London, England (take THREE!)

For every time I go to London without him, Todd gives me a serious guilt trip, without actually giving me a guilt trip at all.  I know he really has wanted to go there, but I just keep going without him!  Not this time though!

It's too early for family selfies on an airplane, but here we go anyway.  Grant and I are trying to selfie while still watching the flight attendant show us how to properly use the air masks in the event of an emergency. 

It was a nice day for flying over the English Channel.  France is on the left, England is on the right.

My lovely friend Justine (who works with me) ALSO went to London for the weekend!  She was even on the same flight!  She's smart and brought toys to play with while we waited FOREVER in the passport control line.  Honestly, it took us about 45 minutes!

We made it through passport control, hopped the REALLY long National Express bus to Victoria Station, took an Uber to our hotel in West Kensington, checked in and headed out to Westminster Abbey for our first stop of the trip.  Big Ben is (still) under construction until 2021.  Boo!

There's a statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square Garden. 

So everything is just under construction at the moment, including Westminster Abbey.

Brexit is a hot topic right now.  There's a lot of people protesting around Parliament and Westminster both for and against Brexit.

We had a time slot to see Westminster Abbey, but you can't take pictures inside, so this is only one of two pictures I personally took.  The rest are from the Westminster Abbey website.

The Abbey has a nice little family audio tour guide which tells you all about the Abbey and it's history in short, easy to understand blurbs.  The Abbey was founded in the 960s when a group of Benedictine Monks were living and working here, but was rebuilt and expanded by Edward the Confessor in the 1040s-1050s. It has been the place of royal coronations since William the Conqueror was crowned in 1066. (Only Henry III wasn't crowned here.  He was crowned in Gloucester Abbey because the French had taken over London.)  The most important person in the church, however is the unknown warrior.  Buried on November 11, 1920, the soldier is one of many unknown soldiers from World War I. Royal brides never walk over the monument (they always walk around it as they enter Westminster Abbey.)

Many famous people are buried in Westminster (not just kings and queens!) including Charles Dickens!

Poets Corner is the burial place of many famous poets and authors.  Natalie was particularly excited to see Lewis Carroll after she had been in Alice in Wonderland at the performing arts center.

The Quire screen has memorials to Sir Issac Newton and the 1st Earl Stanhope and his family.  You can't see it in this picture because it's just behind the column on the far left, but one of my favorite persons is buried here: Stephen Hawking.  He's was buried last March between Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin, appropriately.

Also famously buried at Westminster are Elizabeth I and her sister, Mary (also known as Bloody Mary.)  The two didn't get along mostly due to religious differences, and Mary died first so Elizabeth has the much bigger tomb on the top, while her sister is underneath.  A power struggle til the end!

The Coronation Chair is at the very end of your tour, after you've already dropped off your audio guide. It was built to house the Stone of Scone which King Edward I brought to Westminster in 1296 (and the chair was built shortly after.)  It's been used as the coronation chair since 1308 and has seen 38 crowned kings or queens!  The stone itself is now in Scotland (and has been since 1996) which is why you don't see it under the chair in this picture.

You CAN take pictures in the courtyard!  This is my other photo!

After we visited Westminster Abbey, we strolled over to the London Eye, passing once again the VERY under construction Big Ben and Parliament. (Big Ben, kids!  Parliament!  I can't. Get. Left!)

I'm very, very disappointed that I will possibly never see Big Ben in all its glory ever again.  Ok, I'm just kidding about that.  I've been to London five times and will probably go at least five more!

We walked across the Westminster Bridge and stopped for a quick pick of the kids with the London Eye.

I did not go on the London Eye with Todd and the kids for a couple of reasons.  One, I've already been on it.  Two, it's really expensive.  And three, I'm SUPER afraid of heights and this thing is floor to ceiling glass.  Nope.

So I sent Todd up with my good camera, although the lighting of 3:30 pm in London in February wasn't the best.  Shooting away from the sun proved better but... shadows.

Nah, I'm good.

See?  I wouldn't do what my kids are doing for all of the money in the world!  When I rode this back in 2002, I had to sit on that bench in the middle because I got so dizzy.

