London

We are still trying to catch up on the time change from getting back from Europe. We have so many pictures I figured it would be better (easier on me) to post our trip in sections. So our first stop was London and we were there for 3 days. We flew the redeye from Seattle to London and got in at 11am (9 hours total....not bad), I think this was helpful in totally messing up our internal clocks so we didn't have jet lag as bad.

Big Ben - we took the subway the whole time in London and when we exited the subway station in London with all of our bags, after flying all night we came out and Big Ben was the first thing we saw. I have to say it was my favorite site in all of London.

Wade in the London Eye. This was right outside our hotel and it was a big tourist attraction (trap). It was a great way to see the city, but I think not worth the price and time to go on it. There are fields/park outside the eye and this is where the street performers would be. Wade thought it was funny, but it kind of freaked me out. They had some of the strangest street performers out there and they were always there.

We had to get a picture with one of the many phone booths. I was amazed that there were so many, although I never saw anyone use one...I am guessing because pretty much everyone has a cell phone. So I decided that taking a photo in one would be a great idea. This was how I found out that these must only be in the city to be used as a urinal, since no one ever uses the phone and they smelled worse than a port-a-potty.

This is the shopping district and one of the most beautiful places in the city to view all of the old buildings. It was amazing to see all of the history of these buildings....and to see now they are the same buildings that are now selling Cartier and Burberry. We decided to eat lunch here, and pick a place based on how we always pick restaurants...the busiest place. Why we decided to pick an Italian restaurant in London rather than waiting a week until we were actually in Italy, I am not quite sure...I will just blame it on jet lag...it was the worst Italian food we have ever had.

We went to see Chicago while we were there and loved it. We tried two times to get someone to take a picture of us with the big "Chicago" sign in the background. I am not sure what the communication error was since we weren't even in a country with a language barrier yet, but neither of the people we asked could actually take a picture to get the full background in it. This is the closest we got.

We had to do the most touristy thing in London while we were there - changing of the guard at Buckingham palace. Basically, if you want to see every tourist that is in the city at one time, you go to changing of the guard.

Since Big Ben was my favorite, we had to make sure we got as many pictures as possible. Nothing says London like Big Ben.

This is the London Eye and our hotel. We had the best location here...I am taking this photo from where Big Ben is and as soon as we walked out of our hotel we could see Big Ben in all its glory (okay so we learned that Big Ben is actually the bell and you can't see it, but we saw the tower). Have I mentioned that Big Ben was our favorite?

London Bridge - apparently it never fell down....

The closest picture we have with a double decker bus. We decided to do the tourist thing and do the "Big Red Bus Tour". It was the best thing ever. You ride the bus (it is open and outside on the top) and they tell you all of the history and show you all of London and you can get off and on any place you want. It was a great way to get around the city and learn the history at the same time.

All in all we had a great time in London, but we are both not sure if it was our favorite place or if we would go back. On to the next place....Paris.