We flew out on an overnight flight and landed early in the morning. We couldn't check into our hotel for hours, so jetlagged as we were we pushed through and toured all day. OH- AND BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER.....let me just say. I have knee pain. Pretty severe knee pain. I went to an orthopedist three weeks before the trip who gave me steroid shots in both knees and oral steroids. Well, turns out I blow up like a balloon on steroids and have a giant moon face. It is so sad to me that I was so puffy for this trip, but I will say my knees never hurt and I walked miles every day and up tons of stairs. So there is the good and bad. But just know- I KNOW my face looks puffy.
It's funny looking at these pictures so many months later because I forget why we brought a nebulizer, but I think Charlie was getting over being sick the week before and we wanted to keep his lungs in tip top shape and make sure he didn't cough.
We made it! None of us slept on the plane so we were EXHAUSTED! We dropped our bags off at the hotel and went to get lunch and spent the day touring
I forget what this building is, but we had seen a show about it's construction and were happy to see it. :)
King Richard the Lionheart!
We saw the Prime Minister's car come by-
We loved touring Whitehall and the horse guards.
We spent a long time in The National Gallery. So lovely, so amazing!
Bubbles!
We were blessed to be there the days before the Queen's Platinum Jubilee- so we saw all the beautiful decorations and flowers and flags, but we missed the giant crowds by one day!
We took a double decker bus tour of London. It was fun to see the sites, but it was also fun to sit and rest after walking FOREVER.
For our 20th anniversary, a British friend of ours helped us get reservations to have high tea at The Corinthia Hotel's Crystal Moon Lounge. It was just a wonderful treat!
We had hoped to change clothes before our tea time, but our hotel was packed and had no way of letting us get to our luggage. So we went in our traveling clothes. It was fine.
At this point we thought we would try to get into our hotel and FINALLY sleep after two days being awake, but as we walked by Parliament Marc said, "I wonder if we can go inside? I heard this is the last day Parliament is meeting before their summer break." But it was 6:00 p.m. at night and I thought surely they wouldn't still be open for tourists or even still there. But wonder of wonders it was OPEN and the LET US IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS GALLERY WHILE THEY WERE ALL IN THERE DEBATING!! We were the ONLY PEOPLE IN THE GALLERY! This just absolutely blew our minds. Marc has watched Parliament debates for years and to see these Lords talking back and forth to the "right honorable gentleman" was AMAZING. The Queen's THRONE was in the room and all the ancient heraldry adorned the walls and ceilings. It was just the most jaw dropping moment for us. As you can imagine they are VERY strict with security and I couldn't take anything in the gallery with us- no bags, coats, cameras or phones. So I have no photographic proof that this epic thing happened, but trust me it was gorgeous and surreal. We just walked right into the House of Lords after dinner as a passing thought and had no lines and were alone. What in the world.
Here we are in Westminster Hall- you walk through to get to the House of Lords. Westminster Hall has such an epic and rich history (and we had watched videos on it before we came and knew all about it) and then a few months after we were there dear Queen Elizabeth II lay in state right here in this room. We were pinching ourselves that we got to go inside. I thought surely you would need reservations or tickets or SOMETHING. But we just walked into this almost empty room.
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