Looking toward Trafalgar Square, you can kind of see Admiral Nelson's column in the center of the picture.

Grant said this was a "life experience" and then was immediately embarrassed that he said it. I think it was cute.  He doesn't often say stuff like that!

Tall Todd with the Tall Shard in the background (and Waterloo station right behind him.)

Panorama from the London Eye.

Todd and the kids were waving back and forth with this guy on the next car up. 

The view from above.  Kids! Big Ben. Parliament. Again.

You get great views of the Shard from the London Eye (also a very scary place to view London for someone who is afraid of heights!)

A pretty view of the Thames River from up above.

I spotted Todd and the kiddos on their way down from the top!

I also spotted Justine down below!  She texted me and said, "I'm by the London Eye, where are you?"  I'm right here!  So we got some mulled wine and took selfies.

We know.  Big Ben. Parliament.

After everyone else's adventures on the London Eye, we walked back across the Westminster Bridge to try to find a pub.  We stopped for a picture of the family at the Elizabeth Tower (which houses Big Ben.)

She's got the whole London Eye, in her hand.

We stopped at the Clarence Whitehall (but of course) for a drink with Justine and then walked north toward the Palace Theater, where Natalie and Todd were going to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  We walked by St. Martin in the Fields on our way.

Evening time in London.

Natalie was SO excited that I was able to get two tickets for her and her dad to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  It's the follow up to J.K. Rowling's famous 7 book series, and it's a two part play that you can watch either two nights in a row, or back to back in the same day (matinee and evening shows.)  Todd and Natalie weren't even sitting together, but they really enjoyed it!  Of course, they won't tell me what happened because they have to #keepthesecrets.

While Todd and Natalie went to see the play, a very tired Grant and I went back to the hotel.  I think he wants to slide down the escalator!  By the time we got back to the hotel and he showered, he was in a near catatonic state watching TV in my bed.  So. SO. Tired.

We had another busy day planned for our second day in London (Friday!) which started with a free breakfast at the Residence Inn London Kensington, and continued on as we took the Tube to St. Paul's Cathedral.  Natalie knows to mind the gap.

But the question is... does Grant know to mind the gap?

You guys know I've been to a million churches in my 42 years on this planet.  None of them can compare to my very favorite... St. Paul's Cathedral!  There's been a Christian church on this site since 604 (!!!) but it was built and rebuilt four more times.  The dome is the second largest in the world!  (Superlative, check!)  The tallest of course, is St. Peter's in Vatican City.

The current structure was built after the Great Fire of London in 1666 and was designed by famed London architect Sir Christopher Wren.   You probably best know this church as the one that Prince Charles and Lady Diana got married at back in 1981.

Much like almost everywhere else in London, you can't take pictures inside which is truly disappointing because I need to show you how amazing the Quire ceiling is!  The dome itself is also beautiful.  Painted by Thornhill, it shows scenes from the life of St. Paul.

The kids said one of their favorite things about London was the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul's Dome.  You have to climb over 200 steps, but when you get to the top, the rounded dome provides acoustics that allow you to place your ear against the wall of the dome, only to hear your friend whisper to you against the same wall all the way across the dome!

The triple domes above the quire are a nod to Genesis and have three different themes - animals, fish and birds.

A close up of one of the three domes above the quire - this one for the sea. The mosaic detailing is jaw dropping. Pictures just don't do it justice! St. Paul's also has the largest crypt in Europe, although we only saw a part of it since we had to get to the Tower of London before lunch.

Once we were out of St. Paul's, we hopped on a double decker bus to the Tower of London.  It was actually one of the older buses in the fleet and we were the only ones up on the second deck.  I can confirm... the shocks on this bus were non existent.  I don't ever get motion sickness, but I could see that happening on this bus!

As we were driving to the Tower of London, we came across this intersection.  What is even happening here???  Being on the other side of the road is super perplexing!

I snapped a pic of our old school double decker as it sped away!

You can see the Shard from the Tower of London.  Todd took this pic because he said it looked like the airplane was trying to drive around the Shard!

