Westminster, UK

Off the plane and done with customs and in our waiting cab in 30 min. Umm easiest stuff ever.

First questions the driver asks after he learns we are from Texas:
1-do you live on a ranch with horses?
2-who shot JR?

Oh my gosh. History paradise. I can't even explain the awesomeness of the museum.

Our hotel is in a great location. One block from the tube, a grocery store, & the post office where we can exchange money with no fees. Plus... It's gorgeous

We rode the tube to Russell Square to get to the British Museum. First subway experience for me!!

Now that I have had a lot of sleep and have time to sit for a few I can write about day 1.

I LOVE London, as much as I love Seattle I think London has won out as my current favorite city. I know more cities are to come so my opinion will change most likely (fickle love) haha

We landed on Wednesday morning, were given a special pass to cut the line in customs woowoo!, and were in our taxi within 30 minutes. Our driver was a sweet old man from manchester(?) who gave us some good tips about oyster cards (which we already had so he was impressed). He was excited we were from Texas "just like that show Dallas - who shot JR?" haha
Our hotel is in a great location and our room looks over the London skyline - we can see the London Eye from here! As I am writing this I have the window propped open listening to the traffic as very cool wind blows in (60 degrees!) once we got settled in yesterday at the hotel, our tour company sent a person to greet us with info about our tour today. She was great - had some mor helpful hints about money exchange etc (ugh American money is basically worthless once exchanged)

Mom and I went exploring while curt and Vicki rested. We found a cute little shopping area next to the hotel that has a grocery store (which sells chocolate croissants - moms in heaven). Our tube station is also on the same block so we were able to take the tube to the British museum and walk across Russell Square. Such a beautiful area. I posted our museum pictures yesterday (I have about 150 more on my camera which will have to wait for a better Internet connection)

I love the tube. It's so easy to figure out and we are staying right on the Piccadilly line which services all of the places we plan on visiting. Our oyster cards have been amazing. Love looking like a local running through the stalls.

We stopped at a pizza express - they have free Internet - but the pizza was pretty amazing too. Relatively cheap. Mom and I shared an American pizza (pepperoni and cheese - happiness) for 8.70£
We were back in the hotel by 7 exhausted. I'm glad we spent the day out exploring but by the time we were back here I was ready for sleep. So by 8 both mom and I were asleep (same for Curt and Vicki)
We were up at 630 - yes we slept almost 11 hours!!! And headed to breakfast. AMAZING! They had so much yummy stuff and croissants. So we were happy people!
Our tour of London leaves at 830 so we are getting stuff together now. Stay tuned for more fun stuff!!!!

Day two started with our tour of London. We were met by a tour guide at the hotel and we went out to see central London.

The tour guide was a blue badge certified and that makes a big difference. He was so awesome and really funny. I have a ton of great pictures. But have added a few on here. At the end we got to see the changing of the guard which was cool but seemed like a lot of trouble for not much. Haha
After that, our tour was done so we set off on our own to the river.

Today was a strike day for public sector workers and we happened through Trafalgar square right before it started. The Square is stunning! Even with the barriers and camera crews it was impressive. The police officers were so friendly and helpful getting us to the right place while avoiding the approaching strikers.

The weather has been perfection and all of us have worn sweaters or scarves the whole time. Love it.

Down at the river we jumped on a boat and took it down to the tower bridge, passing many bridges. We got to see London bridge - what a let down. It's so lame looking compared to the tower bridge.

Once we were off the boat we walked around the tower hill area and then walked around the outside of the Tower of London. With all of the books I've read about English history and especially Henry VIII, it was just really a huge moment for me to see the physical buildings that were the backdrop to so much of English history. I was so happy just staring at it for awhile.

After a quick bite at a local diner, we jumped on the tube - this time the district line - to the hotel.

We all took a few hours to rest and are now getting ready to head back to central London to take Curt and Vicki to their play. Mom and I are going to explore and hope to find some more free Internet :)

Tomorrow (Friday) we leave for France at 6 am!!! (Hopefully Paris' supposedly citywide free wifi is a true thing. We shall see soon.)

More later!

Day 2 ended with us riding the tube to Covent Garden and walking through the outdoor market on the way to the Aldwych Theater - where we dropped off Curt and Vicki for their play! From there mom and I rode the tube from Leicester Sq to the Embankment pier and walked across the Thames at sunset. We ended up walking parallel to the river for awhile. Mom says we were sorta lost but I say I knew where we were going but it just took us a Long time. Either way we had a good time exploring London before taking the tube back to the hotel.

By part 1, I mean we are making good use of the day - kick starting at 5:30 AM. Breakfast once again was so delicious and makes me excited for France (croissants!!!)
We leave for Paris at 6:30 AM.