Today's feature is on the home of the Queen - Buckingham Palace. =)  We weren't allowed inside as the Queen was in residence while we were there, but we took lots of snazzy pictures of the outside and bought books to show us this inside.  =)  Here's a few pictures:


^^ Entrance to the Palace


^^ Entrance Gate

Details of the architecture:






Guards:

Today was another lovely day in London. We started our day at Buckingham Palace - hoping to catch the changing of the guard since we struck out last time. We got there an hour and half early and got a prime spot along the fence. We took a lot of great photos of the palace and of the guards out front. We had just settled in and were preparing to wait it out, when a policeman came by and told us everyone had to leave. Today was a state visit and, apparently, heads of state are more important than us. So we had to move along. We were invited to stand behind a barricade and watch as the Queen's car went by, but we decided against it.


^^ Buckingham Palace, Main Entrance


^^ Guard outside the main door

We bought a hot cocoa and proceeded to walk down The Mall (the main road in London that leads to Buckingham Palace) and into Trafalger Square. Along the way, we had to stop for several delivery vans making a delivery to St James' Palace (Prince Charles' home). I don't want to brag...but one of the delivery guys hit on me (Terri). Yep, the cream-de-la-cream...I was hit on by a delivery guy. My dream vacation is complete.

We were almost to Trafalger Square when we were stopped unexpectedly. A police man called out to us "young ladies" (bonus points to Mr. Policeman for calling me "young"!) and asked us to come over to him. Panic ran through my head and I could hear Mike's voice saying "Just don't get arrested...that's all I ask!". I walked right up to him and said "Yes, Sir" confident in the fact that I had done nothing wrong and could survive well in British prison...for thirty or forty seconds, at least. He gave us a stern look and said "Hand over your hot coffee!". LOL! He was cold and wanted our hot chocolate! No luck, Buddy....and we were on our way again...happy to have remained arrest-free!


^^ Guards we saw on the walk.


^^ Entrance arch to the Mall and Buckingham Palace.

Once in Trafalger Square (after giving directions to some poor soul who thought we looked like we knew what we were doing...sucker!) we took the tube to St Paul's Cathedral. We spent a couple hours looking through the church...I just don't have words to describe it. A church has been in that spot since 604 AD and St Paul's has been there since 1100 AD. It is grand, majestic, and so beautiful. Ashley and I both lit candles and said our prayers...it was a wonderful visit. If Ashley says anything about how long it took us to find our way into the church (we walked up on the back side of it and it's a LOOOOONG way around) and claims that I swore and said something like "How the hell do you get in this church"...don't believe her. She lies. She should pray for help to stop lying. =)


^^St. Paul's

After our visit to St Paul's we walked back to the hotel. We don't know for sure how long the walk was, but we're guessing about two miles. It had gotten windy and was kinda cold, but it was great walking down Fleet Street and just taking in the city. Honestly, I was pretty proud of us. No maps, no asking for directions...we just set out and found our way home. Pretty cool for only having been here a few days.


^^Ashley in a phone booth =)


^^Terri in a phone booth =)


^^I can't remember the exact name, but this was Wellington Barracks I think. Yay Soldiers! =)

This evening we had dinner in our hotel's restaurant, The Old Master's Restaurant. Ashley had roasted lamb, potatoes, roasted zucchini and, for dessert, Eaton Mess...a berries & cream dessert. Terri had roast beef, potatoes and, for dessert Bannoffee pie...a layered pudding/caramel/banana dessert. We both loved our food!

Then it was off to our second play...Love Never Dies. This is Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to Phantom of the Opera. Honestly, neither of us loved it. It was just okay...but we enjoyed the experience and we especially enjoyed the ice cream we had at interval (that's the Brit word for "intermission"). And while we're on the subject of the theatre, last night we went to see Wicked. This play was BRILLIANT! Terri generally doesn't like musical theatre and loved this play! Ashley loved it so much she wants to get the sound track. It's the story of Glinda the Good Which and the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz...sort of like the "story behind the story". It was terrific and we would recommend it highly!


