Mumsy and Guvna take on Europe: A 2016 Europe Trip Report! updated 5/29/2017

[annegirl]

On Saturday, April 16th we packed up the car early in the morning and said goodbye to our lovely cottage.

It was snowing as we drove away.

We drove a few hours to our next destination. Wales!

I had my mom take a few phone pictures along the way.

We were hoping to stop at a few places along the way but we just ended up going straight to Cardiff.

Once in Cardiff I drove to the BBC studios area and to a small car park near this place...

The Doctor Who Experience!
We purchased our tickets well in advance because you can only buy them online.
We stood in line for a little while chatting with some of the other people visiting.
There were a few little boys that knew SO much about Doctor Who. It was adorable. I felt like I have only touched the surface of the fandom listening to them speak.
Once the tour starts they take you into a room and you go through a fully interactive experience where you are traveling through time and space with the Doctor. It was really fun.
I couldn't take pictures or video of course.
After that was over you get to go into the areas full of props and sets from the show and take your time wandering through all of it.
They had all of the previous Tardis sets.

While I was taking pictures in front of this Tardis set, the grandparents of one of the little boys asked if they could take our picture. We thought their little grandson was adorable (especially because he was the same age as Maddy and I was missing my girls!) so he got in the picture with us.

Then we got to see all of the costumes and characters from the show. I won't explain all of them but if you are a Doctor Who fan you will most likely recognize all of it.

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[annegirl]

Cont...

We ended in the gift shop and then walked along the waterfront of Cardiff Bay.

We came into the area known as Roald Dahl pass as the author was born in Cardiff.

There was a demonstration of some kind going on that day. It seemed very peaceful but we didn't stick around and walked right on by so I am not sure what it was about.

The Wales Millennium Centre:
The huge inscription on the front is written in both Welsh and English.
It reads, " In these stones, horizons sing".
It is two lines from a poem written by the Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis.

It was really fun walking along this area because there were so many places that we have seen in episodes of Doctor Who. They film all over this area.
Our main destination on this walk was Eddie's American Diner for lunch.

That may seem like a weird choice for a place to eat when visiting another country... but this is also Doctor Who related.
In the episode "The Impossible Astronaut", the characters meet at this diner.
The rest of the episode was filmed here in my state of Utah but the diner wasn't.

They had a ton of pictures from filming all over the walls.

We sat at table 13 which happens to be a lucky number in my family so I took a picture of Jennifer Rain by the number for my kids.

We both ordered cheeseburgers, cheese fries, and root beer floats.
The cheeseburger was good. The cheese fries were good at first but after a few bites they stopped tasting good. And the root beer float, well, I wasn't convinced that it wasn't alcoholic. It tasted like it was made with the root beer we bought from the Amish farm a few years ago. Fermented.
But it was a fun experience!

After our meal we walked back around Cardiff Bay to our car.
I drove into the inner city to the Enterprise building and we dropped it off.
That was scary as would become a pattern. There really isn't anywhere to park so I pulled into an alley next to Enterprise and hoped for the best. Luckily it worked out and the guy there drove us over to the train station where we bought our tickets for the train that would take us to London.

Up next: The scariest moment of the trip....
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[annegirl]

After the Enterprise employee dropped us off at the train station we bought our tickets for the train from Cardiff to London Paddington Station.

We had to wait for a short time on the platform and then we were soon struggling to get our luggage onto the train.

Two gentlemen helped us on and we thought that was so nice.

They were both sitting behind us once we were on the train.

I settled in to read my book and enjoy the scenery...

The train ride would take a few hours so we had plenty of time to relax.

