Europe Trip - London Day 1 and 2

We promised that we'd blog on our trip if we had Internet connection, which we do, so wanted to give an update! We left for London on Thursday night on a red-eye flight but with the help of Ambian, we were able to get a little sleep on the flight over thankfully as we had a full day of sightseeing planned once we got here.

We started off going to Westminster Abbey where we did a self-guided tour (audio-guides are fabulous!) through the church before heading off on the walk from Westminster Abbey to the National Gallery passing by 10 Downing Street where the prime minister lives. The National Gallery was very entertaining as it had several recognizable Renoir, Van Gogh and Monet paintings on display - our Rick Steves guidebook made the rest of the paintings enjoyable as well as he pointed out interesting ones along the way. After completing a jaunt through the National Gallery, we rushed quickly over to the London Eye for our "flight" - it was a fun way to see the London skyline. We then headed back to our apartment by way of Big Ben, listening to the 8 o'clock bells. We are staying in a 2 bedroom apartment in Kensington, which has been very comfortable thus far.

Today, we jumped on an Evan Evans tourbus and headed to Windsor Castle - which was very entertaining to wander through - imagine that it is an active castle for the royal family! After that, we headed to Bath to see the Roman baths - interesting to see the history there but kind of makes you shake your head to learn that the early Romans thought that the baths were "sacred" because the water was hot.

The last highlight of the day was a stop at Stonehenge - while it doesn't take very long to tour the area and take pictures, it is very, very neat to see and take pictures of. That was one of the stops that Amy most wanted to see while here in England! It was also very interesting to wind our way through the English country-side, it is very pastoral and reminded Karis of home on the farm as there were many farms along the way preparing for harvest.

The boys are having a great time with Grandma at home, and we of course miss them! When we left, we were fearful that the departure would be particularly hard on Zachary. We distracted him with a "Thomas the Tank Engine" DVD (gotta love his obsession at times!) - but just before we left, Amy heard Zachary inform Grandma, "Grandma, right after this is over, I'm going on a trip!" She did in fact take him on a "trip" - a driving trip in the car, after he was done to help him get over the disappointment that he hadn't left with Mommy and Daddy. He has been bossing Grandma around already - telling her not to nap, how to drive and many more things we're sure!

Starting one of our many rides on the subway after landing in London

Picture of Westminster Abbey, and another one through a window grate

Riding the London Eye

Pictures of Big Ben Across the River

Another picture of Big Ben

A Portion of Windsor Castle

Glimpse of the original Roman baths in Bath, England (dirty water!). Kelli and Karis listening to their audioguides about the interesting history of the baths

Stonehenge

A few cute pictures of the boys from before we left - Kaleb's mohawk! Zachary and Kaleb playing peacefully together with the ball-popper - what a beloved toy!

Karis couldn't resist taking a picture of a digger for Zachary