The Campbells: London

Well it hasn't been quite a week since we've been home so that still makes my posts about the trip somewhat timely, no? You only get London for now...the flight over was...really bumpy...not horrible....it could have been worse....but I have had more comfortable experiences in my life. We landed around 10am London time and after collecting our bags and taking the underground we made it to our hotel in one piece by around noon. It was raining...which we weren't at all surprised about, frankly it was a wonderful change in weather from home. After getting settled we met up with Taber, our travel partner to be for 2.5 days, and headed to lunch - at our first of many (MANY) pubs. I wouldn't say I'm a picky eater, maybe restricted?! I don't know but the soup of the day was on the menu for me 2 meals a day for 5 days....if you care the best one was a potato leak at a random pub the first night.
After lunch we set out to explore the city....

I am doing my best not to put 5 million pictures of the same stuff everyone has seen over and over - but I am including some of my favorite shots of the "big important places".

We saw some sights the first day and managed to keep ourselves awake until nearly 8pm (thanks to Taber for being such a go-getter!!! if it weren't for him we would have hit the hay at 5pm - not a joke). Staying up really helped us get used to the time difference.

Day 2 began with a tour of the Tower of London. We got there basically when it opened (I recommend this, no line, not terribly crowded) and it was perfect time to take the tour with this charming chap...

Our Beefeater friend gave us a fantastic history of the place. It turned out to be one of the best tours we had.
Love the little plaza below...I could totally live somewhere that looked like that....but not here because evidently there were many beheadings that took place in the square...no thanks!

After our tour we roamed around for another hour or two...I took a lot of pictures of all the horse displays for Scotty P. (this a reoccurring theme in my photography during this trip...when your kid loves something you find yourself loving it too. And we found a toy horse at the gift shop dressed in battle gear to bring home to Scott. He loved it!)

I just adored the child sized armor (in theory...who actually sends their toddler into battle?!?!!) I really just wish we could dress Scott and Parker up in tiny armor and let them play!

After the Tower and lunch at a pub (number 3 if you are keeping score) we wandered this end of the city for the rest of the day. We saw St. Paul's Cathedral, millenium bridge, Tower Bridge, etc.

It was the most bizarre day for weather. It was nice in the morning. Then it literally down poured on us as we were leaving the tower, freezing, pouring rain, then below, probably only an hour later, sunny and hot...bizarre!

The Tower of London from across the Thames.

We stayed out on that side of town for the whole day because that night we had tickets to a play at the Globe Theater. It was such a neat experience...so much history just sitting there looking around! It was freezing but we had blankets and hot chocolate and it ended up being the perfect cozy night.

The play we saw was a little off the wall, to say the least. It was called the god of Soho. We weren't even 100% sure we followed it all. But regardless the experience couldn't be beat!

The Globe at night...

The next day we walked past the palace (for the zillionth time because it was across the park from our hotel) on our way to breakfast. It was Taber's last day so the guys enjoyed a traditional English breakfast. I enjoyed traditional English tea!!!

After we said goodbye to Taber Brian and I explored more of the city. We went to Tate and the British Museum. And of course took more pictures with horses.

The Rosetta Stone (really bad picture - nice reflection)

At the British Museum there was also an exhibit done by the woman who used 14,000 Rx pills (the average taken by an English citizen in their lifetime) and had them spread out in an incredibly long box (and it was still done in several layers). I found it fascinating. And it makes me cringe to think that Americans use MORE meds in their lifetime than Brits do.

That night Brian and I ventured out after dark to take pictures of the sights at night. It ended up being one of our favorite things to do and we made a point to do it in every city afterwards.

The next day went to the History and Science museums near Hyde Park (and spent a bit of time in Hyde Park itself) then went to the National Gallery in the afternoon. It was especially neat to see the countdown clock for next year's Olympics in Trafalgar Square.

That night we went out again to the other side of town to capture the Tower and the bridge at night. Our night time outings ended up being some of our funnest memories! It was so fun to see the city at night!

Our last day in London we went to Notting Hill and Portobello Rd. for the morning.

"Bad guy soup" - sort of an inside joke for my mom : )

We had a great time in all the fun shops and found some amazing food! Score one for no pub grub!

We took our lunches to Kensington Gardens and spent the afternoon walking there and Hyde Park....I could live there!!! And we made sure to see the Peter Pan Statue while we were there!

Gee thanks....

Loved relaxing in the parks...

We found this most amazing tree...seriously straight from Lord of the Rings or something right?! I can only imagine playing in a tree like this for hours and days on end as a kid (or now!!!).