It is great to be home! We had an amazing trip!! I feel like rather than sharing all of our stories, I wish I could just take everyone that I love to all of my favorite places and share the experience with you. Talk about Thanksgiving, I couldn't be more thankful to have spent 17 days on the most wonderful vacation ever with the man I love. We are blessed!
So I think I'm going to start with London, our first destination, and just post about each of the places we went. I posted lots of pictures on Facebook, if you haven't had a chance to look through all of them and are interested in doing so, but I want to share some stories about our experience here. It started out with a bang...the immigration officer in London Heathrow threatened to send us back to the US because Matt's passport was a little beat up from a previous trip to Europe. Seriously, I don't know if he was just trying to scare us, I have a theory that he had a vendetta against Americans, or if he was really serious, but I was freaking out. Are you kidding me?? I just got off a plane I've been on for 10 hours, and we've been looking forward to this trip FOREVER. So he said he was going to grant us temporary entrance or something without stamping Matt's passport, but then indicated that he thought we might have trouble in other countries if he didn't stamp it which he ended up doing. All the more reason I think he was yanking our chain...sorry but, he was a jerk! Thankfully, it was all downhill from there. (Did I use that expression appropriately?! What I mean is it was all good...)
On our first night in London, after our hearts returned to normal sinus rythm, we went on the London Eye, at 443 feet it is the largest ferris wheel in Europe. From the top, we had a spectacular view of the city at night.
An awesome view of the House of Parliament and Big Ben from the London Eye.
The following day we went to Buckingham Palace and watched the changing of the guard. I couldn't help but wonder what the guards are like out of uniform. They're so stoic and solemn. It was neat to see! The absolute funniest thing though is that the Military Band was playing Rocky and a few other pep-band type songs! I was sure they were going to break out into Eye of the Tiger, but they didn't. We thought it was hillarious...not the regal music we expected.
We also visited Kensington Palace, which was the official residence of Diana, Princess of Wales. Today it is also used on an unofficial basis by Prince Harry. 
The Arch of Wellington - random fact: til 1992 the arch housed the second smallest police station in London. 
One of our absolute favorite things in London (outside the city) was the Windsor Castle. I have to admit that I have a new fascination with castles. At Windsor, the royal flag was flying, which meant Her Majesty the Queen was in residence. For some reason that made me feel like a little girl again! Of course, we didn't see her or anything. There was something very enchanting about the castle.
A romantic walk along the river, and a gorgeous view of London's Tower Bridge.
A few more thoughts on London......
*I felt very frumpy all week. London is high fashion! The women wear tights, boots, and scarves scarves scarves. Oh...and black or gray jackets, yah, I stuck out like a sore thumb in my yellow jacket and New Balance tennies.
*London is a very expensive city...the pound to dollar is almost 2 to 1. We ate a lot of Mc Donalds and Burger King.
*Despite the aforementioned tidbits...I loved London! There was an amazing building around every turn. Its rich history was enthralling.
*The Tube (subway) was super easy to figure out.
*And the people spoke English....awesome!
All in all, London was a fantastic way to start our trip.
1 comment:
WOW!!! AMAZING! I am so jealous.
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