But this ride did not end up being relaxing.
One of the men behind us got off the train at a stop along the way and a woman that had been sitting across the row from us got off at the same stop.
As soon as they were both gone the other man (he had helped me with my bags) moved to the row across from us.
At first he kept to himself but then he began to strike up a conversation with my mom.
He was friendly. He told us he was from Egypt and was on holiday in the U.K. and headed to London for a few days before going back home. I wasn't talking to him much but my mom kept up the conversation because she is so nice and didn't want to hurt his feelings by not talking to him.
At this point he just seemed like a nice guy that wanted to talk.
But then I started to have really bad feelings.
He asked about my book and then started talking about some other books and said I was too young to have read them. I said I was older than I look. (somewhat annoyed that he would think that anyway...) He said I couldn't be older than 25. I told him I was 39. He seemed shocked.
Then he told me I was beautiful.
I said thank you but this made me a bit uncomfortable because he kept saying it and I had just been talking about my husband and children. I brought them up again.
Then he asked us if he could have a selfie with us. He stood up and my mom and I both thought he was going to just stand in the aisle and get one with my mom while she was standing and me while I was sitting but as soon as she stood up he jumped into her seat and put his arm around me.
He rested his hand on my right upper chest area so he wasn't touching anything but it still felt very inappropriate. I leaned forward to shake him off. Then he stood up and got next to my mom for a picture. I watched to see if he would put his hand in the same area and he did not so that made me feel even weirder about the whole thing.
After this he got quiet for a little while and I was so grateful for that as I was feeling really uncomfortable.
He was on his phone a bit.
Then he looked up and asked me for my facebook profile so we could keep in touch.
I lied and told him that I did not have a facebook. He asked for my twitter. Again, I lied and told him I did not have one.
I was also on my phone texting with Doug during this time asking him to pray for us that nothing would go wrong with this guy as I was having a really bad feeling. Doug was worried as well.
Then he moved to the row behind us again.

After a few minutes of not being able to concentrate on my book I decided to go back and put it in my bag. Our luggage was in the storage area just two rows behind us. I got up and began to walk back there. As soon as I stood up, he stood up and began moving toward the aisle. I put my book away and then made my way back to my chair.
He bumped into me, his arm touching my chest. I felt like it was on purpose. I am sure it was on purpose. And then he sat back down. He had not done anything while standing up except bump into me.
My gut feeling was that he thought I was heading back to the bathroom and was going to follow me. I will never know if that is true or not. But that is the feeling that came over me.
Not only did that scare me but I also felt so violated.
I sat in my chair and was looking out the window and had tears come to my eyes.
I began praying that we would be protected.
I was so thankful that it was daytime and that we weren't the only ones in our train car.
I whispered to my mom about what had happened and how I was feeling. She admitted that she had been feeling weird too. I told her that I wanted to wait until he got off the train before we got off.
She agreed.
We pulled into Paddington and we busied ourselves with gathering water bottles, etc and not looking at him. He took a few minutes but got off the train. We waited while a few more people from the car were getting their stuff and then got off. I was so glad he was gone.
Then, suddenly, he was back on. He started grabbing our bags and taking them off.
I told him we were fine and could get them off but he still took them.
Then he asked if we could share a car, if we could tour London together.
He kept saying he would love to hang out with us while in London.
I told him a car from our hotel was picking us up and I couldn't remember the name of our hotel.
If he believed me he must have thought I was so stupid.
Then I told him I didn't know what we would be doing for sure and that we were there to spend time together but thanks anyway. He seemed very disappointed. We thanked him for his help and said goodbye and stood there fiddling with our things until he began to walk away.
Then we started through the station.
He stopped and got behind us again.
I told my mom we were going to stop and not go anywhere until I saw him leave the station.
So that is what we did. We stood close to security in the middle of the station until we saw him go out onto the road and then we made our way to the taxi area to get a ride to our hotel.
Now, he may have just been a normal guy. He may have just been helpful and friendly.
But with the way I was feeling my gut tells me he wasn't.
It was the scariest time of our entire trip and I was a little paranoid the entire time we were in London that we would run into him. Luckily we didn't.
Doug was freaking out the entire time saying we were living the plot from Taken.
He was so glad when I let him know we were in our taxi on our way to the hotel.

