London, part 2

MARCH 6th:

Day 4 we hopped on a cruise boat and floated down the Thames (pronounced: Tems).  We had a funny tour guide and it was cool to see London from a different view.  We got a good look at the London Eye, saw the oldest pub in the city dating back to the 1300's, went passed the Royal Festival Hall and the Tate Modern Museum, and passed under London Bridge and Tower Bridge.  

We got off at St. Katherine's Pier and walked on Tower Bridge for awhile before heading over to the Tower of London.

{Marble Arch}

{Tower Bridge}

{Tower of London}

{Mina Lima Harry Potter art}

Day 5:

Today we toured Kensington Palace, afterwards walking through the fancy gift shop where I bought a purple feather pen for Lottie and a floral eye mask for me. Once we finished with that we walked outside to the pavilion where we had afternoon tea.  I felt extremely under dressed!  Well everyone was dressed similar cause most were tourists, but the atmosphere demanded a much more prestigious outfit that my rain boots and jacket just weren't quite pulling off.  Haha.  It was a lovely and elegant tea and cakes restaurant.  Just the right setting for a fancy tea party.  I wished Lottie could have been there with us!

Not far from the palace were some shops we went into.  Tk-Maxx (Tj-Maxx), and a charity shop called Trinity Hospice.  I found some great finds here!  Then we headed to another charity shop called Oxfam.  I found a couple of things here as well and it was overall cheaper than the other shop.  Next we started heading back to our hotel, but stopped at a tourist shop to pick up a little red double decker bus for Evan.
After Facetiming with the kids we went out to eat at Garfunkel's, which was really yummy.  I think its a chain there similar to Applebees, but it was delicious.  I just got a starter of some kind of cumin and chili chicken wings while Luke got the famous fish and chips.  Also, fries there are called chips.

Day 6:

On our last full day there we headed back to Buckingham Palace to watch the Changing of the Guards, and then walked over to Westminister Abbey for a tour.  This took up quite a bit of time, but well worth it!

We barely had enough time to run and catch the tube to go out to Wembley Stadium.  We weren't sure if we would make it in time for the last tour, but luckily got there in the knick of time!  Luke loved it!

{Press conference room}

{Locker and therapy rooms}

 {Manager's seat!}

After a long, but fun day, we went to dinner at Da Mario's where Princess Diana used to take William and Harry when they were boys.  It was authentic Italian food with an Italian atmosphere and delicious pizza (aside from the unpitted olives!).
Lots of packing to do that night, and although I was sad to already be leaving London, I was very much looking forward to hugging Charlotte and Evan.  The next morning we quickly ate breakfast at our hotel then took a taxi to Victoria Station where we hopped on a train to Gatwick Airport.

London was amazing and I look forward to going back someday!