My Parents in London
(guest blog by Pat & Becky)

After months of looking forward to this trip, it finally started on June 14. The flight from DFW to London Gatwick was long, but Becky and I kept reminding ourselves, "We're on our way to Europe to see Kim and Juan!" That made it easy to put up with cramped seats and a movie choice between Firewall and Casablanca.

The Gatwick Express took us to Victoria Station in 40 minutes. Once there, we looked around, tried to figure out the bus schedule, talked about walking to Trafalgar Square, but decided to take the tube to Embankment Station and walk from there.

Three tube stops later, we started walking the few blocks to Trafalgar Square .

Around a corner sped three motorcycles, followed by a deep purple Bentley. In the back seat were Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip! The crowd around us all pointed as she smiled and waved at us. What a surprise - 5 minutes off the tube and we see the Queen.

We crossed over to the Trafalgar Hilton, dropped off our luggage, and bought tickets for the "Original Bus Tour" from the concierge. We boarded a bus a few blocks away and started our "tourist" experience of London. (With only 2 days to see the city, we knew that getting the lay of the land first was the best way to go.)

The bus headed east, through "The City" - London's original square mile - until traffic stopped at the Lord Mayor's residence. Our guide (a hilarious chap) mentioned that, due to the upcoming celebration of the Queen's official birthday, she might be at the residence. As he said that, we saw her walk from a vehicle into the residence, accompanied by several dozen people in dress clothing, military uniforms, and judges' robes. Two Queen sightings in two hours!

The bus rolled on, past St Paul's Cathedral,

across the Thames, past the Tower of London, then back to Westminster. We left the tour at that point to spend some time at Westminster Abbey.

The place is awe inspiring - with something amazing around every corner. Architecture and artifacts from 1065 to recent years give a history of Britain in one place. Recent years have contributed stained glass windows commemorating the Battle of Britain during WWII as well as Sir Laurence Olivier's tomb. The hour and a half at the Abbey could easily have turned to three - there is that much to see.

Leaving the Abbey, we walked past Parliament and Big Ben, stopping at a small sidewalk café for fish and chips.

From there, we went down Whitehall past the Royal House Guards headquarters, and finally to the Trafalgar Hilton to check in. We had a room on the fifth floor with a wonderful tub and shower. We made dinner reservations for 7:30 that evening and headed out for more adventure. Our bus tour ticket included a Thames river cruise so we walked to the Westminster Dock and boarded the boat, sitting behind some Girl Scouts from Kansas who had been on the bus tour earlier in the day (and looking totally exhausted).

As we sat in the boat, Big Ben struck 6:00 PM

- then the boat pulled from the pier, heading east. We chugged past several places we'd seen earlier, but the river view gave a different look to everything.

The boat trip lasted about 45 minutes, ending up back at Big Ben.

We had plenty of time to return to the hotel for dinner - but walking past the Royal Horse Guards HQ again, we noticed a small crowd at the front gate. Of course, we had to stop to investigate. "The Royals" were in attendance at a special ceremony that evening. We waited - and waited - watching the Bentley we'd seen earlier in the day.

We ran out of time - and decided that two Queen sightings in one day was enough.

Dinner at the Trafalgar Hilton - included in the room rate - was unexpectedly delicious!

On Friday, we rose early, enjoyed the Hilton buffet traditional English breakfast, and headed to the tour bus stop to begin Day 2. This time, we rode west through Knightsbridge and Kensington, with plans to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace at 11:30. (The tour books claimed it is 'overrated' but we wanted to make that decision ourselves.)

The bus cruised through the beautiful neighborhoods west of Buckingham Palace, taking us by Harrods department store, museums, and luxurious hotels.

Leaving the bus, we walked a few blocks to the Palace, arriving early for the ceremony. The crowds grew large, making our spot at the fence more valuable. Before the ceremony, we noticed a truck pulling into the courtyard and being inspected closely by police and a bomb-sniffing dog.

We saw a dog performing that duty on the Gatwick Express train the previous day. Neither was a 'police-dog' in appearance. They were cute spaniels.

Finally, the ceremony began. The bands marched right beside us.

We had a great view of the actual change of the guard from Royal Marines to the traditionally dressed guards (each of whom seemed a foot taller than the Marines).

The Changing of the Guard ceremony is worth the wait. But don't forget the sunscreen!

We wanted to see Harrods - so, with a general idea of it's location, we headed west. OK…so we got lost - but in the most charming neighborhood of apartments, small hotels, shops, and the Nags Head Pub. We agreed that we would make this area our 'home' on our next visit to London.

A helpful citizen gave us directions to Harrods (we were close) and soon we entered the legendary store to discover that they proudly stock Krispy Kreme doughnuts (among several thousand other delicacies). The store is amazing, and although we did not venture above the ground floor, the variety and activity was overwhelming.

We left Harrods and stopped next door to visit Zara.

We traveled east toward our chosen lunch spot, Porter's Restaurant, in search of a 'traditional English' meal. The menu: tomato and basil soup or white onion and cider soup, chicken and broccoli pie with mashed potatoes or salmon and prawn cakes on a bed of lentils, enjoyed with a half-pint of ale, all finished off with apple crumble or banana, rum and butterscotch trifle. We sampled each other's choices - and enjoyed the meal immensely.

We strolled through Covent Garden, watching the street performers, theater ticket touts, and thousands of others enjoying a summer day in London. Along the way, we decided to go different directions for a couple of hours: Becky to the National Gallery and Pat to the Cabinet War Museum.

Monet from the National Gallery:

The Cabinet War Museum is underground, in cramped rooms the British military planners used during WWII. Original furnishings, maps, and some re-creations give a feeling for the conditions those who worked to save England worked under while bombs and rockets landed overhead. It was truly inspiring.

Display from Cabinet War Museum:

We met back at the hotel (across Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery) and walked back to the Horse Guards stables, again. No Royals in sight, this time, just a photo posed next to one of the guards. The image is shaky, but it is included just because it was fun for us.

Next, we strolled through St James Park, finding a small thatched roof cottage beside a lake. At the far end of the lake is Buckingham Palace.

We saw many London citizens enjoying the mid-city parks. We also saw a couple from France who were feeding birds by hand, and Becky could not resist joining them. They gave her some peanuts and this is what happened:

Our next stop was Starbucks on Picadilly. Yes, they have invaded London! Coffee and shortbread was 'dinner' after the big lunch we'd enjoyed earlier.

As we walked back to the hotel, we talked of the many things we'd done and seen in such a short time - and made plans to return to London, someday. Next stop: La Coruña!