When we got to the taxi area we weren't exactly sure how it worked so we stood off to the side for a few minutes to watch and then we approached a taxi. We asked if he took credit cards and he didn't and waved us to someone else. That taxi did.
I am so glad we got the one we did anyway because the other taxi didn't look cool but this one was the quintessential London black taxi cab and our driver was awesome.

He drove us to the hotel, we paid and tipped him, and then I had to get a picture as he was about to drive away.

We were staying at the Best Western Phoenix Hotel in Kensington.
This hotel was recommended by Leigh Ann Wilkes at Your Home Based Mom- one of my favorite blogs and a place I scoured for information from her blog posts about London and Paris. She was even kind enough to send me an itinerary with places they ate and stayed.
I enjoyed this hotel for a few reasons.
One was that when I made our reservations it was over a year in advance. I accidentally put in my dates for 2015. I didn't realize this until I got an email from them saying they were looking forward to our stay. Because of the time difference, by the time I got the email it was too late to cancel. I called them immediately and told them what had happened. I figured that they would charge me for all of the stay since the second night was less than 24 hours away but they only charged me for the one night that I was booked and didn't show and then used the money I had paid for the other two nights toward our 2016 dates.
I thought that was nice.
Then when we checked in, their front desk guys were very nice. The one I worked with looked just like the guy that Mary ends up with in Downton Abbey. I told him we needed a car to take us to the ferry in a few days, really early in the morning. He called the service they usually work with but then he told me the price and said, "I think that is too much. I am sure I can get you a better deal."
Then he gave us our key and while we were settling into our room and then exploring the city, he called a bunch of places and found the one that he thought was best and then booked it for us.

It was great.
As for the hotel, it was beautiful.
The hallways were so small that we had to take a picture of them. This is leading up to our room.

When we got into our room, it was also pretty small. But it was nice. And that was all we cared about.
This was the view from our window.

We reserved a twin room so we had two twin beds that were very comfortable.

This is the outside of the hotel...

We settled in, rested a bit, and then went out to explore a bit.
Next post: Notting Hill, Harrods, and getting lost.
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[annegirl]

After settling into our hotel we left to do some exploring.

Our hotel was pretty close to Notting Hill so we followed the navigation on my phone to walk over to that area.

The houses were beautiful and colorful!

Finally we made it to the area we were most excited to explore.
We made a stop at the Biscuiteers shop.
This store seriously has the cutest storefront.

It was just as cute inside. They had just about every shape of cookie you could want.
They are very pricey. But you kind of have to get one!

Our next stop was The Notting Hill Bookshop!

I couldn't get a great photo of the store front because there were about thirty drunk people standing right in front of it (and sitting on the ground right there) but I got as good of a photo as I could.
If you have seen the movie Notting Hill, you will remember this bookshop as the one that Hugh Grant works in. It was so cool to go there!

After that we walked along Portobello Road where they were just starting to clean up the Portobello Market.
We went in a few more little shops and bookstores as we walked along.

At this point it was still just early evening so we hailed a cab (I wasn't sure which tube stops went where yet even with all of my research..) and went to Harrods.

This place was so HUGE and so fancy.

We walked around most of the departments. I am not a high end shopper so it was really interesting to see all of the expensive brands of clothes, perfume, and jewelry.
We found the memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

We walked around the huge food court that has pretty much anything you could want to eat.
We decided we would get our dinner here to go and take it back to our hotel.

My favorite place was the children's section.
They had so many cute things.

