London England

Christine and I spent Spring Break in London for her senior trip...wow have times changed! I think I stayed home when I was a senior for Spring Break. Needless to say, we had a great time. I only posted some of our pictures...for fear of boring the reader...certainly I will scrapbook more and hopefully document our experiences in greater detail in my journal. I wish I would have taken it with me. I do have notes. But being "in the moment" would have been better. We saw lots of sights and met some wonderful people from all over the world. London is much more diverse than I had thought. Lots of French and Italian folks...many who spoke only a little English. When asking for directions, we often would be met with a blank stare. I learned to read my maps thoroughly and ask store keepers for help. We found the English people to be very kind and patient. For such a big city, we never really felt rushed. We have made some lasting memories for sure...because after all, we are in the business of "making memories". Sorry for the few imperfections on this post. I don't have the energy to fix anything...too many other things to get caught up on....Enjoy!








We went to Church in Hyde Park. This is the same building Bill's dad served in as a missionary in the early 60's. What a diverse group of people. We enjoyed being there.



We made our way to the Apple Store in Oxford Circus on Regent Street most every day. Internet in our hotel was ridiculously expensive, so we emailed for free. Thanks Apple! (Plus, they had a great bathroom, which I rather enjoyed!)




Holy Heck! Most of the time these escalators were operating, but ocassionally we came across some that weren't. In those cases, we hoofed it! We climbed many a stair during our stay!!! No need for the gym.






The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace was interesting. The whole process took about 30 minutes...it was nothing like I had imagined. The band played "Copacabana" and then an ABBA medley. I was expecting some "royal" music I guess. There were a ton of people there to see the event. Glad to have been a part of it.







The London Eye...we just took a picture. I am way too whimpy to go up in that thing! But it looked cool from a distance.



The River Thames and the Houses of Parliament are in the background.



We loved Westminster Abbey. We couldn't take pictures inside the Cathedral, but here is Christine in the Nave, looking out onto a beautiful lawn area.



Outside of Westminster Abbey
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Fourth row seats to see Les Mis! Incredible as you might imagine. One cannot see Les Mis too many times...:)



We are inside the Tower of London with the Tower Bridge in the background. We spent several hours wandering around the tower...very interesting things to learn here. We also saw the "Crown Jewels" which we loved.



Walked on the Millennium Bridge across the River Thames to the "Globe Theatre"...patterned after Shakespeare's original theatre.



One of my favorite pics of Christine in the "Fashion" section of the Queen Victoria/Prince Albert Museum...what a ginormous museum that is!



Warwick Castle was amazing. It was beautiful and ancient...isn't everything in England? We hoofed up 530 steps through 3 different towers and had sore thighs as proof. What a cool place little Warwick England is.




This is in Stratford Upon Avon, the town where Shakespeare was born...a quaint little place. We stood in the room where he is believed to have been born over 400 years ago! We didn't have much time here but did enjoy a great lunch in a French Cafe before boarding the tour bus for Oxford.
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We're in Oxford at one of the many colleges...the place is amazingly ancient! The good weather didn't last and we had traveled 1 1/2 hours outside of London so we were bound to hit some rain...it was lovely just the same!