The first glance of the Tower of London is always spectacular!

I still love that there was a menagerie here!

The moat that surrounds the fortress is about 160 feet wide.  Also, Drogon is apparently flying over this moat as we speak.  Seriously.  Is that one of Daenerys's dragons in the distance?  When we got there, they were starting the Yeoman's tour, but we decided to stick with the audio guides (for adults only.  My kids have decided to boycott audio guides, no matter how awesome they are.)

There are 21 towers at the Tower of London, and the Middle Tower is the one you walk through first.  It was completed in 1272.  There used to be a drawbridge here, over the moat, but that has been removed for tourism purposes.

Todd and Natalie were ahead of Grant and I... and as we were entering St. Thomas's Tower above Traitor's Gate, the Beefeater yelled at Grant and I in the middle of his speech... "You have to walk THROUGH the door!"  Of course, everyone turned around and was looking at us! (Hey y'all.....)

I actually didn't take a picture of the fireplace from the 1300s which was behind me because I was totally obsessed with this wall and how it was made.  I've seen half timbers before, but never with bricks put in at a diagonal angle!

Edward I (aka Edward Longshanks from the late 1200s/early 1300s) strengthened the fortress, including adding this section and the Traitors Gate. He lived in this section of the tower for at least a little time (they say 53 days of his 35 year rule!)  It would be another 600 years before this little room had a view like this, however.

Maybe it's cheesy, but I always like when they do stuff like this.  I'm a very visual person, and it helps me to visualize what it might have been like in the tower during the days of Edward Longshanks, who slept in this room.

It is said that Henry VI was murdered while praying in this very location in the Audience Chamber of the Wakefield Tower in 1471.  There's conflicting views as to who actually did it, but when his body was dug up hundreds of years later, there was clear evidence that he had been murdered (however it's unclear if it actually happened here.)  Some say he died of a broken heart when his only son was killed in battle only a couple of weeks earlier, but most historians agree he was murdered.

When we glanced up above the fireplace in the Audience Chamber, Todd and I both separately thought, "Man, that kind of looks like Donald Trump!"  When I told Todd this, he said, "SHUT UP, I was just thinking the SAME THING!"  (We do this a lot.)

The White Tower is one of the oldest parts of the fortress.  It was originally built by William the Conqueror when the fortress was first built around 1080.  However, it got it's name from Henry III who first had it white washed in 1240.  Interestingly for Game of Thrones fans... it's known as a keep.  But this is the White Keep, not the Red Keep!  A keep is just a building fully within the grounds of a fortress (i.e. not on the walls.)

Originally there was a really big hall south of the White Tower, between the Wakefield Tower and the Lanthorn Tower. As of this picture, four Baileys and some other people were standing there.

Todd, an iron soldier and the Lanthorn Tower, which was originally where Henry III's queen stayed when they were here.  It was destroyed by fire in the 1700s so this one was built in the 1800s.

Leaving the Lanthorn Tower and looking back toward the Wakefield Tower.

As you move around the fortress, the Broad Arrow Tower has an interactive exhibit of different defense mechanisms.  "Make sure you always use protective clothing.  In any emergency, please call a surgeon."  I mean, these are just suggestions, of course.

Natalie was playing with the chain mail shirt and we were all a bit surprised at how heavy it was!  In this room, you can also wear some heavy helmets and play with a crossbow.  For real.

The next tower you can visit is the Martin Tower, which is not shown in this picture.  Inside, it has a cool exhibit showing many of the former crowns of the monarchs.  Naturally, the crown of a male king (ie: George VI) isn't going to fit the head of his daughter, the petite Queen Elizabeth II.  So a new crown needs to be made almost every time, and the jewels get passed on to the next crown (or elsewhere.)  Several of these crowns, sans jewels are in the Martin Tower.

One more time, I have to explain that photos are not allowed in certain spots around London.  Another one of those spots is the Crown Jewels display.  So.  No pics of those bad boys.  They are MAGNIFICENT.  I mean it. The Sceptre with the Cullinan I diamond (530.2 carats!)  The Orb.  St. Edward's Crown. The Imperial State Crown with it's 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 269 pearls and 4 rubies.  No wonder the poor little tiny Queen said this was a really heavy crown! 

