Important Announcement & My Dream Trip 4

Well--my important announcement is that I will not be going private. I have weighed the pros and cons and there are other reasons for my decision but I will stay public. And now on to my vacation. On day 4 we got up earlier than I ever want to get up again and we headed to the train station. We got on the train headed to London. It was a 2 hour train ride so at least we got to catch a little nap. The train was really nice and went really fast. When we got to London and walked outside, the first thing we saw was this: Kings Cross station. Pretty cool--our kids especially loved the pictures because of Harry Potter. We headed out on our journey (walking of course) and we came across this: It was pretty cool--I wish we had time to go inside and look around but we were on a schedule. We walked to Hyde Park, which is GORGEOUS. The parks there are HUGE and very peaceful. Here is a sign we saw in the park: We headed off a little ways further and finally arrived at our destination:

Buckingham Palace. The flag was flying so the Queen was there. We got there just in time for the changing of the guard ceremony. It was really neat to see and I am glad that we got there in time. Here are some pictures of the ceremony:

We left after the ceremony and headed back through the park when we came upon this:

The Spencer home (as in Princess Diana's family). VERY cool. Then we headed here:

Trafalgar Square. Awesome. We grabbed some lunch at a TGIFriday's and then we decided to take a double decker bus tour. We saw so many amazing things and I really learned so much. We finally saw this:

Parliament and Big Ben. I am just here to say that this building is fantastic. The intricate design and the sheer magnificence of it overwhelmed me. Then we got a glimpse of this bad boy:

The London Eye. It is HUGE!! We didn't have time to ride it but I am sure I would have peed my pants if I did. We got a river tour free with our bus tour so we took a ride down the Thames where we saw the actual London Bridge, which the children's song is about. The we saw this:

The Tower Bridge. It was AMAZING. We did walk across it too which was pretty cool. Next is another shot of Parliament and Big Ben.

This building is The Gherkin. They named it that because they thought it resembled a cucumber. The we spent some time checking out this amazing place:

The Tower of London. It was just FANTASTIC and AMAZING. We wanted to go on a tour but we got there 1/2 hour before it closed and so we didn't. We had such a short time in London and we had to choose very carefully what we wanted to do/see. The next day (Day 5) we got up and decided to take a tour of Westminster Abbey. Sadly, you are not allowed to take pictures inside. But I am here to say that it was STUNNING. We happened to be there on September 11th and they had a prayer and moment of silence for all those that died on that day. I was bawling like a baby. The prayer was beautiful and it was very spiritual for me. We headed back to Paris after that and then we just did some shopping.

We headed home the next morning but because of the train system being worked on (and we had NO idea), we missed our plane. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown because the man at the counter was being a real jerk and was going to charge us each $400.00 to get home (which would have meant $800.00 per couple). Luckily for us a really nice man came to the counter and told him we didn't know the train was down and to book us on the next available flight for free. Thank goodness for him!! Then we got to witness (well--we couldn't actually see it but we sure heard it) a bag being blown up RIGHT there in the airport check in area. A little un-nerving. We made it home a little later that we were supposed to but safe and sound and that was the important thing. Now, I am soooooooo ready to go back!!