We had looked at the forecast so booked on line to do the London Eye at 2pm today. The forecast was good for today but not for the rest of the week. Then after a couple of false starts (leaving keys and on line confirmation behind) we helped Irene get an Oyster (train) ­card, topped up our cards and set off for our station. Acton Central is not quite the closest but is on the Piccadilly line so is very useful.

We got off at Piccadilly Circus right by a tourist booking centre and saw they sold show tickets . What about going to Jersey Boys? They had cheap seats still for Wednesday and more expensive ones on Thursday. We had a brief chat and went back to book for Wednesday. We were told to return to get the tickets on Wednesday then later I looked at the piece of paper I had and went through the same concerns Irene had had about the genuineness of what I had just done.

We then walked to the National Gallery where we had morning tea before looking around for about an hour. We did retrace much of the route John and I had done a few weeks ago but that didn't matter because there is always more to see. We also enjoyed seeing the Constable works after visiting the area. We could recognise Willy Nott’s house as well as the Hay Wain view and the Mill. There were attendants in most of the rooms and also sensors near some of the most valuable works.

We walked to the London Eye, past a couple of guards on horses, a statue of women at war and the new Battle of Britain Memorial. We had thought we might do the walk that had been recommended at St Clement Danes which would have taken us to here but it was even nicer to stumble across it. We then went over the river to the Eye site. We had been asked to be there at about 1pm to give us time to collect tickets and queue to join a ride between 2pm and 2.30pm but we didn’t need that amount of time. Although it was reasonably busy we had no queues for the new 4D attraction (really 3D with water spray at a couple of stages) and a quickly moving queue for the ride . The fast track people had their own way in next to us but would have been in about 3 cars before us and given how much extra they paid we felt very pleased not to have opted for fast track. We had our bags checked when in the queue for the ride but not for the 4D and not for the galleries.

The ride was at its best as we rose because we had great views first of the Houses of Parliament to the south before we concentrated on looking north where we could see Cleopatra’s needle in the foreground as well as the Jubilee bridges (now braced so they don’t wobble) and Charing Cross station. We could see the gherkin bank building (John calls it the condom) and St Paul’s dome in the distance but not quite Tower Bridge or the tower of London We had blue skies but with a slight bit of haze. When we went over the top the glare from the sun made photos more difficult but did make the river look nice. Otherwise it was quite brown looking although seemed very clean otherwise. We could also see groups of people enjoying the sun in the nearby Golden Jubilee Park. We actually finished the ride before out scheduled start time of 2pm.

There were a real mix of people in our pod. 2 had really fancy cameras and would have had some very good shots. There was one small girl who enjoyed wandering around and leaning on the glass sides for a better view – something I couldn’t quite do. There was a photo area marked which foolishly I thought meant you would get the best shots from here but actually meant you should stand here to get in the pod photo which they had for sale after the ride .

We walked back to Trafalgar Square where we bought lunch from one of the many Pret-a-manger stores. We have used them a bit in the past because their food is always so fresh and today was no exception. We sat on the steps in the middle of the square and ate our lunch in the sun.

While we were in the area we decided to go to the National Portrait Gallery. This was a different experience to the National Gallery as it was more of a history lesson. Some of the portraits were not great works of art but we usually recognised the various kings, queens and 'important people’ they represented. We started in the Tudor area but also went through the latest area. Many of the recent works were sculptures as well as paintings, or paintings in a less realist style. I liked the one of a conductor which had his head and then two hands one holding a baton. We also found a few New Zealanders, including Rutherford and Ramsey but not Ed Hillary.

By the time we had finished here we were all ready to return to Acton. We had a change of line on the way with a long walk through the tunnels but the system is very clear and we were soon back at Margaret’s. We had a discussion about a meal and then Don drove us all to the same riverside pub we had gone to on our first stay. This time the river was full although it was soon too dark to see much. I again had the pork belly and Irene the lamb shanks (which she compared favourably to the meals on the cruise).