- Oddly we began our time in London with a very French theme. We stayed at a terrace house hotel which once housed escaped French Aristocrats during the French Revolution. We ate lunch at a French patisserie and ate dinner at a French Bistro in honor of the French show, Les Miserables that we went to our first night in town.
- My Dad's favorite part of the trip was seeing Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. It was simply AMAZING and is the longest running show in London. After seeing that show Dad decided we needed to go to one every night! We agreed.
- One of the many luxuries of traveling with my Mom and Dad in the winter was that we took London taxis around quite a bit of the time. It was so quick and convenient but also charming and fun! One taxi driver told us that there are around 22,000 taxis in London! Those guys really knew their way around. The only challenge they had was understanding which street our hotel was on, as it took us the entire three days to master the proper English pronunciation for Gloucester Place. It is pronounced "Glouhstuh Plahce".
- Buckingham Palace. One of the taxi drivers told us that you can tell when the Queen is at home by the flag that is flying. When the Union Jack is up she is away, and when the Royal Coat of Arms is flying she is at home. She was not at home. We had wanted to see the changing of the guard but it was cancelled "because of the snow." Do you SEE how much snow is on the ground in this picture? What's that you say? You don't really see ANY snow? Exactly. We discovered that if you want to conquer England you just have to wait until there is a light snowy dusting and the whole country will be paralyzed.
- At Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4, and Paul and I in the tube.
- Paul at the Tower of London, not to be confused with the Tower Bridge (second photo), not to be confused with the London Bridge. I was confused.
- Paul and I with a sentry from the Queen's Guard. Yes, their coats WERE almost exactly the same grey-purple color as mine. What are the chances!? I think it's because it's a royal hue. :)
- The British Museum was enormous and full of many of the world's most exquisite artifacts. We saw the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies and hieroglyphics from nearly 3,000 BC, sunken treasure, and one of the heads from Easter Island. We lost Brandon in the labyrinth, so we split up into 3 search parties and finally located him somewhere in ancient Italy, quite enjoying himself. Not sure he had even realized we were gone. :)
- St. Paul's Cathedral at night. Wedding venue of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Please note the bride and groom standing on the stairs. I think they hire them to stand there all the time because it's just so fitting. We went to Evensong which was said instead of sung because, again, "the choir couldn't make it because of the snow." We never saw this scary snow.
- Not surprisingly social-butterfly-Paul ran into a group of friends from Bethel University at St. Pauls Cathedral! He has been known for knowing someone everywhere we've gone since our family vacations as kids, so it was especially funny that it happened to him again! He knows everyone.
- Dad and I had lots of fun looking at sweet famous art together at the National Gallery.
- Westminster Abbey, where the kings and queens of England have been crowned since 1066. A ton of famous people are also buried inside and the whole place is covered and filled with effigies, monuments, memorials, and tombs. Some graves we saw were those of Sir Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens (who was buried there against his will).
- Mom and I took it upon ourselves to christen the first European Anthropologie store, three times! It is three glorious levels of prettiness and visual over-stimulation!
- We went to WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. The costumes were all like intricate pieces of art-candy and I was visually overwhelmed yet again.
- Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery looking towards Big Ben.
- Market shopping.
- We finished off our time together and our Piccadilly show tour at Her Majesty's Theatre with the classic Phantom of the Opera! Of course, it was AMAZING! But not as amazing as our time with my family. Thanks for coming to visit! We miss you already.
If it's possible that anyone could be interested in MORE pictures from my family's visit there are bazillion here. Thanks for tuning in!
Fun fun fun!!!
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