I put our hotel into my phone and it wasn't far (so we thought) and we decided to walk.
We followed my phone and it took us all over the place. We definitely saw a lot of the non touristy part of the city as it took us through neighborhoods. It was a cool walk but then soon we got to the destination.
It looked EXACTLY like it should. A bunch of tall white buildings surrounding a small green park.
But it wasn't it.
We were so confused.
We tried to put it in my phone again and realized we were in the wrong place and had a few miles between where we were and where we were supposed to be.
We walked some more.
We were getting so lost. Pretty soon we were on a busy road again and were very close to Kensington Gardens. We could see the Prince Albert Memorial (don't know why I didn't take a picture!)
We went into a store and asked a girl for directions. She wasn't sure but she was really nice and looked it up on Google maps and printed it out for us.
But the printer ran out of ink and so we couldn't read the map.
Ahhh.
So we walked some more and started to walk through the park but then it started to get pretty dark and we were a little nervous about getting lost in the park when it was dark so we decided to try to catch a taxi.
But we couldn't find a place where they were pulling over.
Finally I saw a taxi at a red light so I ran over to him and asked if he could pick us up. He pointed to a place for us to stand and said he would come back around for us.
He was really nice.
He didn't know where the hotel was but I told him what happened with the navigation.
He told us that there was a 1-8 Kensington Gardens Square and a 1-8 Kensington Square Gardens.
Our hotel was Kensington Gardens Square and apparently I had put the other one into my phone.
Crazy that they had such similar addresses and looked the same!
But we safely got back to our hotel and I swore I would not leave the hotel the next day until I knew exactly which tube stations to use!

We settled back into our room and pulled out our food from Harrods. I was hoping it would still be good after our long walk and it was.
We both had a roasted chicken and avocado sub. My mom had soda. I had water.

It was really good.

Then we had some hedgehog biscuits my mom bought at Biscuiteers.

Souvenirs for the day:
I bought the Queen and hedgehog biscuits and the little royal chocolates from Biscuiteers to take home to my family. I worried they would be stale and hard by the time I got home to share them with them but they weren't. Even the gingerbread was still soft and tasted great two weeks later.
I bought the little bear Christmas ornament at Harrod's.
And from the Doctor Who Experience I got a Tardis key chain to use as a Christmas ornament.

Today felt like such a big day and the stressful situations added to that.
We were exhausted. But we were so happy.
It was so cool to be in London and we were looking forward to our next couple of days seeing more of the city!

Up next: Tower of London!
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[annegirl]

On Sunday, April 17th we slept in a little bit and made sure to not leave the hotel until I had a plan and knew exactly which tube stations we would need to use throughout the day. We bought Visitor Oyster cards through their website early enough that we were able to get them in the mail and have them with us as soon as we were in London.These were pre-loaded with 15 pounds so we could just tap them in and out at the tube stations and not have to worry about buying tickets each time we needed to ride the train.

We had breakfast at our hotel and then walked a couple of blocks to our closest tube station.

Along the way I found the hoodie Abi wanted in a little shop.

I did not want to risk not getting it later so I bought her and Maddy both one. That meant I had to carry them around all day but it was worth it to me.

We went to the Bayswater tube station.

The only problem was that we needed the Circle line... and the Circle line was closed.

But they had really good instructions on what to do so we were able to get on a different line and find our way to the station we needed a different way.

I took this in the Bayswater station whilst waiting on the train.

I really liked this station.

We took the train to the Tower Hill stop.

I already had our tickets to the Tower of London so we went into the guest services to get our hard copy of our tickets and were able to bypass the larger line waiting to buy them.

It was pretty exciting to be at the Tower of London!

I found it to be so strange to be able to turn around and see modern buildings and then turn back around and see something that was so old and had so much history.

We really wanted to do a tour with the Beefeaters (Yeoman Warders)... but it was really crowded and we could hardly hear anything he said.
So finally we decided to just set off on our own.
If we are ever back I would like to try to go on a week day and hope that it would be a bit less crowded because I have heard so many good things about doing a tour with them.

We did pick up some audio guides but then later realized that the signs at each of the attractions give you pretty much the same information and we hardly used them at all. I would not rent those again.
Our first stop along our walk was at the Traitor's Gate.

Traitor's Gate was the water entrance to the Tower.
It was designed by Master James of St George so that King Edward the first could arrive by river. It was then used as a way to bring in prisoners by going along the Thames.
Anne Boley, Sir Thomas More, Queen Catherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey were among the many prisoners that were brought in through the Traitor's Gate.

