European Vacation {Day 7} – Windsor Castle & St. Paul’s Cathedral

We were up early today to head to Windsor Castle. Windsor is outside of the city so we had to catch a train via Paddington Station.

I thought the town of Windsor was very quaint and charming.  I wished we would have had more time to wander around the streets a bit.

We had a relatively short line to enter the grounds.

We arrived in time to watch the changing of the guards, which included a band and lots of marching, stomping and yelling. We positioned ourselves right in the front of the barricade so we had the best views.

This was my first visit to Windsor and I found the Castle fascinating, perhaps because I'd done a little homework and watched the recent Royal wedding (Prince Harry & his American bride Meghan) take place there.

The doorway Prince Harry & Meghan gave their first kiss as newlyweds 

   

The interest wasn't shared by all - at one point we had one kiddo literally bored to tears and we hadn’t even entered the palace yet.  We had just finished watching the changing of the guards and walked through the chapel.  Jason asked if we were ready to go and when I told him we still had the palace to walk through.  He didn’t object or try to convince us otherwise he just quietly walked with us with tears running down his face.  He was tired, jet-lagged and the poor kid had a headache and we pushed along. Like most palaces we were allowed to take any pictures inside.  (Which at this point – 2 months later, I’m grateful for a few less pictures to edit and sort through).  We did take a small break inside the castle "family room" where Katie and Drew enjoyed coloring, Jason caught a short nap, and the rest of us rested our tired feet.  We ate a late lunch at Wagamama an Asian restaurant I’d heard great reviews on.  This was one of the few sit down restaurants we ate at the whole trip.  We really tried to eat on the cheap and eat late dinners at our flat. 

We had just enough time once back in London to check St. Paul's Cathedral off the list. The whole family climbed up 528 steps to the Golden Gallery.

Exhausted, dehydrated, and soggy we returned to the flat to shoot for a decent bedtime.

Justin, Abigail and Carly decided to rush off into the city to try to catch the London Bridge Experience before it closed.  It was a free activity on our London Passes and this would be their only time to fit it in.  Turns out it wasn’t great, but an experience nevertheless.

European Vacation {Day 6} – London: Tower of London, Tower Bridge & London Eye

Our first full day in Europe together and our first full day in London!

This was one of the few days we didn’t wake the kids up early.  It was nice to get a little extra sleep before hitting the city.  Our flat was located about 15 minutes by foot from the nearest underground station.  The underground was super convenient and we used it to get everywhere we wanted to go.  Our flat was right next to a busy series of train tracks.  It was pretty loud during the early evenings, but by the time we went to bed the trains must have been less frequent or we were just so tired we didn’t notice. 

We've always passed on hop-on-hop-off tours, but seeing London on an iconic double-decker red bus seemed to be an England must. Unfortunately we seemed to be stuck in traffic more than moving and the heat wave hitting London was too much to bear so we didn't ride as long as we'd planned.

Big Ben and Westminster Palace – summer is apparently a very popular time to cover historical landmarks in scaffolding for renovation 

   

National Gallery 

   

The guards must really love all these tourists gawking at them

Drew also got “car sick” on the bus and we ended up needing to shove an entire gallon sized bag of grapes into our mouths so he could puke in the bag.  Lovely.

We decided to take a water taxi (included on our London passes) up to the Tower of London.  In hindsight waiting for the boat ride ended up taking much too longer than we’d have liked, but what was done was done. 

London Tower Bridge 

   

London Tower

We grabbed some quick sandwiches for lunch and then took a beefeater tour of the Tower of London and checked out the Crown Jewels. We were thrilled to find a water fountain in the Tower of London so we could fill up on depleted water bottles.  So, so hot.

(caught Jason and Katie mid-chew) 

   

Next up was the London Tower Bridge. 

The kids enjoyed laying on the glass floors high up on the bridge and taking pictures of the mirrors above. We were up on top when they opened the bridge to let a boat through so that was cool. 

London Tower from atop London Bridge

Justin and I reenacted a picture of us from way back in 1999…

Our family sure has changed in 19 years…

And then we ended the evening with a sunset ride on the London Eye!  

The kids asked for lots of pictures up top

Making the shot above

We ended up riding the London Eye for free because the guy who sold us the tickets charged us too much and when we complained to management they wrote it all off – free makes the London Eye even sweeter!  What a fun day!

Jason’s on his tippy toes here – he hasn’t past up Carly yet!