Last Day in London

We are finally here  .. the last day. The London part has gone quickly, maybe because there is so much to do.
Had a little tense moment this morning  when checked our flight online at Heathrow and couldn't find it. Eventually it was posted on the site, too many planes taking off and ours was late at night. Felt much better when actually saw it in departures tho.
We had to check out of our hotel at 11am, so left bags there and went off.
Firstly we went on an Adventure to find the Star pub, the one that Simon and Michelle used to drink at when they lived in London. We made it a mission to have a drink there, and what a mission it was. Got on the right train (it was in Plumstead, a way out) then had to walk. Well, after walking miles and into some dodgy areas, (we kept asking these immigrant type people who either couldnt speak english, or didnt know) Felt very uncomfortable and we were about to give it a miss, when finally we found an English guy who gave us directions. We had walked about a mile too far, then had to walk it back, then another mile up a very long hill! (first hill we have found in London and we had to go up it!)/ Anyway, at the top it was like another universe, very lovely, old and green etc. found the Star, and liked the feel of that too. very English corner pub, but very welcoming. Had drinks on you guys Simon and Michelle! Cheers!
Here's the proof.

After that we caught a bus to Greenwich Park, not far away, and that is where the Royal Observatory is. It is also where the horse riding/dressage is going to be as well. YOu could go up to the Observatory area at the top of (another) hill, and look down on the area being built. Lots of temp. horse stables being put up as well, like huge marquee tents. Hope they have air con for the horses as it was rather hot day there.

We paused at the Meridan line, the line that determines west/east longitude.

We then went on and looked at the Royal Observatory, lots of clocks and telescopes etc. this has been going since 1600, and old charts for plotting based on the stars were there as well.

Right beside the park is Greenwich village, which is a lovely old marine type village. There was the replica of the Cutty Sark there .

By that stage it was time to get back to the hotel, get our bags, hop on the tube to Heathrow. Very packed out tube, so I managed to get a seat but poor Dave was standing up squashed in a corner with the bags for 45 mins! Heathrow was quite easy to navigate from their tube station (yes they have one). Our terminal was huge, but we were flying Virgin Atlantic, which had a big area all to themselves. We upgraded to more leg room seats for Dave (cost 30 pound but worth it for a 12 hour flight), and voila we were done! very quick check in, and no queues. All good so far. We got through security etc fastish, and out to departure area. this was huge, lots of shops and food areas, yet everyone was crowded in the middle around a huge tv screen watching the final of the Euro football cup (Spain won against Italy by the way!) it meant no crowds in the bars either, so that meant mostly Australians and NZers who werent interested in soccer had a place away from the others. All still going well, got to boarding lounge (not too far- some can take 30 min walk!) and into plane. Good seats, tv on back of seats etc quite happy then ..... sorry we have a technical diff., sorry we have an electrical fault and are calling the engineers, sorry there is a delay of 30 min. sorry there is a delay of another hour !! seriously, we sat on that plane for one and half hours before even taking off! no one was happy and they gave out water etc but honestly, you'd think that they would check all this stuff before boarding passengers! Anyway, we left at 12.30 in the morning (instead of 10.30pm) so tired before even starting. then couldn't sleep, so very long flight!