Tower of London and V&A Museum: London Part 2

Saturday morning we decided to go to the Tower of London first. We thought it would only take a couple of hours, but there is so much to see there! We ended up staying for over 4 hours and could have easily spent a few more. I recommend saving a whole day to see this if you decide to go while in London. Also, if you travel by train they have 2for1 offers which make the ticket prices a lot easier to swallow (normally 21 pounds per person, but evens out to about 10.50 per person with the 2for1). I loved seeing the Crown Jewels. You can't take any pictures from the exhibit, but they had one diamond in there that was over 500 carats, that is insane! Queen Victoria's crown was my favorite. It was small and she wore it after Albert died. It was very sparkly. I found these pictures of it and her online through a Google image search:

Queen Victoria's crown

Queen Victoria

Here are some other pictures from our time at the tower:

One of my favorite shots from the day, courtesy of Simon

Her majesty the Queen

Mom and Dad before going inside

Simon by the tower sign

Before going inside

Middle Tower

Dad and Mom by the King's throne

In the King's chamber

Simon and I with the Tower Bridge

The Tower Bridge

Mom in the armory

Simon and his suit of armor

The actual Tower of London

Crown Jewels

Tower the jewels are housed in

Guarding the jewels

I love elephants

Tree ornaments of Henry VIII and his wives

Acting in the courtyard

Tarts with the crown

The bloody tower (my dad's favorite)

All 4 of us just after the Tower of London

After the Tower of London we started making our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I love the Victoria and Albert love story and "The Young Victoria" is probably my favorite movie about British monarchs, so I had to go. Plus it was free.

Eating some candied peanuts on the way

My dad fell asleep in the underground, classic

Simon by the underground sign

The famous English phone box

Dad pretending to make a call

Me and Simon

Mom and Dad next to a police box- I have never seen Dr. Who, but I guess it is a big deal

The V&A Museum

Dad, Mom, and Simon in front of the museum

Front of museum

Simon and I inside by a red tree with hearts

This was in the middle of the main entry foyer

In a courtyard in the middle of the museum

Bernini

They had a fashion through the ages exhibit, Mom and I really enjoyed it- Simon and Dad did not

London was awesome. I am so glad I got to experience it for the first time with my parents. We didn't get to do any of the Harry Potter stuff, but when Rachael comes in January we plan on going to Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio and to the 9 3/4 platform at King's Cross.

I forgot to add my pedometer stats from the 2 days in London. Total: 43,470 steps, 32.602 km (about 20 miles), 1660 calories, 8 hours 30 minutes 41 seconds logged.

Tea with the Queen: London Part 1

We took my parents to London for two days during their visit. It was my first time going to London as well, so it was quite a treat for everyone. We took a direct train from Chester to London Euston which only took about 2 hours. It gave Simon and I time to prepare our primary lesson. Once we arrived we took the underground to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. We had to hurry because we were cutting it very close on time. It was super crowded, but we found a good spot by one of the gates. A military truck had to go through the gates so the palace police came to the gate and opened it while the truck went in and then later out.  My mom had been wanting a picture with an English policeman (much to my embarrassment) so I finally put my embarrassment aside and asked the policeman if he would mind getting a picture with my mom. He happily obliged even though he was afraid it would start a chain of a million others wanting a picture too. Here are some photos of us by the gate and all that happened above:

Mom, Dad, and I by the palace gate

Mom and Dad in front of the palace

We thought he was going to let us in

Military truck

Going to see the Queen

Our new friends

The palace

Mom was so happy to get this picture

Here are some other pictures from our visit to Buckingham Palace:

After visiting the Queen at the palace we decided to get some grub before going to see Wicked!!! We went to a pub near the B&B we were staying at. It was quite delicious.

Mom and Dad looking over the menu

Kof has decided

Mom got some scrumptious hot chocolate

Mom's lunch- pot roast, yorkshire, roast potatoes, and veg

It was a bad decision to eat lunch at a sit down place because it made us late for the play! We were a minute late (literally) and due to where are seats were we weren't allowed to go in for 20 minutes. They had a tv in the lobby so we could watch the first part. It wasn't very good on the tv though so I was pretty mad that I was missing part of the show. They finally let us go in and the rest of the play was amazing! The singing was so good, the costumes were great, the set was fantastic, I loved it all. Elphaba (the wicked witch) had the best voice in my opinion. My favorite songs were "Defy Gravity" and "For Good."

Defy Gravity- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlMBcTGJ4YM

For Good- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQJaZO2nfGg

Here are some pictures from the play:

After the show outside the theater

The Apollo Victoria theater

Outside the theater

A scene during the play

The stage during intermission

Merchandise

My parents and I after the play

After the play we went to Harrods, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the River Thames, London Eye (used to be the biggest ferris wheel in the world, until 2005), and Waterloo station (I had to go because I am obsessed with Jason Bourne and all the Bourne movies). Big Ben was awesome to see at night. My mom really wanted to go on the London Eye, but I am terrified of heights and I especially hate ski lifts and ferris wheels (I almost had an anxiety attack going on the little kid ferris wheel with my niece at Knotts Berry Farm last summer, she's 4 and was fine... sad I know). Here are some pictures from the evening:

Harrods

Inside Harrods

Chocolates at Harrods

I guess Harrods is this really swanky and expensive department store. There are 7 levels. My dad was talking to one of the workers and they said level 1 through 5 was for normal customers. They said levels 6 and 7 were for celebrities and high rollers. Crazy. We were going to buy a little treat or something, but couldn't bring ourselves to spend any money on the ridiculously priced items.

My parents in front of Big Ben

Simon, Big Ben, and the London Eye

Simon and I in front of Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

View of the River Thames at night

Don't mind if I do

I love beautiful cars

Best shop window ever

A trip to London would not be complete without rein-acting Bourne Ultimatum. Simon and I pretended we were in the movie and re-did the bus stop scene with Simon Ross when Bourne was directing him with what to do.

We were beat after Waterloo. Simon bought me a pedometer for Christmas so I can track how much I walk (it was what I have been wanting). We walked about 10 miles that day. I will give you the total for the 2 days in my next blog post. 

Boxing Day: The Hobbit

Boxing Day is a huge shopping day in England.  It doesn't quite rival Black Friday, but it may in the coming future.  We decided it would be a perfect day to go to a movie. We took the bus to Cheshire Oaks (a huge outdoor outlet mall) and went to see "The Hobbit" at the theater.  My mom had to close her eyes on the bus because she thought it was scary.  Haha.  Overall the movie was good, but I forgot it was the 2nd part of a 3 part movie so I was a bit disappointed to learn that I had to wait for another movie to see what happens.  I guess I could always read the book to find out what happens, or just ask my sister Rach or brother Joe because they are obsessed. The elf fighting scenes were pretty sweet.  I also liked the scene with Bilbo and the dragon.  We had some pictures from the outing, but they were accidentally deleted.