London Days 4 and 5

On Monday, the guys headed out to actually do some work, and a couple of the Britvic ladies came and took us out for the day. We went to the Tower of London (again, for me), then to lunch, and then to Harrod's. Harrod's was unreal! It is a very upscale department store. They had everything, even selling pets for over $5,000! I don't have any pictures from Monday though because Adam had the camera with him.

That night, Britvic took us all out for a 3 course dinner. It was amazing! We had a great time getting to know the Britvic employees. I finally got to meet Paul, Adam's "best mate" according to one of the Britvic ladies.

On Tuesday, the women headed off for Windsor castle. We took a train and got there in time to see the changing of the guards.

Then, after grabbing a quick lunch, we walked over to Eton and to see the college.

Train Station

On our way out for the evening, we saw this graffiti under the bridge. It looked very cool!

That night, Adam and I and another couple went to see the Lion King. It was awesome! Adam even said that was his favorite part of the whole trip!

The guys were late getting in from working that day, so they met us at the theater and none of us had eaten. We got some dinner afterwards, but didn't get back to the hotel until midnight! Then, we left the hotel at 6:45am the next morning to catch our flight home.

This was such a fun trip! I highly recommend taking 10 days or so and travelling the UK. I wish we had a few more days to see other countries around there.

London Day 3

Although we discussed going to church at Westminster Abbey Sunday morning, we ended up sleeping in. When we got up, we headed out to watch some of the London Marathon. When Adam learned what dates we were going, he tried so hard to get an entry, but couldn't find one. He was so sad! We had fun watching the women winners coming up to the finish, and we saw Paula Radcliffe finish. She is the women's world record holder in a marathon at 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds. I can't even run a half in that amount of time!

Wheelchair winner!

Women's winner. If you look closely, you can see her between the motorcycles.

That afternoon, a couple of the ladies with Britvic came into London and took us for afternoon tea. I wish we had thought to take a picture. Many of us had different types of hot tea. There were also tomato, cucumber, egg, salmon and ham sandwiches brought out. They also had scones (biscuits) and several sweet treats. It was all delicious! 

Most everything closed around 4 on Sunday, so there wasn't much for us to do after the tea. We headed back to the hotel to change (because we had to dress up for tea) and then out again. We went to Westminster Abbey and walked around the internment but didn't go into the church.

After that, we grabbed dinner and then went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour. It was pretty neat, but hard to imagine since most areas had been renovated or changed completely.

We turned in fairly early because the guys all had to work the next day, but we had another fun day!

London Day 2

On Saturday, the UK company scheduled us for a duck tour. They use the old amphibious vehicles from the war that can drive on land and go straight into the water. It was pretty cool.

After that, we all headed over to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, they weren't doing it because it was the Queen's birthday and they were having a 40-gun salute in Hyde Park to commemorate her birthday.

I think they were headed to Hyde Park for the gun salute.

Then, Adam and I split from the rest of the group. We got on a hop on/hop off tour bus and headed off to see the sites. Our first stop was the London Dungeons, which brings to life London's "most horrible history", like the Great Plague, the fire of 1666, and Jack the Ripper. Adam had asked one of the friends at Britvic if we should go. He said it was mostly for kids, but Adam and I loved it!

We hopped back on the tour bus and continued around to the Tower of London. This place was awesome! We spent two hours walking around the whole place. This is also where they keep the crown jewels, which were AMAZING! They don't allow pictures in there though.

A Yeoman Warder "Beefeater" guided a tour through some of the Tower. These guys and their families actually live at the Tower of London. They've spent at least 22 years in the Queen's army in order to receive this honor. 

Traitor's gate

Superstition suggests that if something were to happen to these ravens, then the Crown will fall.

City view from the Tower of London

Before hopping back on the bus, we got a shot of Tower Bridge.

Adam and I spent the rest of the afternoon on the tour bus seeing the rest of the sites around London.

Piccadilly Square

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's

That night I finally got some fish and chips, and they were awesome! I don't know what took so long to find them. This is what we got to look at during dinner that night.

Day 2 complete and a wonderful day hanging out with my husband!

London Day 1

Through his job, Adam has been working with a UK-based company, Britvic, Inc., for the past few years and getting one of their products into our market. This year, they invited him and four of his colleagues over to see their market, product placement, warehouse, etc. The wives were invited to come along. We had a great time!

We landed about 7:30am but had to stand in the customs line for about an hour and a half! Even with all the travelling we've done, I don't think it has ever taken that long! We finally made it to the hotel, which was the old County Hall building.

Once we got settled in our room and cleaned up, Adam and I headed out. We knew better than to take a nap. We grabbed some lunch, and although we wanted fish and chips, we couldn't find them anywhere right away. We ended up with good ole American burgers for our first meal in London.

Big Ben

The UK company scheduled us for the London Eye that afternoon. It was a really cool way to see London! It took about 30 minutes to go all the way around.

After that, we took off to Westminster Abbey which was just across the river from our hotel. Then, we headed through Green Park and over to Buckingham Palace.

Westminster Abbey

Green Park

Buckingham Palace

The weather was better than expected on the trip, but that afternoon was crazy! It would be warmish (55 degrees) and then a little rain storm would come in and it would be freezing. I promise, the temp had to drop 10-15 degrees! At one point, it was so bad, we just had to duck into a little restaurant, which turned out to be really good. We finally got some traditional British food (or what we assume was traditional food). Adam had rabbit stew, I had a sausage sandwich, others with us had bangers (sausage) and mash. It was all great!

Ken eating Bangers and Mash!

The waiter was from Morocco and couldn't understand one of the couples with us. They had a little more Southern accent than the rest of us. The wife asked for sweet tea and he had no idea what she was talking about! Not only do they not sweeten their tea, they also don't drink it cold! He ended up joking with the husband to stop talking because he couldn't understand him AT ALL. You'd think they were speaking different languages! It was a hilarious evening! After that evening, I knew we would have a great time with the other couples on the trip.

Day 1 complete and SO MUCH FUN!