London: Final Day!

Day 5 itinerary included the Tower of London to see the crown jewels.  This was R's top priority for the trip.

The Tower of London wasn't too far from where we were staying, so we took a leisurely walk over there.

A pirate ship on the way...you HAVE to stop at a pirate ship!!

Under the London Bridge

The Tower of London actually isn't just a tower.  It's an entire castle/fortress and even a little village of buildings inside.  We've seen a lot of castles since we've been in Europe, but they are still neat to look at!

The view coming up to the Tower of London

 

Little R was impressed with the spikes at the entry

I LOVE these doors! 

The view of the Tower Bridge...this was one of my favorites!

Evidently, the King was given an elephant as a gift.  He even ordered a special cage to be made to house the elephant!  Little R thought that was VERY cool!

About to go in and see the Crown Jewels...and of course no photos inside!

Another very serious looking guard!

After seeing the Crown Jewels, we were ready for lunch.  The girls picked out our lunch location for our last day in London:

Nando's!!  I guess if you are a One Direction fan, you know that Nando's comes highly recommend by the 1D boys...so it was a must for us!
 

After lunch, we checked out of the apartment and drove to the airport, for a short flight home.  Great spring break for our family!  It wasn't sunny, sandy or warm...but it was a great time nonetheless!!

And another dear friend came to mind when we saw this street sign on the way to the airport!  This one's for you, Aunt Christie!!

London, Day 4

First up:  The Changing of the Guard!!  We knew we had to see it if we were going to London.  Even though my Rick Steve's book said it was a "non-event".  Since we wanted to be over there early, we decided to take a cute little taxi cab over to Buckingham Palace.

A & Little R in the cab.

The rest of us on the other side of the cab...

Our cute little cab!  These were all over the place...we loved them!

Out of the cab an on to Buckingham Palace....and the changing of the guard.

Buckingham Palace

Just a few people...

The Willis Family in front of Buckingham Palace...never dreamed I would see this picture!

Little R likes policemen!  And this one was much friendlier than the German Polizei we see come into contact with!

The crowd just kept growing!!

I agree with the Rick Steve's book...it was a bit of a "non-event".  But it was amazing to us to see ALL these people showing up to see this event...that happens on a daily basis!  It was pretty cool overall...but the marching band was our favorite part!
 

We left Buckingham Palace and walked through the park to our pre-determined lunch location:

Hard Rock Cafe!!  We LOVE Hard Rock Cafe, and if we are ever near one, we are guaranteed to eat there!

Just a great picture of our handsome little guy!!

After lunch, we spent the rest of the day walking around the city, seeing the sights!!

The mounted horse guards...the girls wanted to try and make him smile...he looked a bit angry!

Westminster Abbey

Photo bombers!

A quick trip into the souvenir shop...and out of all the choices...this hat is what Little R chose!  It barely left his head the rest of the trip!

The trip wouldn't be complete without a trip to M&Ms World!

An entire wall of M&Ms!!  You could choose your colors for your custom assortment!  The smell of chocolate was almost overwhelming in this place!

Little R's final product!

Another fun, busy day in London!!  Itinerary for Day 5:  The Tower of London (to see the Crown Jewels) and then the not-so-leisurely drive to the airport for our flight home!

London, Day 3

Day 3 Itinerary:  The hop on/hop off bus tour!  Our plan was to ride the full route on the bus, to pick out a few things we might want to go back to later on our own.  We were able to catch the bus right outside our apartment, which was great!

We hopped on, and away we went!

This is the area where we stayed.  It was a neat area...had it's own little village vibe with restaurants, etc.

The London Eye...again!

Look kids!  It's Big Ben!

R had the camera...you get LOTS of architecture pictures when R has the camera...and ZERO people pictures!

Sherlock Holmes Pub...neat!

Trafalgar Square...as we came up to it, our guide said they were doing some sort of shoot there that morning (that's why the crane is there).  Evidently, this is a common occurrence here.

And what kind of shoot was it???  A Dr. Who shoot!!!  The girls were beyond thrilled, and they insisted we got off the bus RIGHT THEN and check it out!

So we hopped off at the next stop and headed back to the Square.  I made them stop long enough for the phone booth picture!

We walked the few blocks back to Trafalgar Square, and look what we found!

The tardis!!  Now this doesn't mean much to me, but to Dr. Who fans, it's a big deal!

Filming...Matt Smith...the guy who plays Dr. Who...again, means nothing to me, but the girls were ecstatic!

Not much gets our T excited...but this did!

A lot of other people were excited, too!

Even though I don't watch Dr. Who, it was cool to see how a TV show is actually shot...there were lots of people involved.

After about 30-45 minutes of watching the shoot, Little R was DONE!  He didn't understand what the big deal was.  We were all hungry, so we decided to head back to Sherlock Holmes to eat lunch.

Out in front...very neat place!

R is happy...he has food!!  And what is Little R eating??

Fish & Chips, of course!  That was one of T's requirements for the trip...fish & chips!  So she got her wish...and even shared with Little R.

We met a very nice British guy inside, and since we left at the same time, he offered to take a family picture..yay!

 Then we hopped back on the bus to finish our interrupted tour!



Old school double decker bus!

The Times Square of London?

Very nice!

The Hard Rock Cafe...to be continued!

 Again, R had the camera and I think he snapped a picture of EVERY building in London!  But they were quite impressive, so definitely photo-worthy!

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The Tower Bridge...I loved this one!

London Bridge...not quite as impressive as you would think, considering it has it's own song!

We rode the bus back to the apartment, and settled in for the evening.  Dinner in the apartment that night, and time to warm up and rest up for the next day!
Itinerary Day 4:  The Changing of the Guard!