Our last Tower of London stop (because at this point, we were all really hungry) was the spot where all of the beheadings took place.

Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey were all beheaded here.  Three of King Henry VIII's wives, in addition to Guy Fawkes, Sir Walter Raleigh, and even William Wallace died here!

The wall above Natalie and to (our) right is a part of one of the original walls of the tower.  Notice our little friend the raven who is on top of that wall. 

I think it's funny that Todd and I are the only serious ones here. 

Wait, wait... before we leave, we have to see our friend, the raven Peck!  Grant has a stuffed animal named Peck that I bought him here last year.  Now he finally got to see the real thing!

History is good, but beer is better (direct quote by the author.)  We ate at the Hung, Drawn and Quartered pub (which is, coincidentally what happened to William Wallace right down the street.)  Todd and I enjoyed this meal very much, but the kids were little food critics and hated every minute of it.

Why, you ask?  Because they put peas in their mac and cheese.  The Brits apparently put peas in everything.  There was no mention of this on the menu.  Plus, they got ice cream for dessert that tasted like "sour cream."  And Natalie found a hair in hers.  They were hysterically laughing at the ridiculousness of all of this.

Meanwhile, Daddy and I are all like........

Their mutual hatred of peas and sour cream flavored hairy ice cream bonded them temporarily.  If you don't pretend to take this pic, you will never GET this pic and they will categorically deny they were walking arm in arm by the Tower of London.

This is my fifth time to London and I've never walked across the Tower Bridge.  Can you believe that?  I'm finally gonna do it!

One day, I'll go up and see the inside.  But not today!

They say the glass walkways connecting the two towers are really awesome.  It was opened in 1894 by the future King Edward VII and his wife, Princess Alexandra.  The blue and white look that it has now is actually really modern - it was completed in 2010.

Across the bridge, there was a Ben and Jerry's truck (yeah Vermont!) selling some ice cream.  I feel like they wrote this phrase with me in mind.

The Tower Bridge seems imposing over the White Tower at the Tower of London, which was at one point was the tallest building in London. Like a thousand years ago.

Our next stop was for Grant (but really... for all of us.)  The HMS Belfast!  This ship is a "town class light cruiser" that was commissioned in 1939 and remained in the British Navy until 1963.  It was built in Belfast by none other than Harland and Wolff, the makers of the Titanic.

The ship's bell was presented in Belfast in 1948.  It stayed with the ship for a time before being removed for safety reasons (and brought back to Belfast before being returned again many years later.)  

The kids went off to explore by themselves, and we had a hard time finding them at first.  When we did find them, they were whining and fighting and driving me crazy, so we separated them.  Todd and Natalie went off to explore, and I went around the ship with Grant.  Here he is with a double gun turret on the front of the ship.

Since there aren't many pictures of me, here is one proving I also explored the Belfast.

Grant is wondering what it would feel like to sail the high seas during World War II and the Korean War, which the Belfast saw action in both.

Not only is the Belfast a great little piece of British history, it also has great views of the Thames.

This is like a giant playground for kids.  You can climb all over it, up and down many levels.  The Belfast spent five weeks supporting the Allies at Normandy in World War II, and almost 2,000 rounds were fired from the ship!

The anchor chains are wicked heavy. I know because I tried to pick up one link, and couldn't.

Sign for Todd.

Once we explored the outside of the Belfast, we went inside.  At first it seems like a maze, but if you just follow the directions, you'll eventually find your way out.  It's a one way street, so just keep going because you really can't go backwards.  Meanwhile, Grant found... MORE PEAS!!!!!!!

The Belfast has little re-creations of different jobs people might have done on the Belfast.  Here is the radar man, looking for German U-Boats!  Creepy mannequins are the bomb.

Not a mannequin.  They had an interactive game that he was having fun playing.  In this touch screen game, you had to move the boats with your finger by creating a line path for them so that they didn't get hit by the enemy. Pretty high tech stuff for a mid 20th century ship!

Mommy, I don't know what any of these old foods are.

