A full day in London

The next day we didn't wake up until 10:20. Derek rushed to breakfast with the girls. Then we got ready for our full day in downtown London! It was a little overwhelming at first trying to figure out the tube and the buses but we figured it out and made it back to our hotel later that night. And, the girls are mastering the British accent. Pretty funny since they said they wouldn't talk at all when we got here because they didn't want to talk like them!!

First stop, Hyde Park

Rose Garden

We went for a paddle boat ride on Serpentine Lake

Then we went across the bridge (pictured above) into Kensington Gardens

random view from the bridge

Peter Pan statue

We waited in a long line to get into this park, Princess Diana Memorial Park, it was at capacity. It was a fun park....just very crowded.

Kensington Palace (where Princess Diana lived)

 

Then we jumped on a double decker bus to Buckingham Estates.......I mean Buckingham Palace. :)

 

of course we sat on top.....and we've seen so many of these the regular size buses are now "tiny buses" according to Allie and Avery.

standing at one of the gates

 

Next we went even further into the heart of London......right during rush hour. It was a mess. People rushing everywhere and they had no concern for anyone around them. Luckily we quickly found a McDonalds we could sneak into for a "quick" dinner. I say "quick" because it was pretty crowded itself but it was better than being outside in that madness. After we ate we passed by Westminster Abbey.

 

While there we had a great view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament....and we continued to get closer.

"Look kids, Big Ben.....Parliament." Can anyone name the movie?

The kids couldn't keep their eyes off of the big ferris wheel, aka the London Eye. So we got our tickets, saw the 4d movie and then got felt up so we could go to the front of the line for our ride. :)

inside

A fun playground we found while on the London Eye...and then played at for a while after we got off.

After leaving the park we decided we were up for one more stop that wasn't too far away, Trafalgar Square. Blake decided he was done for the day though.

Lots of statues in Europe, mostly of boobs and naked babies.

As we were walking back to the tube to get our ride home we realized I wasn't in many pictures so we stopped at the infamous red telephone booth and snapped a quick picture of me.

 And that pretty much sums up our day in London! There is still a lot more to see......but we have plenty of time to do it, with plenty of people that say they are going to come visit! And we WANT tons of visitors!! :)