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I FINALLY LEARNED TO MIND THE GAP! Part 1


Buckingham Palace
The March Madness ended and there was a VOID in my life. Fortunately, I was able to quickly fill my time planning my trip to LONDON! London is a city that I've longed to visit for years and I was excited that I would finally get to experience the city up close and personal. I can't think of a better way to spend my Spring Break from school. ( Which happened to be the week before the Royal Wedding.)

We left early in the morning (I never like getting up early). I tried to be happy but it was hard. 
Yes, I'm eating a cupcake for breakfast at the airport!

The flight wasn't too bad and we made it there with no complications!
We arrived!!!!

Walking to find some food after arriving to London late at night.
 After getting to our hotel and sleeping for a bit, we woke up early the next morning. We found our way to the church building, just as church was starting. Hyde Park was a short walk from church. So when church ended, we went and explored.

Waiting for the Bus

On the Tube! This picture is funny for several reasons!

We feed the birds.


Relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather

The Peter Pan Statue


 We continued our exploration of the city, more parks, and visited a couple of Museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum. We also made it to a Sunday Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral.



Making a wish


Trying on clothes at the Victoria and Albert Museum

At the Natural History Museum

The Sherlock Holmes Museum
Surprise, we found Ivor in London...not just in Virginia!


Regent's Park

Just chilling at Regent's Park

At the end of the day, we were tired and ready to head back to our hotel to get some sleep before another busy day. 

The next morning, we rented a car. Wales would be our final destination but we had many stops along the way. The first was Windsor Castle. We left much later then planned due to it taking quite a bit longer to get the car than we'd planned. 

Our car was small but we all fit (our luggage didn't, so we had to leave it behind at the hotel).

Windsor Castle






We stopped to get Fish and Chips on our way back to the car. Unfortunately, we hadn't paid for enough time to park our car...and we found a boot was put on our car. (OPPS!) 120 pounds later, we had our car and we were back on the road again.
THE BOOT---WHAT A NICE GIFT!

We did a drive by to see Stonehedge!
We were trying to make it to Bath in time to tour the baths. We got there right at 5 pm, and were just a few minutes too late. We saw the cathedral and then tour the town looking for a place to eat.
This cathedral's ceiling was pretty amazing!
Hanging out in Bath
Finally we headed to our hotel in Wales, which ended up being one of the highlights of this little trip. It was a 14th century castle converted into a Marriott Country Club/Spa.   We thought it would be fun to play a little HOTEL ROULETTE with the keys. Everyone was given a key to one of the 3 rooms. Whatever room you opened, that was your room and your roommate would have the other key. This was the result.
Jonathan and Dan

Kristine and Steve/ The RSP & The EQP

TIM & BEKAH!

I was going to make Tim sleep on the smaller bed.

We really didn't end up dividing it this way but it was a fun game. We spent the evening exploring the castle grounds and playing games.




 The next morning, we enjoyed exploring the grounds more and ate a nice breakfast. YUMMY! Then we headed to Tintern Abbey, the ruins of an Abbey that had been desolated during the rule of King Henry the 8th.


The actor and actresses that were randomly putting on a play.





Having fun in car!

Sleeping in the car!

I love this SLEEPING PICTURE!!!
 We stopped in Oxford for a while and went to the campus that C.S. Lewis had attended.



Driving Back to London

Finally, we made it back to the airport to return the car. We waited patiently for those who were returning the car to meet back up with us, before going downtown to check in to our hotel.

This evening brought new complications. We got to the hotel and realized that we had only booked 2 rooms and the hotel had no additional rooms available. We checked other hotels in the area to see what they had available. We ended up staying the night at this hotel. The boys all had a big sleepover! Then we went to a different hotel (just half a mile away) in the morning that could accommodate us the rest of our time in London.

Continue reading more about our London adventures in the next blog.
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