3rd Day in London

Very civilised to day. We went on a tour of Twickenham - just for Dave.
Bit of a mission to get there - had to train, tube, train to a suburb called Hounslow (getting out towards Heathrow) and thought we would get a taxi from there. One Problem ... no cabs anywhere to be found! I kid you not. We didn't even think there wouldn't be any taxis, as that is one thing London has plenty of - except there. In the end, after walking aimlessly around and missing our tour time, we asked two lovely police officers who walked us up some alley to a dodgy looking mini-cab shed (looks like the cab place on coro street) and ended up with a very strange Indian type driver who drove like a manic! thanks god it was only 3 miles away to Twickenham. Hounslow seemed to be a poor, lower area - lots of Indians, Muslims etc while Twickenham was rather rich, exclusive, lovely old buildings and gardens etc. 3 Miles between them.
Twickenham was a neat thing to do for Dave. We had about 8 of us on the tour (Welsh, English and us) and we went up to the highest level (scary looking down - wouldn't buy seats there). Into the corporate boxes, the executive suites etc where they entertain the Queen etc.then down to where the Royals sit and watch the game, and on to the turf. Except there wasn't any turf because they have pulled it all up, replaced the drainage etc (this has not been done since 1900) and will grow the state of the art turf on there ready for the next games. This is mainly to get ready for the RWC in 2015, so they look good to the world.
We got showed the coaches boxes, actually side by side with a low wall between, and into the changing rooms (well England's one) and showed where they sit, medical rooms etc.
All in all, very interesting.
It is not an old stadium (well it is, but it has all been pulled down and rebuilt to these flash stands with a roof that is designed to cover all the spectators)

looking down at the truf being fixed up.

Us playing royality in the Royal Box

this is where the players go up to when collecting the trophy from the Royal box, half way up

can you see how the roof comes way over to cover the audience?

this is the weather vane way up on top of one of the stands to help the goal kickers???

It has a game of rugby being played on it.

these are all inside the changing rooms - english

baths for the cold ice bath after the games

can you pick out the
all blacks?

After the tour we went to the Rugby Museum attached to it. This was fantastic, not just about English rugby, but the history of it, famous players etc. Lots of NZ ones to keep Dave happy. The latest is , of course, we have to come back here to watch a game! Totally unexpected reaction ???? I don't think so!