As we walked along I saw this cool little pathway....

We then went to tour the White Tower.

The White Tower is the oldest part of the Tower of London.
We saw the place where they found the bodies of the two young princes believed to have been killed by Richard the third.

From up on the White Tower we had amazing views of Tower Bridge and the Thames.
(as well as a lot of other cool things)

Inside the White Tower they have the Royal Armouries collection. Part of this is the Line of Kings.
The arms and armour display has the armours of Henry the 8th, Charles the first, and James the 2nd amongst others.
It was really cool to see all of it. It is so old and they even had the armour for the horses.

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[annegirl]

Can you imagine a child that small going onto the battlefield?

This armour is believed to be for Prince Henry Stuart, made in about 1608.

The dragon in the Power house.

It is sculpted of objects that represented the ten institutions that were housed in the Tower.

We went through the gift shop in the White Tower and I saw this tapestry.

If you remember, they showed this tapestry in the Harry Potter movies!

I bought Doug a replica set of Tower keys.

I don't know why I don't have a picture of them but they are really cool.

After exiting the White Tower we walked around a bit taking pictures of it and the buildings around it.

Then we went in to see The Crown Jewels.

It was a beautiful display but I couldn't take pictures.

It was really cool to see the coronation sets and so many amazing and elaborate jewels.
We went into one of the nearby buildings where they have a cafeteria.
We picked out our food and then found a table near a part of the wall that was crumbling a bit.
So cool to eat in a building this old!
We had coronation chicken sandwiches, chips, sodas, and a piece of Victorian Sponge cake to share.

After lunch we walked the grounds a bit more.

I REALLY wanted to see the grave of Sir Thomas More. I knew that he was buried in this Tudor chapel so I asked one of the Beefeaters. Visitors are not granted access to the area where he is buried but Doug's dad and brother were taken to it years ago when they asked. Unfortunately, because it was a Sunday he told me that the chapel was closed for visitors as it is still used as a place of worship for the residents but that if I had emailed them ahead of time they may have given me a time I could have seen it. Lesson learned. If we ever make it back again I will be trying that!
Also buried in this chapel are Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Jane Gray.

This memorial is the site of the executions of Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, and Catherine Howard as well as William , Lord Hastings, Richard Duke of Gloucester, Jane Boleyn, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and three members of the Black Watch that were shot for mutiny in 1743.

The inscription on the lower black circle reads:

"Gentle visitor pause a while,
where you stand death cut away the light of many days.
Here jewelled names were broken from the vivid thread of life.
May they rest in peace while we walk the generations around their strife
and courage under these restless skies."

The inscription on the upper glass circle tells the names of those executed there along with the year of execution.

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[annegirl]

Next we went up into the Bloody Tower.

Here we visited the rooms of Sir Walter Raleigh.

Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned in the Bloody Tower by James the 1st.

He was assigned two rooms and lived there for thirteen years.

Whilst imprisoned he passed the time by writing his History of the World which was published in 1614, four years before he was beheaded.

The view from the wall outside...

By now it was getting late and we had a lot more to see!
We said goodbye to the Tower of London as we walked out toward the Thames.

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[annegirl]

After leaving The Tower of London we walked by Tower Bridge to get a better look at it and take some more pictures. It is such a beautiful bridge. I love the colors!

A lot of people mistake this for London Bridge. They are not the same thing.

We knew we were heading for Shakespeare's Globe next but instead of walking or taking the tube we decided to take a boat!

It was really fun to slowly go down the Thames being able to just relax and look at everything.

After getting off of the Thames Clipper we walked down the road to the Globe.

We really wanted to see a play here but they weren't opening up until after we left so we settled for a tour.
If you can call it settling.
It was such a great tour.
We went through the main building first, bought our tickets, and looked over the display they had about the theater and about Shakespeare. We didn't have time to read every display but it was cool to see them and pick and choose a few that really interested us.
Then we met our group for the tour.
We were taken through the theater whilst being told about the history of the first theater that burnt and the building of the new one.
We got to walk around the stage and also go sit up in the seats while our tour guide was talking to us.
The stage was being prepared for their first play of the season- A Midsummer Night's Dream.

