivy and holly and rosemary and bluebells. It was a perfect day weather wise and we had a lovely time.
After this we went for a stroll on Hampstead Heath where you can get a fantastic view of London then on the bus back to Linda's for tea and home made cakes. Kieran and I managed to have an altercation with an old bag on Parliament Hill.

Seriously, these people live in the wealthiest parts of one of the wealthiest cities in the world but it doesn't seem to make them happy. Erin pronounced, loyally, that she would die alone and Helen added that she would also be eaten by an Alsatian. We are not a vindictive family in the slightest!

It was a lovely day topped off for us by yummy nibbles from Marks and Sparks in front of Dr Who!
Perfect