Coast to Coast: Travels Across the Pond Part 2

To continue the story :

On Saturday we slept in till around 9:30 to try and shake off any jet lag. Then got ready to hit the town :) We bought metro tickets and went to the Tower of London. Oh my word! It is incredible! I was fascinated with all the different parts of the fortress and all the uses it's had over the years. Torture chamber, zoo, prison, guard of the Thames river, residence of Kings and Queens, the list goes on and on! The short of it is that we stayed for about 4 hours touring this one attraction! The queen's jewels are there along with other stupendous things to look at.

After making out way, via metro, to the other side of town we hit up Saint Paul's cathedral. I was super excited because I recognized it as the big dome in Mary Poppins where they feed the pigeons. The church was beautiful! We even climbed the 574 or so stairs to the whispering gallery.

After the cathedral we decided we should head back to the hotel so we could get cleaned up before meeting with the tour group.

At 6 we had an intro meeting about Contiki and first met all the other travelers. It was informative and it also meant supper was right around the corner :)

A traditional English dinner was served. Katie and I were annoying and kept to our vegetarian diet while on the trip which meant vegetables, boiled potatoes, and bread. Dessert was yummy though so we survived!

Sunday dawned bright and quickly. The alarm we'd set didn't go off so it was a rushed pair that headed down to the lobby in time to catch our 8:15 am bus out to Stonehenge.

The mystical henge that we have all heard so much and yet so little about is quite a ways out of London. The ride took a little over an hour which provided lovely scenery of the English countryside as well as some background on the henge of stone by our tour guide Hugh. The wind was blowing ferociously when we finally arrived so I was a bit chilly, but I went ahead and pushed every button on the audio guide and slowly made my way around the circle all the while snapping pictures of the stones, the sheep, the hillside, and one little man who looked like he came straight out of a Heidi movie.

After Stonehenge we headed off to the city of Bath. The Roman spa city and the second most visited in England after London. Katie and I took the audio tour through the old baths. It was interesting, but I soon opted for the kids condensed version with different characters. We had some time after the baths so we wandered around the quaint city for awhile and grabbed some lunch as well.

Our day was completed by a little souvenir shopping in Leicester square and Piccadilly circus. We found a huge M&M's shop (4 floors), the Disney store, and several London souvenir shops. Again we took pictures and our time getting around and back to the hotel where we collapsed into bed complete with a new alarm clock which did wonders for my sleep!

Monday was our last day in London and I had plans to make the best of it! We headed out, grabbed metro tickets, and made our way to Westminster Abbey where we stood in line, for an hour. We had some lovely traditional spring weather this day. Meaning it rained. The abbey was beautiful and crowded so we hurried through stopping to enjoy the most famous of tombs and sights within the beautiful church.

After pictures in front of Big Ben and Westminster we jumped on the metro and took off to see the Globe Theater. We first looked in the museum dedicated to Shakespeare and the makings of his plays and got to finish with a trip and tour inside the redone theater. We had an amazing tour guide! He gave us the history and some comedy as he explained all about the theater now and how it was back in Shakespeare's day. This was one of my favorite parts, especially being an English minor.

The Globe was left behind as we rushed off to Buckingham Palace. The flag was up (meaning the queen is in) so we weren't able to go inside or get close enough to the guards to make them talk, but pictures were taken and Green Park (the kings and royal family's favorite green space to walk in) was walked through so I felt like I'd done the royal thing.

We headed back to the hotel because we had tickets to see Chicago the musical on Broadway. We got ready and met the group for our last big night in London. The play was incredible! I'm completely hooked on Broadway shows now! I would love to see them all!

However, while many went out partying in English pubs, Katie and I headed to the hotel to pack and get some sleep after our exhausting day!