It was a very interesting tour and well worth our time.

Next up: More London!
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[Planogirl]

This is a fabulous report! I would love to do all of this.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[annegirl]

After leaving the Globe Theater we began walking toward the Millennium Bridge.

If you have watched the Harry Potter movies you will recognize this bridge as the one the death eaters swirl around and destroy.

It is a very cool looking bridge.

We didn't go into St. Paul's Cathedral but we walked by it to get to our tube station.

A lot of the tube stations go down really far. And these escalators are steep.

Here comes our train...

We rode the train to King's Cross station.

Then we went to find Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

We decided not to get in line to get a picture with the trolley since we already did that at the Harry Potter studio tour.
And this line was LONG.

But we did go into the shop. It was a fantastic shop but so crowded it was hard to move around. I had promised to get Maddy a Hedwig stuffed animal and had not found one at the studios and was able to get one in this shop! I also got Abi a Hermione wand pen that came with a bookmark.

They used King's Cross in the movies but the outside of it was not King's Cross station. King's Cross is actually quite modern looking and they wanted the outside to look more magical or old fashioned so they used St. Pancras station across the road for the exterior shots.
We went out of the station to go for a little walk...
and ;while we were walking toward St. Pancras station this group of people all of a sudden ran into the square and began performing. Yay! A flash mob. It was very cool.

St. Pancras was a beautiful station.

We walked right by on our way to our next destination- The British Library.

The British Library is free and very cool to visit.

We went into the treasures exhibit which was amazing. I couldn't take pictures unfortunately but we saw so many cool things. Among them, the Magna Carta, the Gutenberg Bible of 1455, Leonardo Da Vinci's notebook, the handwritten Handel's Messiah, the original manuscript of Beowulf, and so many more things. I wish I would have written down everything we saw in there. It was amazing.



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[annegirl]

After leaving the library we walked down the beautiful roads of London....

Next we were visiting Hamley's toy store.

I promised the girls that I would go in there and pick some toys for them.

Unfortunately there wasn't much in there that we couldn't get at home that I knew they would love but I did get a few things. And my mom got them some things too.

It was a huge toy store.

We then took the tube back to Notting Hill Gate where we were going to go to a pub for dinner.

But every pub had a line out the door and hours wait time.

This was really disappointing but we just kept walking to our hotel to see if we could find anything.

We dropped our things off at our hotel and then went back out to visit some nearby shops and ended up just getting Mcdonalds again. My mom wanted ice cream for Sunday dessert and we figured that would be the best place to find it. But then they were out of ice cream. What? Haha.

We took our food back to our room and watched some more Pride and Prejudice while we ate.

We were very tired and it was nice to be able to relax and then go to bed!


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[annegirl]

On Monday, April 18th we got up early, had breakfast at our hotel, and walked to our tube station.

We took the tube to Charing Cross Station.

From there we walked to Trafalger Square.

There were guys up on the statue cleaning. I would not want that job! It was so high up!

After hanging out at the square for a little while, we walked up Charing Cross Road to see the bookshops. Most of them were not open yet but we did look in the windows. And it was a bit underwhelming. I didn't really see anything that sparked my interest.
But we were able to go to the location of the bookshop from 84, Charing Cross Road.
I really wanted to go there after reading the book by Helene Hanff.
We found the marker!

It was a little disappointing to find out that it is now a McDonald's.

Next up: The changing of the guard!
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[annegirl]

We knew we had to go to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.

So after walking around, we hopped back on the tube and took it to the nearest station to the Palace.

We were pretty early.

I knew we needed to be if we wanted to be up at the gate.

There were quite a few people there already by the main doors but we were still able to get front row just down from them.

We staked out our spot and then looked around.

We stood at the gate for two hours! And it was freezing cold.