^^Marquee for Lover Never Dies


^^Marquee for Wicked. =)

Tomorrow we're off to Hampton Court Palace! =)

Last night after we blogged, we headed to out to the London Eye, which is the world's largest observation wheel. =) The view was incredible!! You could see the entire city of London. We couldn't find where they're building the Olympic Village though - we think it'll have to be wayyyy outside the inner city because there is no room what-so-ever for that much stuff to be built in the city.

For dinner we went to our first English Pub, Bag o' Nails. =) HAHA! The food was awesome! Ashley ordered a Big Ben Burger, which was a burger with lettuce, tomatoes, bbq sauce, and egg - yes a fried egg on top of the burger! It was reallllyyyyy good. And it came with chips (french fries). Hahaha. It's so much fun learning all the British lingo. =) Terri ordered bbq-ed chicken with chips and a salad, which was also awesome.

This morning when we woke up, it was bucketing (raining) out. It was just a light drizzle, but I (Ashley) have never been so excited to see it rain. =D I got to use my fancy umbrella (TERRI EDIT ~ the first time Ashley opened her fancy schmancy umbrella one of the spokes when UP HER NOSE!). Hahaha. We had breakfast at the hotel, which was a traditional English buffet. Ashley had eggs, toast, ham, apple tart, and FRESH SQUEEZED OJ! Terri had eggs, sausage (which was gross), ham, cottage cheese, and pear. Also delicious.

Our first venture was out to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Honestly, it was way overrated... We actually left. There were about 15,000 people there to see a 15-minute event. It was interesting to see the guard. Two bands marched in and then they switched guards. There was so many people we couldn't see anything. We plan on you tube-ing it. =) We were OK with this though because we weren't all that excited to see this anyway.



After that we TRIED to catch the tube at Victoria Station, but 2 of the lines were shut down completely. They do maintenance on the weekends and it was the weekend for this tube. We ended up leaving and caught a cab (not a black one sadly, but a nice one!) to the National Portrait Gallery. We weren't allowed to take pictures sadly, but we have already taken 332 on only DAY 2, so that's probably for the best. =) We saw the Tudor gallery, which was neat. Terri and I are huge fans of Henry VIII and ALL SIX of his wives. =) Hahaha. We also viewed the current galleries where we saw paintings and pictures of the Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Diana and Harry and William.

After that, we hiked up Charing Cross road to Trafalgar Square. This is Terri's "favorite place in the world." It was absolutely incredible! There were two fountains, a couple monuments, and stairs, where we sat to people watch. =) Trafalgar Square is considered the heart of London. Charing Cross is the offical heart of London and Trafalgar Square is right on top of that. Everything in London is measured from this point. Our taxi driver described it as "if you say you're 6 miles from London, you mean you're 6 miles from Trafalgar Square." (If that makes sense!)









After wayyyyyy too many photos of the square, we took advantage of our last day of our tour bus tickets. We saw the rest of the London sights from a distance, most of which we'll be seeing close up later this week. It was nice to familiarize ourselves with everything. We located nearby tube stations and made note of things not on our list to-do that we want to add.


^^^ Tower Bridge


^^^ Big Ben!!


^^^ Downing Street- where the Prime Minister Lives =)

There are soooo many little differences between here and home. At the museums, we took the lift (elevator) and as we were going down, the speaker said, "Now approaching level negative two." Obviously, we thought that was weird. Hahaha. It turns out that in London, any floor below ground level is negative, unless there's only one floor below ground level, then it's a basement. Strange, huh? Also, there's no "Exits" here, everything points to "Way out."

After our foray on the tour bus, we freshened up at the hotel and headed out for dinner. Tonight we ate at "Duke of York," another pub. Terri ordered roast chicken with peas, carrots, mash (potatoes), and Yorkshire pudding. Terri claims the chick was "half a chicken." It was really huge!! Ashley had a full on traditional English meal of fish and chips and a pint! Boy was the pint gross!!! It was "Beck's," which Dad said we have the in US, so that was disappointing, but I only drank maybeeeee 1/4 of it! Hahah. I had to try!! The saddest part for me was the fact that two nights in a row now I've ordered alcoholic beverages (the legal age in Europe is only 18), AND NO ONE CARDED ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahaha. Last night, the gentleman didn't even ask and tonight, the waitress said, "Are you 18?" and when I said yes, she brought my pint! I guess they're lax about it here??? Hahaha.



