Jenny Green and I were able to sneak away to London for a long weekend in October. Our hubbies were gracious enough to hold down the fort back home with the kiddos for 3 days. We said multiple times over the weekend that we came alone solely because of the expense (the exchange rate is horrible!) and also for the amount that we were able to see in a short amount of time. We had long, long days and meals on the go and the kids wouldn't have survived (or we wouldn't have survived dealing with them!) We had an amazing time...enjoyed the sites, dealt with the weather, and had some good girl-time and a much needed escape from the daily household grind.
We almost missed our flight to London even though we had left the house at 3:30am!!! There was highway construction and it put us off course by 45 min. The security line was insane (we had to cut, yikes!!) and then we could see our gate while waiting in the passport line and thankfully a gate guard came to our line to see if there were any more passengers and *allowed* us to cut the line again! We couldn't believe we were cutting it so close! But thankfully that was our only glitch other than fumbling around on the tube (subway) and trains some (which again we were grateful that we were alone!)
We took an hour bus ride from the airport to downtown London and these were some of the sites once we got into the city.
We arrived at 7am on Friday morning, but didn't get to our hotel until 9pm on Friday night (we didn't want to waste precious sight seeing time checking into our hotel which would have been about an hour roundtrip). And on Sunday, we checked out in the morning but didn't head to the airport until 3pm, so we opted for hiking backpacks for each of us for the weekend instead of attempting to roll our luggage everywhere. They worked out great and even had a water-proof cover to pull out which, unfortunately, we needed!
About a week before our trip, I checked the forecast and was soooo excited when I saw only sun, but of course it changed but it wasn't miserable! We had sun on Friday morning, and again all day on Saturday, but no luck on Sunday! (Again, yay that the kids weren't with us...we seriously said that all weekend!)
This is what $70 a night gets you in the outskirts of London...two twin beds and we got lucky and had our own bathroom/shower in the room. It was far from fancy, but it was clean and they had a free breakfast each morning (toast, jam, and coffee...we brought snacks and fruit and it definitely got us through each day) European hotels aren't anything like American hotels...usually twin beds and most have just a community bathroom.
This was our first stop on Friday morning, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace...the rain held off and we had a perfect spot in the front row, but we had to stand and wait for about an hour before it started (yay, no kids!)
We bought bus passes for the Hop On-Hop Off bus with The Big Bus company for a steal of a deal...about $45 for 48 hours which ran through Sunday midday for us!
The famous Harrods Department Store
A panoramic view of Trafalgar Square...
We would have a list of google questions at the end of our day that we'd search back at the hotel once we had wifi. We had no clue why a big blue chicken statue was next to *normal* looking horse statue. It's a project called the Fourth Plinth where artists are voted on to create a masterpiece to displayed in the square for 18 months. The chicken was the 6th piece of work.
Leaving the square...
I thought this was the Marble Arch, but it's not! Ha! No clue, but it's pretty!
The Wellington Arch
Walking through Hyde park on a gorgeous Saturday! Princess Diana's memorial is the top right picture...
The mounted guard
This was the only official restaurant we *stopped* to eat in over the weekend. Jenny collects the tshirts, so we had to go!!!
We had to get Fish and Chips at least once and had to shuffle our plans on the last day because of our guided tour at the Tower of London, so this became a quick lunch. And on the right were amazing Belgium waffles with Nutella and fruit...we could have eaten probably three!!! Again, we didn't plan on having that for dinner, but it was late and we were anxious to get back to the hotel at a decent time and relax and do some research before bed.
Our Big Bus tour came with a free cruise down the River Thames! Thankfully the weather was perfect!!!!
I always thought that this huge blue iron bridge was the London Bridge, but it's the Tower Bridge. The London Bridge wasn't anything fancy.
The Tower of London was built in the late 1000s by William the Conqueror. We didn't get to see everything there but we were told you needed about 3 hrs to take it all in. You can read more here.
So much death is associated with the tower!
Outskirts of the Tower
The Yeoman Guards, also known as Beefeaters (it is rumored that they used to be paid in meat), were responsible for escorting the prisoners to their death on Castle Hill. The guards must have 22 yrs of military service and they still live in the houses below. Now, their typical assignment is tour guides around the tower. The beefeater is in the bottom right picture...the ones with the black fuzzy hats are soldiers in the British Army.
Inside the White Tower
Over the centuries there have been numerous animals from polar bears, elephants, tigers, to ravens which were all presents to the Kings.
The Crown Jewels!!!
Just some fun around the city on our bus tour and walking...
The tube...
The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben...
Westminster Abbey
It represents the Great Fire of London in 1666
A picture of a post card in one of the souvenir shops... :)
This cracked me up!
We made it to Kings Cross Station just to see the Harry Potter memorabilia (yes we are nerds!). We read different articles online as to where to find it in the station, but it looks like they moved this trolley from the actual train dock between gate 9 and 10 we are assuming for safety reasons! The line was quite long just to get a free picture! :) There was a Harry Potter gift shop so we bought some Bernie Botts Every Flavor beans for the kids....pepper, vomit, earthworm, ear wax, soap, dirt, booger to name a few! We were brave and at least chewed it and spit it out! :) And a fun Harry Potter fact: JK Rowling picked Kings Cross Station specific because that is where her parents first met! :)
At the airport (WITH PLENTY OF TIME TO SPARE) ready to head home!! It was a perfect trip, but we were excited to see our babies (big and small!!)
The random souvenirs we brought home...coffee mugs for the kids (almost espresso size), the jelly beans, Peppa Pig stickers, a few pence, a magnet (for me), free rain ponchos from the Big Bus tour, a telephone booth bottle opener, and mini chewable toothbrushes that we got from a vending machine in the public bathroom...2 for a pound!
And some video snippets...the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben chiming at 6:00, and the soldiers at the Tower of London
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