But luckily every once in a while there would be little mini changes to keep us entertained.

I was really glad we were there though because it soon started to get really crowded and even with having a spot right up against the gate, people still tried to push in past you and put their cameras in front of you.

A bit before the main event some groups started coming in through another gate. My favorites were these three guys dressed so cool with their canes. They looked like they just stepped out of Downton Abbey.

Then it began!

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[annegirl]

Yes, we were freezing. Yes, our feet were sore from standing in one place for so long. But this was amazing. It was so cool to see it in person. And it was totally worth it to have such a good front row spot.

After leaving the palace we walked to Westminster Abbey.
We took a few pictures as we approached.

Before going in we stopped at a little stand to get a snack. We got blueberry muffins, a banana, and water. We sat on a little bench by a tree until we were done with them.
Then it was time to go in.
We had our tickets already so we bypassed the line.

I couldn't take pictures in the main part of the abbey but it was so beautiful.
It was insanely crowded and we were told to be careful with our belongings because of how close you are to people the whole time. So that was in the back of our minds but it was really an amazing place to see.
We were able to walk through the Nave and see the Coronation chair, through the Quire and past the Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor. We saw Henry the 7th's Lady Chapel and Poet's Corner. It was really cool to see the places that were familiar from watching the Royal weddings.
It was absolutely stunning.
We also got to explore the cloisters and around the rest of the abbey where we could take a few pictures.
Britain's oldest door apparently...

We also stopped at the little shop before leaving.
After that we walked down past the Parliament Buildings and Elizabeth Tower- home of Big Ben.

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[annegirl]

We never rode a red double decker bus but we did see them.

After that it was time to make our way to the Churchill War rooms.
Along the way we saw a statue of the man himself.

We were still so cold so we popped into Caffe Nero, a place I had heard had great hot chocolate, and we picked some up.

We stopped into St. James Park while we finished our drinks.

These are the things I bought in the Westminster Abbey shop-
a tea tin that had shortbread cookies in it and celebrated the Queen's birthday, some clotted cream fudge, a magnet with the King family crest on it, a postcard with pictures of the inside of the Abbey (since I couldn't take pictures), a small mug with London icons on it, and a matching towel.

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[annegirl]

Our next stop was to visit the Churchill War Rooms.

During World War 2 these basement offices became the center of the war effort in Britain.

They were afraid that if they evacuated Prime Minister Churchill that the people of London would feel abandoned. It was imperative to have a place he could work from and be safe. The New Public Offices building was chosen as it was near Parliament, had a large steel frame, and a large basement.

It was adapted to meet their needs for a shelter and meeting place. It housed the information 'Map Room'. It became fully operational on August 27, 1939. The War Cabinet met here 115 times.

They were in use 24 hours a day until August 16, 1945.

It now houses a museum of the life and work of Winston Churchill as well as showing us the rooms they stayed and worked in.

It was very cool to walk through here and sense the important historical moments that took place in these rooms.
We were given audio guides to listen to as we walked along.

We stopped at the cafe part way through to rest our weary feet and have a snack.
I got a scone and a Diet Coke.

This was a very cool place to visit and I would highly recommend it if you are into history at all.
After leaving the War Rooms we went back to the tube and rode it to our Bayswater Station.
We stopped for a dinner of pizza along the way and then went back to our room and watched some more Pride and Prejudice.
Then we showered and packed up our things as we would be leaving London (and England) very early the next morning.
Boo hoo.
I miss England!
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[annegirl]

This is a fabulous report! I would love to do all of this.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks!

 

[nhelen79]

this is so nice. I will take my daughter on a trip like that too in the future.

 

[annegirl]

On Tuesday, April 19th we woke up around 3:30am to prepare for our departure.

We got ready and then checked out of the Phoenix Hotel around 5am.

Our driver was there waiting for us when we checked out.

Our driver worked for Classic Cars and I would highly recommend them. The price was high but not outrageous especially since he was driving us all the way from London to Poole which took about two and a half hours.

