The End

After being picked up at 4 in the morning, three planes in quick succession, a long car ride back to the house, and an extremely happy dog, all three of us are back home safely and exhausted.

Thank you all for reading this and, if you donated some money, for allowing us to pick up souvenirs. It was Charlotte and I's first over-seas trip, and we both had a blast. Sorry if you tried to post comments and couldn't. The internet suggested it might be something to do with my blog template and we were in the middle of a trip and didn't have time to fix it.

Its late now, so this will be a short post just letting you all know we're home safe and sound. Thank you all so much again!

Dawn of the Final Day: 24 hours remain

(The title's a video game reference, by the way. It was fitting.)

Today's plans were laid out very well. Unfortunately they didn't happen the way we wanted.

Breakfast as usual, no difference, followed by a quick runover of what we were going to do before heading out. Our plan was The London Dungeon right next to the hotel, followed the museums via the bus tours, then the Tower of London and catch a boat back to our hotel.

We left a little later than we wanted and headed right over to the London Dungeon, discovering that even though we got our tickets, we weren't going to head in until about 2 hours later. This wasn't enough time to do either of the two things we wanted, and instead opted for heading back to the hotel until it was time to go. This meant we gave up going back to the museums (which meant I didn't get the thing I wanted). But we still got to see the Dungeon.

The London Dungeon, once a famous place for prisoners, is now a scare house for tourists. Not only that, but its a great history lesson as well! We learned about the Black Death of course, as well as Guy Fawkes, Jack te Ripper, and Sweeny Todd. I'm next to impossible to scare, sadly. It was still fun either way, and they're effects were really cool! Most of the actors were into their roles as well, which is always wonderful to see and be apart of. They even had this ride-like thing that dropped you really fast a couple of feet called Drop Dead. (Our pictures were hilarious, but Mom was in a seperate one so she wouldn't buy them.)

Afterwards we caught a bus down to the Tower of London and got to watch the Tower Bridge open up for a ship. The Tower of London itself was really awesome, filled with cool bits of history. They kept pet ravens, beautiful large black birds that I enjoyed watching. One knew how to pose, standing on a rusted canon cawing at us. But the best part? The Crown Jewels.

On display are the Crown Jewels of the royal family, several gorgeous (and heavy) crowns worn by past monarchs, along with these ornate specters with diamonds the size of my fist, literally. I drifted toward the weapons of course, the maces and swords used in ceremonies. There was the Jeweled Sword of Offerings, a really heavily decorated sword. Like, it was crazy how many gems were on the hilt of this thing. Then there was the Sword of State, used for many occasions like the State Opening of Parliament and the Coronation. Then there were three other swords; the Sword of Temporal Justice, Spiritual Justice, and the Sword of Mercy. (Interestingly enough, the Sword of Mercy's blade ends in a square tip and looks to be not sharp.)

The smallest crown on display was Queen Victoria's, designed to wear with her mourning veil as her husband had recently died. The most ridiculous piece? The punch bowl. A king had it commissioned, but it was so crazy huge and detailed that he probably never got to use it before he died. The thing is huge! Apparenly it takes 144 bottle of wine to fill it, its so big. The ladle could have been my walking stick too. Still in use, surprisingly.

Once we were done we caught a boat ride back, returning to our hotel for packing and preparing. Along the way we stopped at a Japanese restaurant where these tiny dishes went by on a conveyor belt. (Heather, if you're reading this, you should send some mochi once I'm home. I forgot I love that stuff.)

Tomorrow we wake up extremely early, so I'll go ahead and sign off for now. One final update for tomorrow, and that'll be it!

Down the River We Go

Breakfast downstairs as usual, nothing new, followed by a about 2 hours of laying about while Mom attended her conference. When she came back we headed out.

The first thing we did was get some ice cream at a Piccadilly Whip cart. Wasn't bad, but it wasn't the kind of ice cream I'd go back for seconds for. We ate that while heading toward the Westminster Pier where we could catch a boat down the river to the Tower of London. Our guide had a great sense of humor, and I learned some interesting facts!

The Ladies' Bridge (I don't remember the real name) was built by 85% of women due to the war at the time. Interestingly enough, its the only bridge in London to have been built on time and under budget, despite the expensive self-cleaning rock used in its construction. ("You go ladies," said the guide.) Also its illegal to advertise along the Thames.

After disembarking, we wandered around the area by the Tower, discovering the oldest church in London. Its the All Hallows by the Tower, its foundations laid in 600-something AD. At first we weren't going to go in and just keep on walking, but the minute Mom realized there was a crypt museum, we walked in anyways. That was the only place we explored while there. Evidentally the people were really short in 600 AD. Charlotte and I had to crouch under doorways. Mom too, but not as much.

That was when we hopped onto one of the Big Buses to go on a Hop-On Hop-Off tour of London, where we rode it all the way to our next adventure with a ghost-walking tour. There we learned about some interesting reports of ghost-like incidents all over London, like Green Park or the Royal Institute of Great Britain or the Magg Brothers Book Shop (Manuscripts and books so rare you can only enter with an appointment. Our guide speculated it might be due to the under of very strange and very frightening deaths in the house. They won't let their employees close up shop alone.). Eh, I'm not one for ghost stories much. It would have better if there hadn't been so much daylight when the tour began.

