London

Last weekend, we flew over to London to visit with the Queen. Actually, again, we just met my co-worker Tammy who was working in the UK on an audit.

It was a beautiful weekend, which is rare in London! We really took advantage of it. The bad thing is...London is VERY expensive and you have to pay a lot to see most everything, which is disappointing. Gene got to use his British/Irish/Scottish/Southern and all other accents he could try here. He cracked me up!!

We went to see St Paul's Cathedral (where Princess Diana got married). Unfortunately, we didn't go in to see the inside. It was about 12 pounds ($17) to get in and you could not take pictures. Then, we headed to the Millennium Bridge and to the Tower Bridge. We went up to the top of the Tower Bridge, which was rather interesting! From there, we headed to the Tower of London. It looks like a castle from the outside. We did not go in there as it was about 20 pounds ($28). Unfortunately, we did not go in and we did not realize that the Crown Jewels and other highly treasured items in the Queen's collection are on display there. Next time...

Then, we headed to Westminster Abby. We decided to pay to see this church and once again were unable to take pictures. It is beautiful inside and worth it. We passed Big Ben and Parliament on the way to see/ride the London Eye (Ferris wheel). From there, we headed to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen (missed the changing of the guards...again, next time). And, the Queen wasn't out...so we saw the guards instead. Then, headed to dinner at the good ol' Hard Rock Cafe (we are trying to go to all of them in Europe)! London is the original HRC and we got to tour their "vault" as our wait to get a table was 1 hr 45 min. It was worth it for the nachos! I love the nachos! After a late dinner (we only waited about an hour), we went to Piccadilly Circus (the Times Square in London).

The next day, we tried to go take the red open top tour bus (where Joey sits on top with the Dr. Seuss London hat on). But, in order to make it back to the hotel to get our luggage to make our flight, we didn't have enough time. At least the tour people were honest with us and didn't steal our pounds! Instead, we found the Sherlock Holmes Museum, the Princess Diana Fountain, and Hyde Park. We ended the day back at Piccadilly Circus.

There is a ton left to see in London and hopefully we'll make it back there. :)