Last two days in London

• Friday--New Years Day

We didn't get back to our hotel until 3am--and had left the hotel the previous morning at 9am. We were very exhausted. We spent the most of our morning & early afternoon sleeping. That may sound ridiculous, but there simply was no energy left in any of us.

We made our first attempt at Madame Tussaud's...a bust. The line was very long--so we decided to make a run for it the next morning. We ended up at Piccadilly Circus--bright lights, ton's of shops, theatres, restaurants, carnival rides...the works! We walked around & ended up having traditional fish & chips for dinner.

Saturday--Last Day
Woke up early! Ready to tackle another long day!

Madame Tussaud's
Still a 45-60 minute wait. Tons of people! I'm a sucker for wax museums. My cousin & I had gone to the one in Las Vegas. Plenty of time to fool around & pose with the statues--but not here. This was crazy-busy! We took a couple of pictures--but were more excited to leave than actually go there. It's comparable to the Hollywood Walk-of-Fame...something you feel you should see...but happy for it to be over with once your done.

Abbey Road
This was my favorite of the day! We took the tube to St John's Wood & did the nostalgic walk to the infamous Beatles "Abbey Road". Yes...we did the walk! Such dorks, but I love it! : )

Tower Bridge & Tower of London
We simply took pictures of both--by now we're pretty much over the "tour" thing. I think we are all pretty excited to go home. There was a fantastic french restaurant we went to near the bridge--I finally had the Christmas duck! : )

Recap:

• Double-Decker Bus--check
• Red Phone booth--check
• Play or Musical--check
• Crepes--check
• Starbucks London cup--check
• London Eye--check
• Piccadilly Circus--check
• Big Ben--check
• Buckingham Palace--check
• Westminster Abbey--check
• Tower of London--check
• Tower bridge--check
• Parliament--check
• Madame Tusauds--check
• Abbey Road--check
• Exhausted & ready to get home--check! : )

New Years Eve--London

Do you ever have those days when you are so overwhelmed with joy & gratefulness that you just start to cry? Today was one of those days...



We arrived in London on Wednesday. There isn't too much to say about this travel day except for vanilla ice cream & crepes with Grand Marnier sauce helped end the day--amazing!



To see the Queen...
Early Thursday, we set off towards Buckingham Palace. We stopped to take pic's in the infamous red phone booths. We arrived at the palace shortly after it had opened and few people were there yet. We took several pictures of the palace, the entry to Green Park, the memorial fountain for Queen Victoria, the royal guards, & more. The current exhibits in the State Rooms of The Queens Gallery are "The Conversation Piece; Scenes of a fashionable life" & "Treasures from the Royal Collection". We took the audio tour. Most of the paintings were personal family portraits that introduced you to several royal family members. The paintings were by Johan Zoffany, Stubbs, Gainsborough, & Hogarth. The "Treasures" included knight armour, Faberge pieces, furniture, crowns, & a 63 carat diamond. Not sure how one would wear that, but I guess if you had that in your possession you would manage to figure out a way.


Leaving the palace we walked along-side St. James Park and at the end of the park we got our first peek at Big Ben. The "gong" of this clock tower brought a smile to my face to finally hear it in person. It has an exciting yet calming sound to it. Right around the corner we saw Westminster Abbey--a large and glorious church from the outside view--this is one line we decided to surpass.



Hakuna Matata!!!
We went to see the musical "The Lion King" at the Lyceum Theatre. It has been here in London for 10 years now. The Lion King has always been my favorite Disney movie. I can't count how many times I've sang "Hakuna Matata" & "I just can't wait to be King" with my friends Cindy & Malia...good times! The beginning of this show was so emotionally intense. I'm not really sure why, but if it was hard holding back the sobs even while sitting in an audience. Both of my parents cried at the beginning and throughout as well. The combination of the music, the costumes, and the actors give off the most insane energy that overtakes you emotionally... "He lives in you" was the best song of the Broadway score...I'm listening to it on Youtube right now...it's that good!


Ending & beginning a year in London
We spent 4 hours on the Westminster Bridge waiting for the new year to arrive. It was cold. I could barely feel my lips to speak. I will post a few videos on this... one with Big Ben gonging at 11pm & the other bringing in the new year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vLssjJyGrY

http://www.youtube.com/user/lostinthedetails#p/a/u/0/xWm33ziIIXY


One of the cool things was right after the new year began, snow started falling for maybe 5 minutes. It was natures new years contribution of "confetti". : )

Happy New Year everyone!