It was pretty nice to sit back and relax and let someone else drive!
He drove us right to the ferry office in Poole.
We said goodbye and we went in to check in.
I bought our tickets pretty far in advance to make sure we could get them.
Also, I paid the extra 30 euros for a cabin. I couldn't believe it was only 30 euros!
We waited at the office for a bus that took us onto the ferry.
There is our ferry in the back!

Walking through the hallways....

It was perfect. There were two spots that turned into beds and a nice little table.
Our luggage took up all the space in between our two couch/ beds. There also could be two more beds pulled down if you needed them.
We had the outer cabin so we had a window. It also had a bathroom.

We dropped off our things, took a picture of the dock from inside our cabin, and then went out on the deck to look around as we left.

Waving goodbye to England. We were very excited to be going to France, but I'm not going to lie... I was sad to say goodbye to England.

It was pretty chilly walking along the deck but so fun. We both love the ocean so much and crossing the English Channel was so amazing.
There's our room!

We were on the ferry for about four and a half hours if I am remembering correctly... (I didn't write down the time!)
After wandering for a while we decided to take naps in our room.
One thing about me is that I don't take naps. I can't.
If I take a nap 9 times out of 10 I wake up so grumpy and more tired than I was before.
But we were up so early this morning that I really wanted to try.
We slept for a long time and it was the BEST nap I have ever had.
It was really comfortable on the little beds, quiet, and seriously, I just can't even describe it.
It was the most relaxing nap I have ever had.
We woke up refreshed and feeling great.
It kind of made me wish I could always sleep on the water!
When we woke up we freshened up.
We were getting close to France.

As soon as we both were ready, we went down to the lounge and got some lunch.

We both got ready made chicken and tomato sandwiches, chips, and milk.
My mom also got a soda and a muffin.
It was pretty good.
Then we went out on the deck to watch as we were getting close to Cherbourg.

We are there!
We went off the ferry and checked in at passport control and then walked to the other side of the terminal where I called Enterprise to let them know we were there so they could pick us up.

Next up: our first night in France!
​

 

[annegirl]

Enterprise picked us up and then took us back to the office to do the paperwork.
The woman was very nice. She didn't speak a lot of English but enough that we could understand each other and discuss everything.

It was pretty funny- I got a minivan.

It was weird to be driving on the left side of the car and right side of the road again.

I got my mom to take a few phone pictures as we drove from Cherbourg to our hotel in Pontorson.

We stayed in the Best Western Hotel Montgomery.

This hotel was right on main street with parking in a lot behind it.
It was a beautiful place.
It was very old and the man at reception made sure to tell us to pay attention to the 16th century staircase. It almost felt a bit haunted as the lights came on in the hallways as you walked.
It was once the home of the Counts of Montgomery, originally from Scotland.
Gabriel the 1st accidentally killed King Henry the 2nd during a jousting tournament.
I picked this hotel based on the good price, the pictures, and the fact that it was only about a ten minute drive from Mont St. Michel.

I asked the man at reception in french if he spoke english since my french is very basic.
He replied in a strong English accent, "I'll jolly well give it a shot!"
It was very funny.

After checking in and settling our things into our room, we drove over to Mont St. Michel.
It was amazing to see it in person.
However, the abbey was closed so we just looked and then drove back to our town.

We walked down the main street looking for a place to eat.
But everything was closed already. It was around 6:30-7pm.
Once we realized we weren't going to find anything to eat around our hotel, we got back in the car to drive around and try to find something.
I went down a wrong road at one point and it ended at this cool barn that was falling apart.

We couldn't find anything that was open so we ended up going to a store we saw and picking out some things.
There is my mini van behind the teeniest car I have ever seen.
We bought some chicken wraps, pringles, and ice cream.
It was kind of fun as we used only french while buying our things.

We went back to our hotel and got some drinks from a machine- sprite and water.
Then we went up to our room and ate our little dinner while watching some Doctor Who.

The view of the parking lot from our room:

​