London 2012

We've been in Belgium just over four months and already gone on some awesome trips.  But, we hadn't yet gone to any of the big and popular European cities (i.e. Paris, London, and Rome.)  But this past weekend, we finally made our way north to London.  We rode in style on the Eurostar.  This is a fabulous train to travel on, but it is ridiculously expensive...even when you book early.  I thought train travel in Europe was cheap???  Anyway, we were excited to see the Kirschenmanns again.  You remember them from our travels to Scotland.  And here is our weekend adventure together in London....

We weren't in Kings Cross Station five minutes and already at Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4.  Yes, I was even more excited than the kids!!

You wouldn't be tourists if you didn't pretend to be pushing your cart through the wall. :)

Since we arrived in London after 9:00 P.M., it was a quick check in at the hotel and off to bed.  We had a busy day ahead on Saturday.

Our first stop was Buckingham Palace.

and of course, Buckingham Fountain.

The palace was beautiful!!!!

The promenade...remember how packed this was for William and Kate' s wedding!

Thomas' new thing....you have to do the jump. 

Off to Westminster Abbey...this is where Kate and William were married.  Allison and I went inside.  It was very crowded, and unfortunately, you couldn't take pictures.  But, I stood at the beginning of that aisle with goosebumps because I was standing where Kate did.  It was so cool!! 

This is the gate where she got out of the car and looked absolutely STUNNING!

After a stroll around Big Ben (a quick one because it was raining), we headed to the London Eye.   This mega ferris wheel moves 26cm per second, so in all it takes about 30 minutes to make your way around.    The views were beautiful!

Thomas on the Eye.

Lovely....wishing it had been a sunny day.

Next up was Trafalgar Square.  You know,  this is the one that is famous for all of the pigeons.  But even the pigeons didn't want to deal with this rainy weather.  I think we only saw four of them. 

Olympic countdown!

One of my favorites of the weekend.

Well, we are traveling with children, so you have to make it fun for them too.  So, we stopped at M&M World.  And of course, they loved it!

Thomas got a stuffed M&M like this.  He is so cute!

Two very cool tourists. :)

We were walking through Piccadilly Circus and noticed a very large number of young men dressed alike.  We found out they were promoting the opening of Hollister (which doesn't open until May 12.)  

They were more than willing to take pictures with tourists, and this young lady was VERY red in the face.  One of the models was even from Peoria.  What a small world!

You can't go to London without stopping at Hamleys Toy Store.  And, here are the kids with the Lego Royal Family!

God Save the Lego Queen!

Thomas and Kolin racing up the escalators in the Tube.  Crazies! :)

The memorial for Diana and Dodi in Harrods.  Her ring from Dodi was under that chalice.  Oh, it was just a tiny little thing.  Ha!  What a stunner! 

After Harrods, it was off to dinner and then off to bed.  It was a busy day.  Stay tuned for day 2 of our trip.  There's plenty of drama to report, but we also saw some really amazing sites.

Until next time,

Wendy