The American dollar has been stronger lately against the Euro and the British Pound. I don't understand how, given the state of the American stock market right now... either way, we decided to take advantage of it and we made a short, weekend trip to London, England.
Here we are in front of Buckingham Palace. The statue behind us, in the center of the ring road, was built in in dedication to Queen Elizabeth. The only time they allow you to tour the interior of the palace (the staircase, etc) is in the summer when the Queen is on holiday. She was home this weekend.
We saw the changing of the guards, however the changing of the horse guards was much more exciting. These guards watch over the royal carriage and horses and when they change duty, there is a big parade down Buckingham Palace Road and as they pass the Palace, they salute the Queen, as you see in the photo below.
After seeing the palace, we went on a walk through St James's Park. You can walk along the River Thames, have a seat on one of the many benches and watch the swans, pelicans,etc. You can see the London Eye in the background of this photo:
After walking a while in the park, you run into a woodan building. This is "Inn the Park" which is a restaurant that sells picnic like snacks to go or you can sit in the restaurant inside or out on the balcony and have lunch or tea and dessert. I got a kick out of the name of Kurt's beer. Here are both of Kurt's Old Speckled Hens:
Of course we made a trip to "the city" and saw the houses of parliament and Big Ben. All of which was really beautiful when lit up at night:
Here we are eating some fish and chips in a good ole' English Pub in Mayfair, enjoying some of "London's Pride" :
We also made a trip out to see Westminster Abbey, the church where all the Kings and Queens of England are crowned into power and also where they are buried. There is a section inside the church called "Poet's Corner" where many famous poets are buried such as Woodsworth, Dickens, Browning, T.S. Eliot, etc. Now, take a guess who else is buried here... Charles Darwin.
We visited the Imperial War Museum, which had rooms and displays about every war in history. There were films, life sized model houses, the breakdown of the details of each war, etc but it was way too much to see in just one day. Here is Kurt with the world's largest "bullet":
Here is the Tower of London. We got a tour by the guards and heard the stories of the many prisoners held in this fortress or beheaded here between the 13th nd 18th centuries, including "A Man for all Seasons"... his name? Come on, you all read this in high school's English literatrure class... Sir Thomas Moore. There are 20 towers in total in this prison. This one below is the tower that currently houses the crown jewels, including the Imperial Crown. Sorry, we couldn't take photos inside, but it was quite impressive!
White Tower, this is where the "most esteemed" prisoners were kept. In it's working time, there were no stairs, so as to decrease the risk of escape.
The London Bridge! We got some warm, roasted hazelnuts from a vendor and walked the bridge and down the walkways of River Thames, as the sun went down (not that we saw much sun in London) and the city lit up in lights.
Here we are in front of Buckingham Palace. The statue behind us, in the center of the ring road, was built in in dedication to Queen Elizabeth. The only time they allow you to tour the interior of the palace (the staircase, etc) is in the summer when the Queen is on holiday. She was home this weekend.
We saw the changing of the guards, however the changing of the horse guards was much more exciting. These guards watch over the royal carriage and horses and when they change duty, there is a big parade down Buckingham Palace Road and as they pass the Palace, they salute the Queen, as you see in the photo below.After seeing the palace, we went on a walk through St James's Park. You can walk along the River Thames, have a seat on one of the many benches and watch the swans, pelicans,etc. You can see the London Eye in the background of this photo:After walking a while in the park, you run into a woodan building. This is "Inn the Park" which is a restaurant that sells picnic like snacks to go or you can sit in the restaurant inside or out on the balcony and have lunch or tea and dessert. I got a kick out of the name of Kurt's beer. Here are both of Kurt's Old Speckled Hens:Of course we made a trip to "the city" and saw the houses of parliament and Big Ben. All of which was really beautiful when lit up at night:Here we are eating some fish and chips in a good ole' English Pub in Mayfair, enjoying some of "London's Pride" :We also made a trip out to see Westminster Abbey, the church where all the Kings and Queens of England are crowned into power and also where they are buried. There is a section inside the church called "Poet's Corner" where many famous poets are buried such as Woodsworth, Dickens, Browning, T.S. Eliot, etc. Now, take a guess who else is buried here... Charles Darwin.We visited the Imperial War Museum, which had rooms and displays about every war in history. There were films, life sized model houses, the breakdown of the details of each war, etc but it was way too much to see in just one day. Here is Kurt with the world's largest "bullet":Here is the Tower of London. We got a tour by the guards and heard the stories of the many prisoners held in this fortress or beheaded here between the 13th nd 18th centuries, including "A Man for all Seasons"... his name? Come on, you all read this in high school's English literatrure class... Sir Thomas Moore. There are 20 towers in total in this prison. This one below is the tower that currently houses the crown jewels, including the Imperial Crown. Sorry, we couldn't take photos inside, but it was quite impressive!White Tower, this is where the "most esteemed" prisoners were kept. In it's working time, there were no stairs, so as to decrease the risk of escape.The London Bridge! We got some warm, roasted hazelnuts from a vendor and walked the bridge and down the walkways of River Thames, as the sun went down (not that we saw much sun in London) and the city lit up in lights.
On Saturday night, we got tickets to see the musical "Wicked". This is an alternate tale to the "Wizard of Oz", from the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view. It was great! 
Kurt found his Hard Rock cafe, so of course we had dinner and got him his shirt. Interesting... this is the only photo Kurt took the whole time we were in London... so I thought it worth posting:
We really loved London. Whether it was the history, the architecture, the entertainment, the fact that everyone spoke English for a change or a combination of all of the above, we had a great time!
