London

Well I had a really nice long post about London, but it didn't save, so now its going to be a short post about London because I don't feel like writing everything about the day again.

Remi, Broden and Alissa trying to see The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

Watching the guards march past

Dad, Remi, Broden Alissa and Parker in front of Buckingham Palace

Remi and Broden with Guard picture in front of the Guard Museum

We did finally get to see a guard marching in front of the palace when the crowd cleared.

Dad in front of cool building near The Tower of London

Remi and Broden in front of the Tower of London

Dad, Remi and Broden checking out the people in costumes in front of the castle.

Remi and Broden feeding the pigeons. They could do this all day and be happy.

Mom and Remi in front of Tower Bridge

Dad and Remi in front of Tower Bridge

Dad, Remi and Broden walking across Tower Bridge

Mom, Remi and Broden in front of Tower Bridge

Remi and Alissa on the Tube

Remi and Alissa on the Tube

Friday we decided that Saturday we wanted to go to the Robin Hood Festival. It was only about 2 hours away and sounded like lots of fun for the whole family and it was cheap. So we watched the Disney version of Robin Hood and prepped the kids. After they were in bed Blake went to print the schedule of events and realized that the Festival had been the weekend before. We were so bummed. We decided we might as well go to London instead.


So on Saturday August 27th we took a trip to London as a family. Driving to London is crazy with the traffic, the fee you have to pay, a congestion fee possibly and not knowing our way around, so we opted to drive part way and park at a tube station and take the tube. The tube is London's version of an underground rail system, or subway. It was pretty nice and user friendly. We just bought a day pass for Blake and I and under 11 are free!!!


We left TLF at 8:00am and drove to Epping Underground station. It took us a few tries with our GPS malfunctions and our lack of knowledge about the area. We finally reached the station at 9:30 and took the tube to the stop where we could catch the next tube to go to Buckinham Palace. We got on the right one, just headed in the wrong direction. So we had to go back and catch a different one and eventually we made it to the stop by Buckingham Palace. We got off and hurried towards the Palace hoping to make it in time to see the changing of the guard.

We got there at 11:30, which is right when they do the changing of the guard. We missed the guards marching with the band and got caught in a HUGE crowd, we couldn't move anywhere and couldn't see anything. Eventually a police officer directed us out of the crowd and we got to see the top of the guards hats as they marched past the park we went to.

Then it started pouring and we only had 1 umbrella because I was waiting for a "good deal" on umbrellas. I guess I should have just bought some because Blake and I got SOAKED! When the rain stopped we ate lunch in the sun and tried to dry off. Then we headed to The London Tower and Tower bridge. The castle was awesome and the bridge was beautiful. It is the one you see pictures of. It is called the Tower Bridge, not London Bridge. That one isn't so grand. We didn't go on any tours, but now we know what we want to do next time and what is good to do with kids and what we should do by ourselves!

After The London Tower and Tower bridge we rode the Tube back to our car. We ate dinner in Eriswell. I dried lamb kebob in a pita. I thought it was NASTY! I don't like Lamb I guess. Blake had Chicken Shish. The girls had chicken nuggets with chips and Broden fish and chips. His poor fish was so burnt you could only taste burnt batter. We were not impressed with that place. It was nice that we had the whole place to ourselves though. Now we know why.

We got dessert at a local market. We were hoping for a little candy shop, but everything closes at 6, so we got delicious chocolate cookies and some jam filled donuts at the store. They were day old and cheap, but so yummy!!!