London, England: Day 3

Saturday, Nov. 22: (Day 3)

Day Three in London was as busy as the others, but we were on our own this time. We explored until our feet were about to fall off. We saw where Sherlock Holmes lived, accidentally discovered the free admission line of the Museum of Natural History, made plans to go into the Victoria and Albert Museum, but never made it. Then we broke for lunch, went back to meet a couple of dinosaurs, and took a snack break at the single most delicious crepé shop and then took the Tube out to where we needed to be to catch a 30min ride on The Eye of London. Whew. It was quite a day:

First, was The Sherlock Holmes' Museum:

Signing the guest book at Sherlock's house ^.^ This book nerd's heart grew three sizes that day.

The Hound of Baskervilles. My first Sherlock book. 

Our first cab ride.

After we spent way too much time in the Sherlock Holmes Museum, we went on to the London Natural History Museum, took some time checking out the rocks with our little budding geologist. Then, with blood sugar levels dangerously low -- we decided to break for lunch.

Waiting for our coffee and crepes.

 Being perfectly normal. As usual.

NUTELLA CREPE! That look is pure joy in the heart of an eight year old.

That kid in the background haha

London, England: Day 2

Friday, Nov. 21: (Day 2)
After a great breakfast at our hotel, we met up for a guided bus tour. It was called the Imperial Tour, and covered walking tours of all the greatest attractions in the area. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, House of Parliament, Big Ben, Victoria Tower, a ground level view of the London Eye,  Waterloo Bridge views, Trefalgar Square

The crew in front of Buckingham Palace.

Our tour guide, flagging everyone down.

 A lovely carriage, heading down the lane.

Victory Square 

A statue dedicated to Queen Victoria, and our princess Sarah at the foot of the statue.

The Palace.

Our next stop took us over to a collection of the classical sights. Westminster Abbey came first, with this gorgeous view:

And on our walk over to The Houses of Parliament, we passed lots of statues. This particular one had out tour guide tickled, because in all of his investigations, he could find no information explaining the presence of Abraham Lincoln's statue hanging out there between the religious and government hotbeds of London, England. 

And at the same statue, here we have our first walking view of Big Ben. It blew my mind a little bit, how centrally located everything was. I thought we'd have to travel a bit more to get to some of these places. Or, at least hop on the bus again between Parliament's buildings/Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. 

And there he is! Big Ben himself.

The view from Big Ben (or now, apparently, Elizabeth Tower) at one end of the Houses of Parliament to the other, with the Victoria Tower

Houses of Parliament

Because of terrorist threat, the monuments around the government buildings were fenced off and guarded. 

From there, we hopped back onto the bus and drove over the bridge to Trefalgar Square. It was starting to get dark, but it was really gorgeous.

Crossing the bridge, with a great view of the Houses of Parliament

Peeking at the Eye of London

Statues in Trefalgar Square. 

The statues put in three of the four corners of the Square have been selected by public subscription, and because there was so much division over the fourth corner -- they now have a changing installment. During our time there, it happened to be a blue rooster.