London Friday, Last day of our trip!

After all that we had done the days before, we decided to get down to breakfast, and then sleep a bit more before we headed out. Breakfast ends at 9am so we made it about 8:45 and were back to sleep asap! We finally got out and about around 11:30 and used the tube to get us to the area of the famous Beetles walkway...Abbey Road. It was funny on our way there, as we were walking down the street a man went to pass us and pointed across the way a bit and said "It's over there." We laughed. He said, "You are looking for Abbey Road, right?" We said "Yes, how did you guess?" He said that he lives in the area, and that all of us tourists just look the same. We all laughed and we thanked him. It was interesting that the crosswalk is just an every-day normal place. No vendors, no tourist shops, nothing but a crosswalk with flashing yellow lights on the sides so that the traffic will stop for foot-traffic. There were a dozen or so tourists trying to take the famous "walking across the street" pictures. We felt bad for the poor locals who have to cross this way every day. People walking, and stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures. I'm sure it gets annoying! Just past the walkway is the Abby Road Studios with a high fence and  gate and signs that make it clear that it is not a public building. The base of the fence has a big concrete wall that is painted white. Covering the white paint is the graffiti of hundreds of fans who have passed this way. We found our favorite spot and wrote a dedication to Emma that reads "In honor of Malt 2012" (for those who are reading this, Emma is also known as Malt in our house :) We took pictures to document the event! On our walk back to the tube station we picked up a couple of leaves out of the piles and piles all over the sidewalks and of course an "Abbey Road" pin at the subway station gift shop.

 This family must have tried to get the perfect picture 10 times! Poor locals!

 This is the flashing caution light at the crosswalk...cute!

 The wall in front of Abbey Road Studios...

 This was the best part of the wall, a column on the far right of the property.

 Ashley was freaking out a little about this big spider. He wanted to eat her.

 We wished Emma could have been there with us! It would have meant so much to her!

 We love yer Malt!

        After a short tube ride we got out on one end of Hide Park and had a nice stroll through the park. With the huge trees and fall leaves, it was really pretty. Our feet were really hurting, so unfortunately it wasn't as amazing as it could have been, but it was still nice. WE stopped and had a snack of carrot "batons" humous dip, and cucumber-mint dip that we bought at the grocery store before we left that morning. Yummm! At the other side of the park was Buckingham Palace! It was picture perfect with the wind blowing the Queens flag just right!

Those were realllly big trees!!

        We hadn't planned on it, but as we continued our walk we found the Hard Rock Cafe and gift shop. I was sooooo tempted to buy Phil a T-shirt, but just couldn't justify the 20pounds at this point. Sorry babe :( Once again, we had fun just looking and leaving with our few pounds still in our wallet!

 We laughed pretty good at the sign in the window that reads

"NO DRUGS OR NUCLEAR WEAPONS ALLOWED INSIDE"

        We had seen a few people around with M&M's bags and asked where it was, jumped on a bus and went to that area, which is the Piccadilly Circus. We both love this area. I think I mentioned it before, but it has a lot of theaters, shops, and places to eat all around a big round-a-bout and the streets extending off of it. We just had to find the M&M store with a specific gift in mind for our M&M collecting wonderful neighbor friend! The store was HUGE! 4 stories of everything you could imagine! Although we were starving at this point and the smell of chocolate was teasing us the whole time we wandered we held back and didn't pay the ridiculous price for M&M's there. We found the perfect gift and again left with our wallets (mostly) in tact! Whew! Dodged that bullet!
      

  After all of our scouting for sweatshirts we hadn't picked them up yet and had at some point found a store that told us they would sell them to us for 2 for 30 pounds. We went in every store we came across trying to remember that store and never found it! We finally made a last ditch effort at a shop by the station by our hotel and got a pretty good deal. We both got the ones we wanted and were finally ready to head back to the hotel and call it a night. All of this traveling, and walking, and sightseeing really wears us out! We stopped for some yummy sandwiches and hot soup and a "Pret A Manger" which is a healthy eatery that is found on almost every block it seems! We had to be up early (6:30) to be ready for our shuttle to take us to the airpot at 8 so we were both asleep by 8:00. Such a good thing to get a good night's sleep!

London, Thursday

Today was our day to get out and see the city! We started by taking our tour bus to the area of the Sherlock Holmes Museum. It was fun to see the outside and the store was fun as well with all of the various Sherlock-y hats and other merchandise. Ashley bought a pin, but we were getting low on cash so we decided not to pay to go through the museum.

