London Vacation Day 7

Good day all! So, because I have been in such a slump with writers block and finishing up the London Vacation, Cary has generously stepped up and wrote about Day 6 for me. How did I get such a guy?!?!?

And now, introducing the greatest hubby around! :

The morning started like most, with my eyes shut. But this morning was slightly different than others I have known. Although I was still in the darkness of my sleep I could tell that it was already bright outside. A quick and fuzzy glance at the clock beside our bed confirmed my fear. It was only 4:30 and the sun was already beaming. “Just 4 more hours of sleep please, Mr. Sun.” But then I remembered a very important fact that changed everything, something that made a 4:30 sun a good thing. We were in London, England!

So after a short nap, we had a quick up and at them, a phone call to the parents in their luxury suite and we were out the door for another day of adventure. Since this was our last full day in the city, we were going to use it to the little things that we had not gotten to yet. The first task was breakfast. We made our way over to the Thames and Big Ben area in hopes that there would be a different place for breakfast. We ended up at the world’s tiniest “super” market, one aisle so narrow it should have been one way. The pickings were slim, but we all found something to sustain us. We found a bench over looking the Thames, with the new London Eye Ferris wheel on the opposite bank. It was very peaceful and made a very unique and wonderful breakfast spot.

Then off toward the Horse Guards building to see if we could make the horse laugh, or where we supposed to make the soldier perched on his back laugh? Either way neither happened, but we did discover that they were having the changing of the Horse Guards in about 30 minutes. The changing of the Horse Guards is just like the changing of the Guards at Buckingham palace but oddly enough on Horses. So, with a quick side trip to #10 Downing St, (where we saw nothing but a bunch of school kids who also saw nothing) we were back to the parade grounds to stake out a good spot for the “Change”. It was less than spectacular but glad we did it. Now we can always say that we saw it, and that is a good enough reason to do anything, once.

Another thing that we found out while we were waiting was that they were having a birthday party for the one of the Queen’s offspring that night and we were invited (along with anyone else who wanted to buy a ticket). The Queen and her husband were going to be there and if we came we would get to see her pass by in her Rolls Royce. We decided to pass on the invite; I hope the Queen didn’t take it personal.

We made our way just down the street to the War Rooms and Churchill Museum. This was an excellent museum of the Cabinet War Rooms, were we got to see the actual rooms, desks, maps, and phones used. It also contained a large, very interesting museum about the life of Winston Churchill. The whole thing was so interesting that I went through it twice, as did Tressia and Bryan. And Jenn actually went through it 3 times! (Truth: we keeping getting separated from one another and had to keep going back through it to find everyone).

After the museum, it was lunch time. We found ourselves at The Bag o’ Nails Pub. On the way I was accosted by a horde of French middle school girls on a field trip. Everyone says that they were just trying to learn English and the London culture, but I could tell, they though I was cute. After the pub it was up to Hyde park, which included a visit to the Serpentine Lake, the Italian Gardens (where we learned about the terrible storms that blew through DFW and the Lewisville Tornado), the Peter Pan Statue (which was our main goal), and Kensington Palace. Then, due to your ever tiring feet, we decided that a Taxi cab ride was in order.

As we darted in and out of traffic, around twisting little roads and major 6 lane road (all on the wrong side I might add), we suddenly came to a stop right in front of Buckingham Palace. I thought to myself, I wonder if the Queen has left for the Birthday party yet. Just as I turned around (I had been riding in a rear facing seat) I saw motorcycle cop blocking the road in front of us. I then turned towards the Palace and right there, about 20 yards away, just on the other side of an iron fence I saw the Queen and her hubby in the back of their Rolls. We were so close that I can tell you with certain assurance that she wore the most lovely and delicate foral hat that I’ve seen all season.

After the quick glimpse it was away we go to our hotel just around the corner. That night ended with a fruitless search for Indian food (even though we had seen them on every corner during every other part of our trip) and we settled for the Chinese buffet that we had a couple of days before.

Jenn's added note: Once we were back at the hotel, we received a call that we did not expect to receive: Cary's mom, Brenda. She saved the day by hunting us down and telling us that due to terrible weather in Dallas/Ft. Worth, the flight we were supposed to be on the next day had been cancelled...so Cary and I scrambled to my parents' room to call American Airlines and try to get our seats reserved for a flight home the next day. After about 45 minutes of sitting on the phone and planning, that was taken care of...for the night.

It was another successfully tiring day. Good job everyone!