Can you imagine having to have surgery on a ship?  Can you imagine being the surgeon?  What happens if surgery is required when you're in a big North Sea storm? Now pretend it's the 1940s with their antiquated technology!  No thank you.  

At one point, you start going downstairs (and this isn't an easy feat... you have to turn around and go down ladder-like stairs to get anywhere on the ship, just as the sailors would have.)  We finally made it below the water line!

Grant had fun running around on the narrow walkways around the engine room.

Most of my pictures were of Grant because Todd didn't take a ton of Natalie.  Here's my little firecracker with some much bigger firecrackers.

Currently his dream is to be in the Navy.  Although after touring this boat, I'm not sure he's ever going to be able to FIT in the Navy.  But he sure does wear this Captain's Chair well!

We finally emerged from the underbelly of the Belfast, and of course, the kids had to do the "Rose and Jack" on the front (orrrrr the back) of the ship.  I'm the king of London!

After we got our sea legs back, we walked through Hays Galleria to get over to the Tube station.  Sassy had to make a few phone calls on the way.

We had a nice Italian dinner at Piazza (Natalie:  This is the best pizza I've ever eaten!) before she and Todd took off for night TWO of the two-part Harry Potter play.  Grant sat across from me on the Tube and looked as if he was a professional subway rider.

This was one of the two seats Todd and Natalie had.  Todd mostly sat here, and Natalie sat up above.

House Gryffindor in the house (see what I did there?)  She actually has a Gryffindor scarf, but she forgot it!

She insists that one day, SHE will be on this stage.  She's definitely cute enough!

On Saturday morning, we were up early again because we had 10 am tickets to Kensington Palace.  I'm a wee bit obsessed with the British royal family and all of their history.  I've also been here before, but that was back in 2001 so I really don't remember much.  This gate was famous when Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 as mourners left hundreds of bouquets of flowers here.  Diana lived here with William and Harry even after her divorce.

There's a very small but EXCELLENT display of a few pieces of Queen Victoria's jewels that don't belong to the Queen but are on loan to the palace.  The Fife Tiara might be my second favorite royal tiara (only second to the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland that the Queen favors).  It's over 200 carats and was given by the Duke of Fife to his bride Princess Louise (Queen Victoria's granddaughter) on their wedding day.

This lovely piece doubles as a necklace.  It also belonged to Princess Louise and is called the Fringe Tiara.

This magnificent set was given to Queen Victoria by her husband Prince Albert.  The other jewels were given to her first in 1843 and the tiara followed at a later date.  The tiara has 19 pear shaped emeralds (that large one in the middle is 15 carats!) The brooch at the bottom has a 20 carat emerald!

Now I know what I would look like wearing the Fife Tiara!

After seeing the tiaras, you can tour both the King's Apartments and the Queen's Apartments.  Fun facts about Kensington Palace:  It was purchased by William and Mary in 1689 because living in Whitehall Palace down by the Thames was wreaking havoc on King William's asthma.  Queen Victoria was born in Kensington Palace in 1819.  Currently, it's home to Prince William, Catherine and their children, as well as Prince Harry and his wife Meghan (although they recently got a place out at the more secluded Windsor Castle.)

The Queen doesn't live here - in fact, no reigning monarch has lived here in about 250 years (George II last lived here and died here in 1760.)  But guess what?  You can actually take pictures in Kensington Palace! Queen Victoria saved the palace and the old state rooms from the days of William and Mary, Queen Anne, and Kings George I and II.  The King's Gallery dates back to the days of George I with it's red damask walls from 1725.  Also, King William III died in this room!

It would probably fit him.  (Natalie: "How would you sit in this thing?")

The Privy Chamber in the King's Apartments (which we saw first) has a really cool ceiling painted by William Kent in 1723.  It was set up with various tables used for entertaining, card games and gambling!

I mean, if you've got to wear a mantua, it had better be pretty!  The wide petticoat was a symbol of wealth and status.

The kids were freaking out in the Cupola Room where lights and magic made these paper statues come to life in the shadows.  ("HOW DOES HE HAVE A HEAD??")

