London (sans kids) Day 4

We only had until noon, so we decided to go check out the Churchill War Museum knowing that it wouldn't hold the interest of the kids.  I loved the war rooms.  They are set up just like they were left and it was really an informational tour.  The interactive part of the museum about Winston Churchill himself was a bit of an information overload for me.  I wasn't expecting it, so it took me by surprise.  It was well put together though and all the technology used in the interactive displays was impressive.

These maps were used to track both sides progress during WWII.  They are extensive and completely peppered with pin holes!

Our time was up.  Time to board the train and head back to Stanstead to catch our flight home.  While at the airport we were immediately reminded that we were heading back to Spain and it's idiosyncrasies.

We are always laughing at how the Spanish approach lining up.  We are taught as young kindergarteners to line up single file, wait our turn and be respectful of other people's space.  Those things are over looked here in kindergarten.  It's not in the culture here to wait patiently.  If you don't take your turn quick enough, someone else will step in and take his/her turn instead...you are seen as weak...not polite.  Interesting.  It was nice to be in England and have a bit of a reprieve from some of these idiosyncrasies that make us different from Spaniards.

Anyway, back to my story.  At the airport we were reminded of these differences when they called our flight number to board and people literally ran to get in line.  Now, it gets better.  Look at the following two photos.

The first shows a line of people headed for the Netherlands.   Notice how they are neatly standing in line by singles or twosomes.

Now look at the line of people headed to Spain....oh wait???  are you confused???  there is no line!  it's just a bunch of people packed in all trying to get through the same door!  you just have to take it in stride and have a laugh because this is how it is folks...this is how it is...

Cheerio Britain...until next time!

London (sans kids) Day 3

We hit the ground running today.  We had a lot of city to cover and this was our only full day together to site see.  We headed straight to Trafalgar Square because we wanted to tour the National Gallery.  We saw Leonardo's, Michelangelo's, Caravaggio's, Vermeer's, Monet's, Manet's, Van Gogh's, Renior's, Botticelli's, Degas, Seurat, Cezanne...they're all there!  It was a wonderful gallery in a gorgeous building.  Man, I love the impressionists!  They just knock my socks off!

As we exited the gallery out onto Trafalgar Square we were greeted by two Scottish Pipe bands.  Hearing them play made us really feel like we were in the British Isles, and very excited to go to Scotland and Ireland before we head back to the states permanently. 

This part of downtown London kind of makes a triangle.  Trafalgar Square is one point.  If you look at the picture below, you can see the second point, Big Ben.  If you walk diagonally to the right (in this picture) you'll come to Buckingham Palace.  It's quite a haul if you walk it all, but doable and really fun.

We walked down past No. 10 Downing Street.  It was crazy crowded so we didn't even bother to stop.  We did stop to see the Royal Guards though.  They're so serious, but one of them did acknowledge me when I thanked him for allowing me to photography him. 

Day 3 and still raining...man they weren't kidding when they said it rains in England all the time!

Here is a view of the London Eye. 

Westminster, we didn't go inside, but it's pretty massive.

Here is the entrance that Catherine used before she married Prince William....Emry was excited about this because she remembers watching the wedding with my mom and me last year.

St James's Park is the oldest park in London.  We loved walking through this park.  We will definitely take the kids back here.  It was gorgeous with all the spring flowers and we arrived just as the park keeper was feeding the pelicans....and you know how I adore pelicans!!  They were big daddy ones too, huge!  You can tell they loved all the attention and they hung around the crowd for quite some time after mealtime was over.

This heron was just hanging out minding his p's & q's.

I was enamored by these little coots.  They were everywhere and have the coolest feet.

We arrived at the peak of the bloom and the gardens were overflowing with beautiful flowers everywhere we went.  I'm sure I drove Trent crazy constantly stopping, making him wait in the rain, while I took flower pictures.  But, he was a great sport and never complained once.

It doesn't get much better than tulips for me.  They just make me happy.

Our first view of Buckingham.  It's pretty impressive setting, beautiful.

I know it's blurry, but I had to show that we were there!

Palace guards

royal crest

We wanted to spend the afternoon perusing the shops on Portobello Road, so we headed for the Underground.

Had to snap this shot while taking the underground to Nottinghill.

We ate the best lunch and sticky toffee pudding at the pub at the entrance of Portobello Road from the Nottinghill Gate direction.  I can't remember the name, I'll have remember it when we bring the kids back because it was yummy food.

We enjoyed looking at all the goods.  We found a huge variety and could have bought tons and tons, but we're flying Ryanair...so no dice!  We did find a few vintage tin signs for Trent's office.  The sad part was that because of the rain the outdoor vendors started closing up shop early, so we didn't get to spend as much time here as we would have liked.

This is just a chain clothing store, but I loved how they had it decorated.  Really unique idea.

interesting advertising

Mmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmm....yes please!

After getting rained out, we headed back to the hotel for a little rest.  We were tired of walking, but we had tickets to WICKED!  So back out we went.  We enjoyed the show.  The talent was wonderful and very entertaining.