London Weekend Trip

When my friend, Bri, said that she was going to London for a conference and that she didn't want to travel alone, I jumped on the opportunity for another trip to London.

 Our trip started off rocky when our 4:00 am shuttle to the airport never arrived.  We hurried by car to the airport and made it safely and on time.  We spent Friday exploring the city.  

 In all of my trips to London,  I had not been in the Portrait Gallery.  Shakespeare is above. 

 This horrible picture is a bust made out of the sculpture's blood!  YUCK!

 Our hotel was near Hyde Park, so we strolled over before dinner. 

 Peter Pan. 

 I had Saturday and Sunday to myself because Bri was in her conference.  I spent both days shopping and exploring.  I did make into the National Gallery.  

 Van Gogh's Sunflowers.  

 Monet's Waterlily Pond

 I took this picture for the boys.  Ethan and Lincoln hated this picture.  I thought it was funny!

 On Sunday, the London Marathon was happening.  The streets were pretty bare compared to Saturday's massive crowds.  

 Buckingham Palace is at the end of this street. 

 I fought these crowds on Saturday when shopping.  NOT my idea of fun!

I was able to find a few things, see a few things, and eat a few yummy things!  

I love LONDON!  

London Day 4

We started our last full day in London off at Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian.  

We also toured the Royal Observatory.  

In the middle of the museum I found some clocks and a log book from a watchmaker and inventor who spent time at the observatory.  Who knows?  Maybe we are related!

Once again, on our 2000 trip, Marilyn was enthralled by a tour given at the observatory.  They now only do audio guides, so I had Nate reenact the tour for her!

The views from here would be impressive if we didn't have such a foggy day.

The astronomer Halley spent time here too.  We found his Meridian Line on the wall.

I knew I had one little boy who would LOVE to tour the Cutty Sark.

He enjoyed it, but I think his brother may have enjoyed it more!

I found a sign that said on April 2nd they had a sleepover on the Cutty Sark.  

These guys would have loved that!

I don't know where the adults would sleep because these beds are tiny!

The fog cleared up and we were hungry!  

We all enjoyed fish and chips for lunch!

By 1:00 we were finished with our entire day's plans.  So, we headed to another train station across the Thames and made a quick decision to try to see Wimbledon.  

We had no clue where to go once we got off the train, but thankfully we found some signs to tennis!  We had about a 30 minute walk through Wimbledon Village.  It was beautiful.
On our way through the village, we noticed and mom and toddler walking towards us.  The little boy starts running to us.  He gets in front of Ethan, rears his arm back, punched Ethan in the gut.  Our jaws fell open and his mother called him back.  She apologized and walked off.  We all cracked up!  The rest of the day, we warned Ethan of toddlers passing us!

We peaked through the fence and found some of the courts.

And a rolex clock!

We were able to go to the Wimbledon museum and take a peak through the glass at Center Court.

Very cool!

Afterwards, we saw a few of the smaller courts.  The grass was very green!

I really enjoyed the museum.  We saw clothes from famous players such as Agassi, the Williams sisters, Jimmy Connors, John MacEnroe, lots of others.  This is Agassi's racket.  

Of course, the trophies were stunning.  

We enjoyed some cookies from Center Court to fuel us for the long walk to the tube!

After our walk and train ride back to the city, we ate some super yummy and super spicy Indian food.  I think I was too exhausted to remember to take any pictures. 

I don't think we could have had a better last Spring Break in Europe!  We all LOVE London!

London Day 3

 We started our day off walking down to Buckingham Palace.  Both boys are super independent.  We found them walking so far ahead of us a few times.  We usually yell, "GUYS" and they come back.  This morning, as the boys were way ahead of us again, Nate yelled, "GUYS" and these two officers jerked around.  They looked at Nate and said, "Us guys?"  He laughed and said no the little guys.  One officer laughed and said, "Oh good!  I thought we were in trouble!"  It was hilarious! 

 We got a few quick pictures of Buckingham Palace. 

 Then, we headed to see Wicked.

 We have been talking about seeing Wicked for years now!  On Wednesday, they have matinee showings which is perfect for our family!

 We had AMAZING seats!  No one sat in front of Ethan or Lincoln.  They had a perfect view!

 The show was the highlight of our trip.

 After the show, we walked down to see Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and Parliament.

 Once again, Ethan loved taking pictures. 

 Lincoln found Lincoln!

 We couldn't decided what to do for dinner, so we went back towards the hotel and had 

burgers and shakes again!  

At the end of the trip, I asked everyone what their favorite day was and this was Ethan's favorite day.