London

We had a weekend getaway to London. The boys and I took our first plane ride by ourselves. The boys did great. Stephen met us at the airport in London and our adventure began.





The London Eye - The world's largest observation wheel has fantastic views of London.






After a ride on the London Eye, we had a boat cruise down the Thames River. It was a gorgeous day to ride on the top deck on the boat, but the boys wanted to sit downstairs. I still managed to get some pictures of the great views and sites along the way.



Parliament and Big Ben



The Tower Bridge with a double decker bus. City Hall is the cone like building behind the Tower Bridge and the London Tower, pictured below. City Hall, houses the Mayor and the governing offices.


The Tower of London. Stephen and I toured it in 2004. It holds the crown jewels and tons of dungeons and scary stories dating back from 1050.


Westminster Abbey - The massive flying buttresses, shown in the picture above, help transfer the great weight of the 102 ft high nave. The nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. The Abbey is world-famous as the resting-place of Britain's monarchs, and as the setting for coronations and other great pageants, like the Royal wedding in April 2011. It has great examples of medieval architecture. I still want to see the inside of this church one day. It is still on my to do list, a to do without kids. I enjoyed going into the Abbey shop and adding to my collection of royal ornaments. I just about have all the crown ornaments with the names of all the royal residents embroidered onto it. That almost makes up for not getting to see the inside of the church this time.


One of the doors at Westminster Abbey.


The entrance behind us is where Catherine Middleton walked down a red carpet for her wedding ceremony in April 2011.


The Texas Flag in London! We were excited about getting some Texas Tex-Mex at The Texas Embassy restaurant. We had queso, chips and hot sauce, cheese enchilladas, and tacos. It wasn't as good as being in Texas, but it was a little bit of Texas in London. We enjoyed it, but the food wasn't like home.



Trafalgar Square - A beautiful fountain, huge lion statues, and the building in the background is The National Gallery, where the national collection of art is located.




The Underground or the "tube" - It was similar to the subway in New York. This was our first experience with the Underground. The boys enjoyed riding the underground train that was convenintly located walking distance from our hotel.