After dinner, we stopped by a grocery store to stock up on goodies for the hotel room. Ashley's been living on Mars Bars - I think I'm up to 5 already? Hahhah. Terri loves the Kit Kat's here, which are not the same as US Kit Kats. They look the same, but are so much better tasting!! We think it's probably the chocolate they use to make them... not sure, but boy do they rock!!

So that's our day today. =) Tomorrow we're around the city again and Monday we're venturing out to Windsor Castle. =D

Oh- and the police here drive BMW's. Wow!!!!! Don't tell the American police in their poor Fords!

After 7 hours and 22 very long minutes in the air, we finalllyyyyy arrived in London this morning at roughly 7am their time.  The flight was good, no terrible turbulance, excellent landing, no screaming kids. =)  Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to sleep on a plane, so we're both verryyyyy tired right about now (as I write this, it is 3pm here, 10am in Michigan).  This sweet little old english man met our flight and drove us to the hotel, which is amazing!!! We don't have pictures of the outside yet, but I'll post pictures of our room below.  Terri made the oopsie of requesting one double instead of two twins, so we thought we'd be sleeping together.  But as it turns out, they had a superior king room open and we upgraded.  They even turned the king bed into two twins for us the nice people.  It's much roomier than we expected and WAYYYYY nice. =D It's a winner.   Oh, and it was ready for us when we got here, a double plus. =D

So, after checking in, we hit the town (sort of).  We walked a teeny tiny bit up to Victoria Station to get our travel passes.  We ate lunch at Pret, which is a nice deli place.  All the items are fresh made, but pre-packaged, so you go in, grab what you want, and pay (cash registers here are called "tills!" hahahaha).  Then you can sit down and eat or leave.  It's really convenient, and fairly cheap.  =)  We ventured over to Buckingham Palace and bought "hop-on, hop-off" bus pass tickets for today and tomorrow, so we did that as well.  We only saw about half of London.  We didn't get to any of the major land marks yet.  They kicked us off half way through the tour to get on another bus, but it took too long for us, so we hopped on the tube and now we're back in the hotel. =)

So far, we are super impressed with London.  Terri deemed it the best city ever.  Everyone zooms around in their cars - mind you these are not our cute little cars, they're driving BMW's, Audi's, Mercedes.  We've seen maybe a handful of Fords, a few mini-van type vehicles (BMA/Mercedes/etc type of course) and only 2 poor trucks.  I guess they don't drive those here??  I might note that aside from Ford, there are NO American cars here... hmmm...

Terri's favorite are they "weirdo, crazy, stupid motorcycle people" who zip around on their mopeds/motorcycles, weaving in and out of traffic like fiends!! They are insane!  We'll have to get pictures for you to see =)  It's crazy! Traffic is like nothing we've ever seen.  There is no way I would ever want to drive here, even if the steering column WASN'T on the wrong side of the car.  Hahahaha.

Here's a few pictures to tide you over. =)  Thanks for following our trip! We're excited to share it will all of you.  We'll update again as soon as we do something grand. =D

P.S. Tyler - you would be sooo proud: London is verryyyy green!  There's recycling bins all over the place and the busses are running "green."  It's apparently very eco-friendly here. =)


PICTURE TIMEEEEE!



This was dinner on the plane last night --- mmmm. I know you're jealous! =)


Our monitor telling us where we are in the world. This was with about 50 minutes left.


Our hotel room. There's a TV tucked in the corner you can't see and another section where the bathroom and sitting area are.


Buckingham Palace. (The Queen was in today... yay! hahah)


Not the best picture of Ashley, standing in front of Buckingham Palace. 9 hours on a plane will do that to you =)


Harrods!! =) This one is for Wendy! We'll be shopping there later this week. =) Yay!


The hotel rooms here do not come with coffee pots, but instead tea sets! How cute!!


We maybe did a little shopping this morning. =) The store we bought these at offered free samples. This tea has got to be the world's best tea. Not kidding. Hence, we bought 3!! Hahaha.