~London Weekend~

2 Days in the beautiful city of London was amazing! Anna and I looked around at different tours that we could take around the city, and we came to the conclusion that we did not need a tour guide. All we needed was the tube map and a day pass each day!

We spent the first day taking the tube to Hyde Park, then getting off and walking through the park. In the park we looked around the outside of Kensington Gardens. We then took off for Buckingham Palace, where we were able to see the changing of the Guards. After Buckingham, we went to Westimister Cathedral and a tour of the bell tower, which was beautiful, followed by Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliment, Trafagar square, Piccadily area, and the broadway show, Mamma Mia. Needless to say by the time I arrived back to the hotel I was pooped!

We were able to see the London Eye from the ground, but it was closed due to "Adverse" weather conditions. It was sunny and 28 degrees. The lady at the hotel counter told me that people in london start to freak out when they get 5 cm of snow! I think that they need to take some lessons from Iowa on what to consider adverse weather!

Then today we got up and headed out on the tube again. We went to the London Eye, but again because of the cold it was not running. So we took a river cruise to Tower of London. We took the guided tour that talked about a lot of beheadings and burials, but was interesting to find out about. After the tour was over we walked through the tower to see the crown jewels. They are breathtaking. We had a quick lunch at the cafe there and then explored the tower a little more.

At 3 we left for St. Pauls cathedral and I can now see why my Aunt Suzie said it was a must to see it. And Aunt Sue...the floor did resemble you kitchen floor! But on a more serious note the mosaic celing was beyond anything you can imagine and made westminster cathedral look like a small town church. We decided we had to climb the 257 stairs to the top of the wispering gallery where you are able to hear a whisper from across the dome. We were not able to go any farther again because of adverse weather. There were two more places to climb too...but it was probably for the better we were not able to because i don't know how much more my legs could take! I definatly got my exercise the past 2 days.

We finished the night with the Tates Modern Art Museum, which was a little bit odd at times, but free none the less. We ate at a little Korean/Chinese resturant just around the corner from our hotel. Now we are updating blogs, calling on skype, and packing so we can head off to the airport about 7:45. Good Stuff...hopefully the Heathrow Express train and the airport don't have any problems due to the Adverse Weather tomorrow!!