On our walk to our next destination we had fun looking in all the tourist shops. We were scoping out the best place to buy the one thing we both really wanted to get from London- sweatshirts. There were plenty to choose from, but we decided to wait so we wouldn't have to carry them around all day.
        Our next stop was the National Museum. Free admission made us happy! We weren't allowed to take pictures so we just enjoyed the stroll. Works from VanGogh, and others were there. I really enjoy comparing the styles and how the artists themselves change over the years. Another great opportunity to see works from artists that lived so many years ago in person!
        We were pretty knackered after our walking and really we were just tired from the trip in general so we decided to head back and have a nap and gear up for some sight seeing after it got a little darker. We wanted to see the sights by the river in with all of the night lights on. Our nap was great! Just what we needed. Ready for some great sightseeing, and after failing to find the right bus we decided to just walk there. There was a sign that said it would be a 15 min walk to see Westminster, Big Ben and the London Eye. That wasn't too bad of a walk, although it seemed longer than 15 min. It was worth waiting till evening because all the lights were so beautiful! The lights on The Eye are deep blue as well as the lights on the buildings by it. It looked so cool reflecting off the water of the Thymes river. We were considering taking a trip on the Eye, but after seeing that it was 14 pounds each we decided we probably shouldn't spend the money at this point since our funds were seriously low. It was cool enough to see it, and walk along the river! From there we were told that it would be about a 15-20 min walk along the river to get to the Tower Bridge. NOT. It was at least 40 min walking. Now, we both agree'd that the walk was just awesome as far as sightseeing goes. SO pretty and fun to see everything! But by the time we actually reached the bridge and crossed it we were worn out and happy to find the nearest tube station to take us back to the station by our hotel. That was a LOT of walking! Really great sights, but a LOT of walking! We slept well that night for sure!

I just love all of the taxi's here, old style and so cute!

 Big sign on the fron window says it is an uninsured car seized by police! Bummer! hahaha 

 Big ben and the London Eye!

 The lighting in London at night is so cool! The city takes on a totally different feel!

 Although long, our walk along the river was beautiful!

 There were quite a few places that there were musicians playing, this guy was sooo good!

 Two guys playing cellos in a tunnel, it sounded amazing!! 

 The Globe Theatre

 Another tunnel, another musician. This one is playing a soprano sax.

 The London Bridge at night, LOVE the lighting!

 This picture is a bit dark, but I really like it!

 We finally made it!!!

        

Wednesday, London!

Breakfast at our new hotel was nice. Fresh juice, warm toast, selection of pastries and a meat and cheese tray as well as fruit. Whew! That's more like it!

We had a great day today! Riding the bus tour double decker bus was COLD, but fun! We spent some time at Piccidilly Circus which reminds me of Time Square in New York. It is the center for a lot of shopping, and theatres for the musicals that are so popular here in London. We had lot's of fun and ate a great lunch at a restaurant that was offering a 2 for 1 lunch special.  We found our theatre and Planet hollywood which was what we had planned for our evening and then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our big night on the town! Planet Hollywood was great fun! Fun music and videos playing on the big screens all around and all sorts of movie history all around was a fun atmosphere. There was a couple of large groups of students there from some schools in the area and it was fun to watch them singing and dancing to the music. Good food, good fun!

Les Miserable was amazing! We were happy to find that our seats were right in the middle and while we were high up we could see most everything pretty well- other than when the people in front of us sat forward. There is so much about the story of Les Mis that it's just too much to get into. I'll just say that I cried, and I was touched in many ways! SO thankful to have had that experience, and to have it with Ashley! I thought about Jessika the whole time and how she would love to be there and how I wished she was sitting next to us! Some day Jess, some day!

It was a long day, but a great one! London is a beautiful, busy and thriving city! We love how there is not a street vendor every 5 feet trying to get you to buy things. Plenty available for tourists, but it's not in your face every min, which is a nice break! Loving London! 

The marks on this old church are from shrapnel that hit it during the war, humbling to see. 

 We loved all the different styles of buildings! So fun! 

 This is their civil court house, pretty durn fancy!

 View from the top of the bus, looking down the street...

 Cool...

For Phil and Corey, no we didn't go in, just saw it from the bus.

 Tower Bridge

On the bus heading to se Les Miseables!!! Woohoo!!

 Busy Picadilly Circus at night!

 Posing in the Circus!

 So great!!