London in a Day

A few weeks ago, Jason and I arranged plans to take Jenna and Ethan to London for a day trip to see the capital of Britain, while Drew stayed in Brussels with a friend. However, not long after plans were made the city went wild with rioting and looting. We cancelled our plans and pretty much resigned ourself to the fact that we wouldn't be able to squeeze in a trip to London before we had to head back to NC.

However, while having dinner with our good friend Tracey and her family, she offered to watch the children for a day so Jason and I could travel to London on our own!! What an amazing friend! It didn't take us long to accept that offer, so the next day Jason and I booked tickets on the Eurostar high speed train to London.

We left the house last Saturday around 5:30 in order to drive downtown to the train station.  It was a smooth 2 hour train ride, and we arrived in central London!  The preparations for the upcoming 2012 Olympics were obvious.

After navigating the "Tube", we popped up in London right at Big Ben and Parliament.

This is a photo of Big Ben and Parliament from the other side of the River Thames.

We meandered our way through the streets, passing many red phone booths and double decker red busses.

After a 15 minute walk we arrived at Buckingham Palace. 

The Palace is now open for tours, but given our tight time frame we opted for only a few photos and a quick snack before moving on to our next stop.  But before we left, I snapped this photo of Jason in front of the gates at the Palace.

One thing that was amusing in London were all of the signs for the tourists.  For example, see the picture below.

Our next stop, along with every other Asian tourist, was the British Museum.  All the museums in London are free, so it was worth it to pop in for just a few minutes and see a few of the highlights. 

One of the most significant artifacts on display is the Rosetta Stone!  There is also a hall dedicated to the remnants of the Pantheon along with many other treasures from every era of known history. 

After leaving the museum, we stopped by Starbucks to pick up a signiture city mug that they produce for almost all of the major cities we've visited.  Jason started the collection for me when he went o Paris last September.  Now we have eight mugs from all over western Europe! 

Just before finding a spot for lunch, we stopped by St. Paul's Cathedral.  This cathedral is part of the Church of England and held the wedding service for Charles and Diana, and also the funeral for Winston Churchill.

By this time, the skies were beginning to grey a bit and we had worked up an appetite, so we stopped for lunch.  We decided to forego the traditional "fish and chips" and opted for Asian noddles at Wagamama.

By the time we finished lunch, the rain was pretty heavy so we purchased a few umbrellas from the tourist shop and decided to make the most of the day.

Our lunch stop was within sight of the Tower Bridge, so we paddled through puddles to get a good view.

Despite the conditions, Jason was able to take some decent shots.

We walked past the London Tower, shown below, which now houses the Crown Jewels.  Because our stay in London was so brief, we were only able to view the Tower from the outside.

Following our quick pass by the London Tower, the sky cleared and we headed back to the western part of London to see Westminster Abbey.

The church was in the middle of service, so we were unable to enter but we admired the beautiful facade that reminds me a bit of Notre Dame.

Our final stop of the say was a closer view of the London Eye.  This 450 foot structure offers the best view of the city.  Due to time constraints and having to get back to the train station we were not able to ride.

 However, we walked to the Eye for a close view and also a quick ice cream snack before heading back to the train station.

We are forever grateful to our dear friends Tracey and Don for allowing us to have this special day in London.  Jason and I found it to be a friendly and easy to navigate capital that we would love to visit again.