London, my new favorite city...

Well I have been delaying the writing of this blog for long enough...I guess I'd better just get it done.  The reason I have been delaying is because I know there are once again way too many great pictures and I can't decide which ones to include!!  

I started the week with a fun 15 mile bike ride with Karma.  We went all the through Hütschenhousen, Miseau, and past Elsbach, then back to Spesbach.  I huffed and puffed up all the hills (just one steep one) and my legs were like jello afterwards, but I really enjoyed riding through the German countryside.  We stopped at a small family cemetery in the forest and at a spot that was once used for public hangings.  

The highlight of the week and the reason the blog is a couple of days late is because of our trip to my new favorite city in the world.....LONDON!!


Mike had to go to a two week exercise up in England, so we thought it would be a great time for the three of us to drive up to London, see the sights for a couple of days, and then Mike would go on to the exercise and Travis and I would fly home.  They have a budget airline over here called Ryan air and we got tickets for just over thirty dollars one way back home.


So we got off about 9:30 a.m. on Friday and expected about an eight hour drive.  We got to the chunnel and realized it was almost three times as expensive to just buy a ticket as you drive up versus buying one online.  We had no idea it would be so much more!  Mike said "No way" and so we sat in the kennel parking lot outside of the chunnel entrance and tried to figure out where to go to just catch a ferry.  We made our way there and found out it was way more expensive to just take a ferry at your convenience versus buying a ticket online....sound familiar??   Add to that...the ferry wasn't leaving for ninety minutes.  We finally just decided to bite the bullet and drive back and take the chunnel.    I was good either way because I was a bit nervous about the whole" under water tunnel for thirty minutes on a train thingy".   It turns out it was no big deal and it's a really smooth way to get you and your car across the English Channel!!   

We just drove down to the train and were loaded on.  The trains have two levels and we were told to drive up the ramp and pull right up to the car in front of us.  It was very interesting.  Soon they closed the doors and we were off.  It was very quiet and quick.  Thirty minutes later we were driving off the train in merry olde England and driving on the left side of the road!!   That really takes some getting used to.  They even drive in to their roundabouts to the left!   


We had an hour's drive to our hotel in Bexley Heath in the Kent area southeast of London.   We spent the evening watching England play a world cup match on the "telly".  England is World Cup crazy just like in Germany and next week I will post some pics of the World Cup craziness around both countries.  

Saturday we woke up and drove to the nearby train station and took a thirty minute train ride into London.  We immediately got on the Hop on Hop off double decker bus.  It was a great way to get our bearings and note the things we wanted to come back and take tours of or spend extra time at.  




















This is Westminster Abbey

And this is St. Paul's cathedral.  It was so beautiful!!

I was so impressed with how easy it is to get around London. They have a very cohesive transportation system with the trains, the tubes (subway) and the city buses.  Once you figure it out you can get anywhere easily.  We spent about 7 pounds for an all day ticket that we could use on all the modes of transportation, including our thirty minute train ride in and out of the city.
  
The people in England were incredibly friendly.  As soon as we would pull out a tube map, we would have someone asking us if they could help us find our way.  It was SO nice to be able to carry on whole conversations with the people we met.  It's just a bit harder to do that in the other countries we have been to.  The English are proud of their history and their country and they are happy to share it with you!!

We had lunch at the original Hard Rock Cafe.  Travis had never been to one and he really enjoyed it but the music was really loud.....my ears are still ringing :)

We decided to go out to the east end to see the Tower of London. 

 We took a river Thames cruise boat and it was a fun way to see everything

By the way...this is NOT London Bridge..it's Tower Bridge. Everyone gets it confused!

 By the time we got to the Tower, it was too close to closing time and it had started to rain, so we bagged it and went to the other side of the city to shop at Harrod's Department store.  What a shopping experience that is!  I was actually too overwhelmed to really shop.  We made it to the food department, the electronics floor where we all tried out the new 3D TV and to the Toy floor where Travis fit right in with the life sized stuffed animals.

The next day, we took the train in again, this time with a plan to tour a few of the places we really wanted to see.  First stop was Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the south bank.  We took an hour tour and the tour guide was a really funny guy who is an actor at the theatre.  He was not only funny, but he really knew his history as well.


Then we walked across the Thames on the Millenial bridge and caught a bus to the Tower of London.  They say there is more history per square in the Tower of London than in all of England!   It's a castle, a palace, a fortress, a prison and it now houses the Royal Jewels and a huge collection of the Royal Armor for hundreds of years.   It's where Ann Boleyn was beheaded and is laid to rest as well.   We took an hour tour with a one of the Beefeaters.  He was so entertaining!  




This is Traitor's Gate, where most prisoners were brought into the prison from the river Thames.  They would come by boat and walk up these very steps to imprisonment and sometimes to their death.  Ann Boleyn walked up these stone steps when she was held prisoner here.

After the Tower of London, we went to Churchill's Museum and the War Rooms.  These the basement rooms where he and his staff conducted the war during the many air raids and bombings of London.  It was pretty cool.   

Then we went to Picadilly Circus and ate at the Planet Hollywood, we walked through Trafalgar Square and then took the tubes to the south bank again and went to the London Eye.  What a view from there!!  It wasn't as tall or as big as Mike and Travis had expected it to be, but it is the tallest thing in London and it was a fun thirty minute ride around.  We hit it right before sunset and it was something I will always remember!   
I will finish up by just posting lots of pictures, small sized...remember you can click on them and it will make them full sized, then just hit your back arrow to return to the blog.  
Here's the pics....

It was a fabulous trip and we saw so much, but we have to go back...
We just drove by Buckingham Palace and we want to go to Hyde Park and I would love to see a show...Wicked! 


We didn't make it out to Stonehenge and the Cotswolds, either.   There is just a lot to see and do around London and like I said it is my new favorite city!!


Mike has more pictures but he still has his camera up in England, so I will probably add a few more in a couple of weeks when he gets back.  


love and miss you all,
-corri