For my Birthday Weekend, we decided to fly to London…..we booked in June not realizing the obvious. Our trip was scheduled right on the weekend of the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics. Ugh…with a flat reserved, tickets to Wicked purchased and airline tickets paid for, there was no turning back. We packed light (even left Cole behind with the Johnsons!) and headed for The Frankfurt Hahn Ryan Air budget airport near us. Each person had one carry on small sized suitcase that is perfectly measured to fit in the carry on restriction measuring device. Then we each had a smaller carry on item. It wasn’t a lot of stuff, but just enough to get us through the weekend. After arriving in the late afternoon, we took a bus into London. Then we rode the subway to the Queensway stop and met the landlord who would let us into our place. It was perfect for us. With 2 bedrooms, a living area that slept two, a kitchen, and 1 bathroom. We didn’t stick around for very long. We grabbed some Thai food across the street from our apartment and then we hit the BAYSWATER underground stop which lead us to the World’s oldest underground subway system. We wanted to try to get to Buckingham Palace before it got too late so we could check it off the list. It was a perfect summer night.
We walked through the park that leads up to Buckingham Palace and purchased ice-cream, YUM! One of the first things we noticed and loved about our visit was that everything was in English again. I thought I was used to everything being German in Germany by now which I am mostly, but to be literate again and understand everything the server at dinner is telling you was soooooo liberating! And to hear American music again and recognize the songs was great too. (Germans listen to American music a little bit mixed in with local European artists, but its usually the older stuff from the 80’s or 90’s).
Its always cool to see the Palace guards in their uniform and head dress.
We captured a snapshot of some very English looking Policemen….. “Bobby’s”
The Olympic Village was further out of the city away from a lot of the touristy locations, so we were never really bothered much by the Olympics going on. We opted not to go see any events as we were there to see London and show the kids for the first time.
Next we started walking toward “Big Ben” and Parliament and made several references to European Vacation, the movie!
Red is the iconic color of London….from the buses to the telephone booths to some of their taxis. I never tired of seeing the bright red phone booths.
The famous “LONDON EYE” Ferris Wheel is right across from Parliament and Big Ben. When we stayed here 4 years ago, Jared and I stayed right by the London Eye in that hotel right there. It was a couple’s trip with our Maryland friends that we vacation with every few years together.
Before calling it a night, we walked down to Trafalgar Square that was crawling with people, and took in the views and people. A great start to a fun long weekend!!!
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