Although not a real "throne" chair, this sits in the Presence Chamber where the king would meet with official visitors.

Next, we moved over to the Queen's apartments where it's thought that the queen gave birth to her son James Edward Stuart (son of King James II) in 1688.  Some conspiracy theorists believed this (Catholic) baby was born stillborn and another baby was smuggled in to replace him!

Currently on display in the Queen's apartments are various gowns and costumes from the movie, "The Favorite" (the Favourite?) - a movie starring Academy Award winner Olivia Colman as Queen Anne and Emma Stone as her servant Abigail.  A little sign at the end of the display said that Queen Anne had been pregnant 17 times and none of her children lived to adulthood.  In fact, most of her pregnancies ended in miscarriage or stillbirth. So sad.

The highlight of the Kensington Palace tour (which was literally on it's second to last day) was the showcase of Princess Diana's dresses called Diana: Her Fashion Story.  It was a display of 25 dresses and outfits that Diana had worn over her 16 plus years as the Princess of Wales.

Todd and I were checking out the dresses and we said, "Boy, these didn't age well!"  They certainly look like 1980s and 1990s fashion, but Diana wore them SO WELL.  She truly was a fashion icon.

One of my favorite dresses is the one she wore the night she danced with John Travolta at the White House in 1985.

Diana could rock the Dynasty look.  She called this Catherine Walker dress her "mermaid dress." (Sorry, it's a little blurry.)

The off the shoulder dress was worn on a state visit to Brazil in 1991.

This beautiful 1997 dress by Catherine Walker (who also designed her wedding dress) was worn by Diana to an auction of her own dresses in June 1997.  She died about two months later.

This hot little Versace number is what Diana wore for a Harper's Bazaar magazine photo shoot in 1997.  The entire exhibit was so spectacular to me... but I won't bore you with a million photos of 1980s and 1990s fashion!

After we visited the palace, we let the kids run around Kensington Gardens and chase pigeons, seagulls and swans.  (Just kidding... they didn't really chase the swans!)  A statue of Kensington-born Queen Victoria sits in front of the palace.

I've been to London five times now, and there never seems to be enough time to see everything.  I've never been down to Greenwich to visit the Royal Observatory, so this time, I put it on the schedule.  We went through Canary Wharf on the train.  I didn't realize how many high rises were in this area!

Boy my kids look super excited to be having so much fun in London!

We stopped at the Spanish Galleon before we went to the observatory for some fish and chips and a pint.  We are so cliche!

We didn't board the Cutty Sark, but it is an impressive sight sitting on dry land.  We passed by this on our way to Greenwich. This clipper ship built in 1869 was one of the last of its kind before the steam ships took over.

Right in front of the Cutty Sark is a carousel.  I'm glad to see they aren't too old for these! (This thing was really fast, too!)

It's literally the first shop in the world!  Longitude basically zero!

We walked up the kind of difficult hill to the Royal Observatory.  It had been built in 1675 and is the oldest publicly funded scientific research center in all of Great Britain.

This pillar was originally built in 1798 to help astronomers align the Observatory's meridian telescope with a little metal piece that was on top of the pillar.  The telescope would sight the marker and it's position was kept accurate.

Let's talk about why you really come here though... the Prime Meridian!  It's longitude 0 and separates the eastern from the western hemisphere!  And it's this map nerd's DREAM!

In 1884, the Prime Meridian was chosen by 25 countries to be the starting point of all longitude in the world, much as the equator is the zero point for latitude.

"Hey Grant, let's jump from the eastern hemisphere to the western hemisphere!"

3-2-1 JUMP!

Now it's Daddy's turn to jump over the Prime Meridian!

Girls in the western hemisphere, boys in the eastern hemisphere.

Our love crosses hemispheres. (Ha ha, ok, go ahead and roll your eyes at me because I am also currently bothered by my own cheesiness!) I think he said, "Kiss me on the Prime Meridian!"

This is about how I would like them permanently.  In separate hemispheres.

