London, UK

We packed up the suitcase and took a trip to London. We rented a few books from the library before we left to read up on the sites. We always have to the children into consideration because they generally don't like museums and walking longer then 4 minutes.  If it was up to them, they would want to stay in the hotel room and watch iPad, only taking breaks to eat ice cream. The books revealed that London had a lot to offer -- from loads of museums and history, to ferris wheel rides. In the end, we were able to see a lot, but it took some bribery and convincing that all the sites were going to be awesome! We went over the Columbus day 4-day weekend and were surprised to see as many tourists also picked the same weekend. We stayed right by the Tower of London and right next to a "tube" station.  The weather held out and we only got a few hours of rain. All and all, it was a good time. Here are some pictures:

We flew in and took the train into the city.  The views from the train station did not disappoint! The girls were fascinated with the ferris wheel -- the London Eye, which we kind of used as a bribe :)

After we dropped our stuff of at the hotel, we jumped on the tube and headed to Westminster.  As soon as we got out of the train station, we saw Big Ben.... we heard that it was under construction, so we weren't surprised to see the scaffolding. At least we could still see the top. 

We walked around to get the lay of the land and saw the hoards of red double decker busses. 

We had to explain to the girls what These booths are used for.... they thought it was weird that you had to go in a booth talk! 

We pre-bought tix to visit the Tower of London the first morning. We were the second ones in line. We got to see the guards open the door and march to put them up. 

We immediately went to look at the Crown Jewels. We read that his fills up really fast so we made a mad dash to see it. We stopped outside the entrance to for a pix with the guard. The crowned jewels and all the treasures that belong to the Queen were pretty impressive. We saw a ceremonial spoon and punch bowl. The girls got a kick out of all the jewels and the fact that it all belonged to an actual Queen. 

We read up about the Ravens in the Tower... the ravens are some what of a good luck charm.  Legend has it that if the ravens depart the tower, the tower (kingdom) will fall. So, to keep the ravens inside the walls, they cut their wings and feed them well. Here is one that was snacking on a rat. Second to the London Eye, the girls thought this raven eating a rat was most fascinating thing we saw in London.  They also had cages for them where they de facto remained in the tower... cheating if you ask me, but the tower will never fall this way. 

Inside the Tower of London with the Tower Bridge (mistakenly called the London Bride).

The Tower Bridge was very picturesque.  We actually got to see the draw bridge raise up when we walked across it. They girls thought that was pretty cool. 

Westminster Abbey. To be honest, we both thought the Italian Cathedrals are much prettier then this one... but there is a lot of history behind it and underneath it. Some important Kings and Queens rest here... pictures were not allow inside. But we did see the Coronation Chair and tons of sarcophaguses. 

In my opinion, this was the girls' highlight. The Coca Cola London Eye. It was a 30 minute ride around that cost $120 for the four us us!! It did offer some good views but not $120 worth.  We heard London was a pretty expensive that that ended up being the truth. A modest meal for the four of us was ~$80. A little steep but it was worth it, i guess. 

Ellis has transformed into a little ham. But they got a kick out of moving around the gondola and seeing the sights.. in fact, I think they were more interested in the computer screens that told you what ever thing was.... I think they logged more time looking at those screens then they did looking outside the gondola. Turds. 

This was towards the top looking at Parlimant, Big Ben and Westminster. Shannon says she can see Buckingham Palace from this pic. 

We've always know that there was a town near London that had the name, "Leyton." And we knew we had to go there. We jumped on the tube and headed towards the NE of the city to Leyton. It is on every Tube map and sign, and LC got a kick out of it when they made the announcement that we had arrived at the Leyton station. 

There was the Leyton station, the Leyton Grocery store, the Leyton Park and on and on.... 

It soon became a competition to see who had more.... Ellis gently reminded LC that she had an Island, a Street (in North Carolina), a restaurant and a truck (in Amsterdam). There really wasn't anything to the Town though. We just found a park and they ran around. 

We also checked out the Horse Guard Stables.

And Buckingham palace. We didn't see the changing of the guard, which would have been cool, but it saved us from getting there hours before the actual event to get a spot. There was also the London half-marathon going on near the palace so there was a lot of people around. 

This was the National Gallery. It was also one of the stops we and to bribe the kids with. LC was semi interested because she has learned about some of the painters at school. And we went to the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and we remembered that his famous sunflower painting (pictured above) was not in the museum, but somewhere in London. So it was cool for her to close that loop and see it here. They had painting from Monet, Manet, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, da Vinci, and other people I I don't know. 

We spent a few hours at Trafalgar Square. The kids liked climbing all over the lions and monuments. Everyone was doing it, so it was okay. 

The tube turned out to be really convenient and awesome. It was nice to be in a native English speaking country and not have to guess if we were right. \

This was after ice-cream one night. We walked down to the Thames River to check out the Tower bridge that was all lit up. 

Obligatory picture in a red phone booth in London!