Hungry, tired, and not so keen on walking from the Tower of London back to Westminster, we all broke away from the group to go find somewhere to eat. (Apparently 2 out of 10 people you see on the streets are ghosts. Today we became those ghosts by disappearing on our tour guide.) But when we went to pay the resturant bill they couldn't take Mom's only card on her, her American Express card. This meant Charlotte and I had to sit and wait as collateral while she ran back to the hotel to grab her other cards. Wasn't that bad, waiting. We got free water out of it.

We also discovered the Kinder Surprise eggs that the US government doesn't like very much due to "choking hazards." Really though, there was a yellow egg as big as my thumb inside the hollow chocolate egg shell. What choking hazard are they worried about?

So we're back now of course, and about to head to bed. Our trip is almost over, and tomorrow is a busy day!

"These feet are on fiiiiiyaaaaa!!!!!"

Today was a painful day indeed. My feet ache in memory of our adventure across London.

We began it with our breakfast actually ordered up to our room. I had bacon and fried eggs along with cereal, pineapple, and cranberry juice. Mom had an omelete and hashbrowns with a side of yogurt, cereal, orange juice, and pinapple. Charlotte originally had just ordered hashbrowns with yogurt and mixed fruit and orange juice, but Mom added scrambled eggs and pork sausages because she felt Charlotte had ordered too little. She also marked coffee and expresso for us (herself) as well. We got hot chocolate with ours.

So we ate breakfast at around 10, and I promptly went back to sleep until 12. That was when we all got up and made our plans for the day, which was to head off to the Science Museum and maybe the Festival of Love. Somehow we didn't leave until 2 though (But a broken elevator on our floor may have been part of the issue. Not really.). When we did leave, we followed the map Mom had pulled up on her iPad off and away from the route that really would have been quickest. We we're trying to avoid the crowds around the Palace.

Unfortunately for all of our feet, two constructions closing off the roads turned the map's supposed quickest route into the longest possible way from our hotel that we could have taken. Seriously. We went through a business district where we stumbled into the Westminster Cathedral, and stopped by a whole food market for drinks and food, and wandered way far off the beaten path. 

Not only were our feet aching, we got the museum close to closing time. We got to see only a little of the building, mainly the airplane exhibit and part of the mathmatics exhibit, but what we did see was pretty cool. I learned about Britain's own Ameila Earhart, a woman who carried the post during the war named Amy Jones, who was shot down by her own people but her body was never found. I also learned how to read a Japanese Abacus as well! That was awesome. While I don't appreciate the pain, I did love the museum and the adventure we had.

Then I wandered around the giftshop (because Science Museum giftshops have the coolest stuff) and discovered a few things I'm totally buying when we return. But the museum was closing up, we were tired, and all went back to the hotel. We've been were since we got back at 7, completely spent, but all in all it has been a great day.

Photos from today!

Fish n' Chips n' Art n' Festivals n' Candy n' Souvenirs n'.....

Today was the best day we've had so far. From the Parliament Building to the best Fish n' Chips according to Yelp, I felt like my day was well spent and I've got the exhaustion to prove it.

The first thing Charlotte and I did was buy some 'sweat tops' (jackets) at a stall nearby the hotel. They're super soft and warm, and a souvenir that'll get some actual use. We did go visit the Parliament Building on our way to Westminster Abbey, both buildings extremely gorgeous with their architecture. Unfortunately we didn't go inside either despite the tours available. The lines were ridiculous. But I think we're going back for Westminster Abbey. Mom really wanted to go inside.

Afterwards we wandered toward the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square where some of Monet's paintings hung, as well as A LOT of religious paintings and portraits. (P.S. There was a giant bright blue rooster on side of the square, compared to a statue of a man on a horse and famous historical figures. 'One of these things is not like the other...') There was also a ton of really cool street preformers, like someone dressed up as the grim reaper floating about a foot of the ground. I really wanted to know how they did that.

On our way to London's best fish n' chips place (Masters Super Fish by the way) we practically stumbled into the two month long Festival of love. We had no clue this was happening when we came at all. Mom was postively giddy when she discovered it, and Charlotte and I had to almost drag her away from it to get the food. She, ironically, fell in love with the Festival of Love. But it did look pretty awesome! There was a bunch of free activities and colorful set-ups, along with a merry-go-round for all ages! (I didn't go on it, sadly. I did want to though.) Maybe we'll go back tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday are the days we have plans, but there's nothing on Tuesday.

And yes, we finally made it to Masters Super Fish (but not before finding giant-sized furniture) where we ate some very delicious fish n' chips. Mom had the haddock n' chips, Charlotte fish cake n' chips, and I a fillet of cod n' chips. Strangely enough Charlotte's was the cheapest but the best. The haddock and cod were a little plain, while her's had vegetables and cheese in the cake. We got it to-go and ate the in the nearby park where the pigeons kept a very sharp eye out for free food. (I tossed them some, and the pigeons across the park came rushing over.)

After a long day of walking, we decided to call it and head back to the hotel via an actual neighborhood that didn't feel all touristy and stuff. I picked up a packet of Chocolate Orange candy bars and discovered that there's no tax (or something) because everything we bought today was exactly the advertised price. So now we're sitting in the hotel, tired but happy, and down another day.

They're not in order, but pictures from Ottawa to the Royal Mews