Jolly Old England - London!

We had a whopping 3 week break from school in April-May this year.  We decided that would be a perfect time to visit England, Scotland, and Ireland.  We took 2 weeks and packed in as much as we could.  There was SO much planning and preparing involved in this trip.  So many hotels to book, ferries, tickets to buy in advance, etc.  I felt like we spent months planning this one.  What is it they say about the best laid plans?  I should tell you how this trip started out...

We packed the car and headed for Dunkirk, France to catch our first ferry.  We knew we wanted our car for this trip since we had so much ground we wanted to cover, hence the ferry plans.  About 3 hours into our drive to France, we realized that we forgot the PASSPORTS!  We even had backup copies of the passports with us, but neither of us grabbed the actual passports.  I had to call the ferry company, reschedule our ferry, drive back to our house in the NL and get the passports, then head back to France...killer way to start a trip!  I was actually so exhausted from all the packing and planning (and morning sickness) that I seriously considered just taking a raincheck on the whole trip as we were driving back home for the passports.  I was weighing out the options, thinking of taking it easy at home and doing fun things around the NL, when Ryan fully admitted that if we were home he wouldn't be able to NOT go into work for 2 straight weeks.  He just can't pull himself away unless we are physically in a different country!  That was all the convincing I needed to go ahead with the trip.

We started out in iconic

LONDON

And what better way to see London then a double decker bus tour?

Beautiful Hyde Park

 Fancy

 Passing by Parliament

 K loving London

More parliament and Big Ben

Love this shot of Ben.  The bus tour offered some of the best views of the city.  I couldn't snap 'em fast enough.

 The London Eye (which we didn't ride because GEEZ everything costs SO much in London)

 The West End - wishing I would've checked out theater tickets further in advance so I could've justified the price of taking the kids to see a fun show...

 London Bridge

 The Tower of London

 The upside-down house

 So excited to find The Disney Store so E&A could finally spend their birthday money on something Elsa & Anna-ish.  There is just nothing here in Holland yet in the toy stores Frozen-wise.  

 They also absolutely loved a visit to London's famous Hamley's toy store.  We could've spent all day in that place.

 Ever prepared for a quick shower...

 Picadilly Circus - not quite Times Square, but good for some people watching.

 We caught an evensong service at St. Paul's Cathedral, which Rick Steve's highly recommended but was in actuality quite dull.

 Our bus tour tickets included a boat tour of the Thames, so we took full advantage the next morning...

 We hopped off over at the Tower of London to do some exploring.

 Here is the closest we got to any guards, since I was not so keen on fighting the crowds to see the changing of the guard over at the palace.  We got the photo op, I'm okay with that.

 Wish we could've taken some pictures of...

 ...but alas, no cameras allowed.  I felt the Tower of London tickets were worth it just for the jewels though.  Not to worry, plenty more chances for pictures outside.  They came up with this pose on their own and it was a favorite throughout London.

 And now for a quick bite to eat from a street vendor.  Fish & Chips for me and the Ry guy, hotdogs for the littles...

The view from across the street...

 And another quick stop for a slide before we hopped back on the tube...

 Couldn't pass up this stop.  Elementary my dear Watson...

 Dreaming of Princess Kate and her impeccable fashion sense as we scoped out Westminster Abbey.

 Ryan's idols are a bit less superficial than mine - here's the crew with Honest Abe.  What's he doing in London anyway?

 Then over to Buckingham for some more exploring...

We couldn't resist a drive over to the London LDS Temple for a quick look around.  The grounds were absolutely stunning, just so beautiful...

 Cottage slash mission home I think...

 The Littles - some grumpy, some cheery...

And a peak inside the visitors center where, I kid you not, Ryan found someone he knew from Idaho. Not a relative (as is sometimes the case), but just a fellow Snake River-ite if I remember correctly.

And that was our mad dash through London.  There was SO much more to see and do (AND it is so close) that we really need to go back and do it all over again.  The only drawback to hopping over to London more often - the prices I tell you, the prices.