London

One of the best aspects of living in Europe is the opportunities it gives us for inexpensive travel. Maurie had her 16th birthday recently, and to celebrate she and I went to London for an extended weekend. (Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime to just 'go to London for the weekend.' I DO love that about living here!)

Big Ben and the House of Parliament

Our tube stop for our hotel

Waiting for the tube

London is such a great city! It's one of my favorites. We arrived early in the morning on a Thursday and spent the next three days hopping on and off the "tube" to sight-see throughout the city. We saw Big Ben and the House of Parliament. We saw the London Eye and the famous, picturesque bridges across the Thames. We went to Benjamin Franklin's house. We saw Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. We ate fish and chips. We had fun in the London Dungeon, although we wouldn't repeat that tourist attraction. We enjoyed wandering through the National Gallery to see great artwork. We watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, and we saw Westminster Abbey. The weather was surprisingly warm and sunny for March, so it was perfect for walking and exploring areas of central London. 

The Marble Arch

Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery

I love that they've left these
phone booths for the tourists!

Goofy girl waiting for the tube

Benjamin Franklin House

Westminster Abbey

BIG BEN

Grounds at Buckingham Palace

The changing of the guard

Buckingham Palace

The London Eye

Looking up at the London Eye

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Another view of Trafalgar Square

Market under the tracks

Yummy souvenir from
the market.

As with any good trip, our favorite moments were those we didn't expect and couldn't have planned. For example, in our quest to find Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, we found ourselves in the middle of a fantastic open-air market of meats, cheeses, baked goods, and chocolates. The market was under the train tracks and had such a cool ambiance! It felt like we happened upon a place for locals and forgot we were tourists for a few minutes. Other moments of surprise discoveries were wandering through the newer section of London with its impressive modern skyscrapers, enjoying the friendly hang-out feel to Piccadilly Circus, laughing about the funny man on the London Bridge who took a picture for us, and enjoying a cozy lunch of toasted sandwiches from a street vendor while sitting at the base of the London Eye--it felt so good to feel the sun on our backs and enjoy almost summer-like weather without any of the tourist crowds of summer! 

Piccadilly Circus at night

Piccadilly during the day. Such a fun area!

Modern London

I guess rectangular skyscrapers are old-fashioned now.

Nice view of the Thames and Tower Bridge

Our highlight of the trip was seeing both "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables." Seeing these shows was a first for Maurie, so it was really fun to share with her! Both performances were absolutely fantastic and likely spoiled us forever!!

The Phantom opera house

Well, three days and two nights in London were just enough to make us want to go back sometime. We had such a great time together and really enjoyed the city! We felt like our trip was complete by the time our flight left Saturday night. By then, we had seen all the sights on our list, witnessed a tourist nearly get hit by a bus because she looked the wrong way when crossing the street (it is weird to get used to cars driving on the left), saw the Queen and Prince Charles at the changing of the guard, and rode on a red double-decker bus. The best part was time with my daughter. I love that girl!