Pics of our trip to London

**madkat2618** · 03-16-2006, 08:53 AM

We arrived home a week ago, and we had the best time! It was very, very busy--we got of the plane running and didn't stop until we got home! We took hundreds and hundreds of pictures--enough to fill up two CD's! We also took a bunch of videos on our camera, which will probably fill up another 2 disks.
I'm going to borrow Englishlady's method of posting pictures--I'll put a couple in each post, and let you know when I'm done. I hope you enjoy them!

Day one took us to the British Museum, which was so interesting. We really enjoyed it! No really outstanding pictures from there.

After that, we went to Mme. Tussaud's Wax Museum. It was very, very expensive (almost $150 for the four of us)! It was really good, but I probably wouldn't go a second time.

This is DD with her new boyfriend, George Clooney:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

This is DS, posing with his hair hero:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

And of course, no trip to England would be complete without the Queen:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

After the wax museum, we went to Trafalgar Square and saw Lord Nelson:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

From Trafalgar Square, we just walked around Leicester Square (because that was the name of the street we used to live on), and Picadilly Circus.

**madkat2618** · 03-16-2006, 09:07 AM

On Day 2, we went to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. It was quite a cold day, but there were wall-to-wall people there. We didn't see a whole lot of the actual parade (which was OK, we've seen tons of military parades--they all march pretty well the same way

), but we were right beside the palace gates that they marched through, so we got a great view of that!

I had no idea that the guards were so young! DH said that they were mostly privates, and a few corporals.

[IMG]

[/IMG]

This was the palace after the parade was finished. There were still tons of people there!

[IMG]

[/IMG]

After that, we went to see Westminster Cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful!

[IMG]

[/IMG]

This is the altar; it was hard to get good pictures inside any of the cathedrals, because they are fairly dark inside, and they are so big, the camera's flash was pretty well useless.

[IMG]

[/IMG]

After leaving Westminster Cathedral, we walked to Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, the lineup to get in was huge, and we couldn't afford to wait, as we were on a schedule! This is the outside, though!

[IMG]

[/IMG]

The Parliament buildings are right across the street from Westminster Abbey, so here is Big Ben:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

After that, we went to the London Aquarium, which the kids loved!

After supper, we went to see the Wellington Arch, which is all lit up at night:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

**FrugalMomof3** · 03-16-2006, 09:33 AM

Wow very nice! I would love to visit a wax museum... lucky!

**madkat2618** · 03-16-2006, 09:45 AM

Day 3

This was probably our busiest day! We started out going to St. Paul's Cathedral. Again, it was beautiful! You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we kind of cheated and just kept pressing the shutter button while the camera was hanging around my neck.

Outside:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

Inside:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

We also climbed the 500+ steps up to the dome, (I didn't want to see another stair again! ), where you got a panoramic view of the city:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

From St. Paul's, we walked across the Millenium Bridge, and headed towards the Tower Bridge. We stopped along the way to take a tour of the WW2 battleship HMS Belfast. It was interesting, but DH enjoyed it much more than the kids and I.

The Tower Bridge:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

It was even more amazing close up!

[IMG]

[/IMG]

We kept walking across the bridge, and made it to the Tower of London. I have always wanted to go here. It was just amazing to think of the people who had been there before us! We may have been better off taking a guided tour, but there was so many people in the groups, we probably wouldn't have heard anything. We went to see the Crown Jewels (WOW!), but couldn't take pictures for security reasons.

The Tower itself:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

The site of the scaffolding where many people lost their heads:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

**madkat2618** · 03-16-2006, 10:12 AM

Day 4 was a lot slower. We started out by going to the London Zoo, which was a big hit with the kids, especially DS, because they have Komodo Dragons!
We decided to take in a West End show that afternoon, so we chose to see 'Stomp'. It was amazing, and a lot of fun! We still go around tapping our feet and drumming our hands on everything, saying we're 'Stomping'!

Day 5 was another busy one! We caught the train at 5:30 am to go to the city of Bath. What a beautiful place!

This was taken shortly after we got off the train:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

We took a tour of the Roman Baths:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

This is us!

[IMG]

[/IMG]

After the baths, we went to see Bath Abbey. We lucked out, because the organist was practising while we were there; it gave me chills to hear!

Outside:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

Inside:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

The walls are covered with these memorial plaques:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

This was the street behind the Baths and the Abbey:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

After that, we took another train to the base where DH had been working for the past 2 months. We only spent about 40 minutes there, meeting the guys DH worked with. They were really great. Upon hearing that we were going to see Stonehenge, one guy said, "You know, it's just a big pile of rocks". They were so funny.

Back on the train to Salisbury, where we boarded a tour bus to go to Stonehenge. There are just no words to describe it!

[IMG]

[/IMG]

[IMG]

[/IMG]

We went back to Salisbury, and had a few hours to kill before our train, so we wandered around a bit. We happened upon the Salisbury Cathedral, and I'm glad we did, because it was my favourite:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

The window on the inside--the picture doesn't do it justice:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

This is the first Earl of Salisbury, he was the first person buried in the church in 1226:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

This is one of the streets as we walked back to the train. I couldn't believe how narrow it was! Notice the boys in their school uniforms, too.

[IMG]

[/IMG]

**madkat2618** · 03-16-2006, 10:21 AM

The last two days it rained, so not as many pictures were taken. We went to Greenwich, to see where time begins. Then we went to the Natural History Museum. We only had a couple of hours there, but we could have spent a whole day there. We saw the dinosaurs, which was the most important thing! The building it's in is amazing! This picture isn't the greatest, but it gives an idea:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

The last day, we took a ride on the London Eye:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

These are the Parliament Buildings from the top of the Eye:

[IMG]

[/IMG]

After our ride, we took a bus (yes it was a double-decker), to take a tour of the Chelsea Football Stadium. DH is really into soccer, so he was in his glory! It was surprisingly quite an enjoyable tour! The tour guides were hilarious!

[IMG]

[/IMG]

The next day, it was one last ride on the Tube to go to Heathrow Airport, and make our way back home!

I hope you enjoyed your tour of London through my (and my camera's) eyes!