European Adventure : London, England!

Not sure that I have mentioned the news on here, but I just returned from a trip with my sisters and parents to Europe! (that would explain my absence on here...) We visited three countries. It was fun to have this journey with my family, it's been AGES since I've done a vacation altogether with them. In particular, I enjoyed exploring with my younger sister, who has never been out of the county (with exception of cruising) before, so it was neat to see all her reactions. We had a WONDERFUL time! Everything went smoothly. The first country we visited was England...

Boy was I ever glad I bought some boots before the trip! The only pair of shoes I had with me and they sure came in handy. London was rainy most of the time. All my other family members were trying to dry out shoes/socks/pants while I sat all nice and dry. Sort of nice though for us Arizonians! And the temperature...in all three places was awesome. Such a relief from our heat - I'd say temps ranged from the 60's to high 70's perhaps. When the sun came out, it was perfection. Beautiful days to be out and about exploring.

So yeah, arriving in London was a bit dreary. We tried to sightsee the first afternoon we were there, but it was pretty foggy and cloudy.

My first (and only) fish and chips of the trip. Good if you like fried fish :) I had to at least try it. 

Yay for the red bus London cupcake! Quite good actually. 

Our first full day in London was better. Rainy, but not as bad as the day before.

A typical English breakfast - involving sausage and tomatoes in particular

Now we can actually see Big Ben! It rang I think every 15 minutes

Westminister Abbey - gorgeous! I found it neat to actually get to see and picture where Will and Kate got married...she had quite the walk to the altar! We also were in time for a service there - so we listened to the gospel, had communion, the whole deal! How often can you say that?!

Tower of London

Poppies in remembrance of British soldiers

Was so excited about seeing this...but unfortunately disappointed. Not many "jewels" after all. 

From the London Eye

Looking from above

Daddy doesn't like heights...

Our last full day in London was the best (weather wise)! Thankfully the sun came out - good thing since we had a walking tour!

So this picture is for me...sigh...I wish we had these sort of stands along the street. Awesome produce. I grabbed some grapes this particular day.

Waiting for our tour to begin

Prime Minister's house (black building). Was surprised we were able to get this close to it.

If only I could have gotten this close to a palace guard...

Buckingham!

We had a lucky opportunity to tour Buckingham Palace, which only happens when the Queen leaves for Scotland July-September. I enjoyed it, however, with it being an "active" palace, I was hoping to see things like the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, staff running around working....sort of the day-to-day. What we saw was more of a "museum" part..though we did get to see the rooms where important photos are taken, like after Will and Kate were married and where they sat for their photo after George was baptized.

Following our tour, we had tea time!

Running in for tea!

Wishing I had the ability to eat these right out of the picture...DELICIOUS scones!

Loves it!

We could do this every afternoon

Lovely sandwich/dessert tower

Just when you thought you had enough dessert! Boysenberry gelatin, vanilla cream and whipped cream.

After our almost full day tour, we quickly visited Abbey Rd (everyone remember the album cover of the Beatles walking on a crosswalk?) and Notting Hill.

Not the "original" Abbey Rd crosswalk, but the one everyone uses for photo ops!

Not the real Notting Hill blue door from the movie either, but had to take a picture of it regardless! The owner of the original door re-painted the door because of all the tourists. Makes sense!

Finally, that evening, we went to an icebar...it's the way it sounds...a bar made out of ice!

We received jackets/gloves to wear inside, for about 35 minutes. Wasn't too bad in there. Kinda "cool" !

I would definately go back to London. So much more yet I would want to see. Plus, the subway system was great and clean, people dressed nice, no beggars on the streets, no one trying to sell you stuff, you could understand the language :) ....only downside is that it is expensive. In 2.5 days though I think we got through quite a bit!