The Royal Observatory is more than the Prime Meridian.  There are some great displays about maps and navigation.  The Astronomers Royal of the past, such as Edmund Halley lived in the building to the left (Flamsteed House) with their families. That giant red ball on the top is the Time Ball, and it's one the earliest public time signals.  Ships on the Thames could see it, and according to the observatory website, "The Time Ball was first used in 1833 and still operates today.  Normally each day, at 12:55, the time ball rises half way up it's mast.  At 12:58 it rises all the way to the top.  At 13:00 exactly, the ball falls, and so provides a signal to anyone who happens to be looking."

View of London from Greenwich Mean Time.

Edmund Halley, the guy they named the comet after, has his tombstone at the Observatory.  He's not actually buried here, but they removed his tombstone when the church he was buried in was torn down (they have since built a new one, but the tombstone remains here.)

When you go into the Flamsteed House, you'll make your way to the Octagon Room which was built to observe the heavens.  However, it wasn't aligned with the meridian, so while it remained a nice room to stare at the stars, actual scientific work could not be done from here.

We had tickets for a show called "The Sky Tonight" at the planetarium!  It's London's only planetarium.  I recommend you get these in advance (as I did) because they were sold out by the time we got there (and this is just a random day in February!)

Obviously I couldn't take any pictures while the show was going on, this was my view before the show.

Todd said he liked this picture of us in the planetarium.  This was right before the two of us fell asleep when the lights went out.  Cause we're old and walked 20,000 steps every day and all of that.

After the show, which was really good and talked all about the constellations that you might see if tonight was a clear night in London, you can check out a 4.5 billion year old meteorite!

On our way back to the Tube, we spotted the Greenwich Shepherd Gate clock and standards for measurement on the outside of the building.  Now just a museum and fun planetarium for tourists, the Royal Greenwich Observatory moved to Cambridge in 1990 because the haze of London was making it difficult to observe the stars.  It was permanently closed at this location in 1998 although it's making a comeback with some new star gazing equipment that was installed in 2018.

Power couple.

We were about done for after the Royal Observatory, so we went back to the hotel and crashed after dinner.  But that left us bright eyed and awake the next morning as we headed out for our last full day in London.  First stop:  Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross!

It's gotta be around here somewhere?  Have you seen any children with big shopping carts full of suitcases and birdcages around here?

Ahhhh.  Here we go!  There's a line to take your picture with the cart halfway through the wall.  If it's too long, then you have to wait in another spot outside of the station.  Then a guy will come get you and let you know you can get in the REAL line.  In all, it took almost an hour!

But it was worth the wait! Hogwarts, you can't have her!  She's only a half blood!

So you might be getting an early glimpse of our 2019 Christmas card.  I haven't done a Christmas card in a few years, but this one is just so funny.

After we had a blast at the fake platform 9 and 3/4, we went to where they actually filmed the scene at Kings Cross which is between actual platforms 4 and 5.

Sunday was basically our day to see some things that you MUST see when you're in London, but we hadn't seen yet.  So we swung over to Buckingham Palace, and they happened to be receiving some visitors.  Don't mess with these guys!

Bummer that it looks like Todd is closing his eyes!  It was a cute pic of all of the Baileys at the Buckingham Palace gates.  Check back later, because I might change this picture to the other one I have ha ha.

Notice the Queen isn't home.  It was Sunday, so she was probably at Windsor, where she stays on the weekends. None of the royals particularly like Buckingham, so it's basically just a place to work and sleep Monday through Friday.

We took a walk around the Queen Vic monument and looked at the activity down the Mall.

The Queen Victoria statue in front of Buckingham Palace was built in the early 1900s.  Her grandsons King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II were both there for the dedication of the statue in 1911.  It's the tallest monument to a king or queen of England.

The Queen's Guard marches back and forth in front of the palace.

Buckingham Palace looking all pretty under a bright blue sky.

After visiting Buckingham Palace, we went to Franco Manca for some pizza.  The little street outside of the restaurant, but between the two tall buildings down toward Victoria Station.

Wasn't it so pretty?  This little area is brand, spanking new.

Proof we were there.

Next we took the kids over to the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens so they could blow off some steam.  It was a pretty amazing park, but they had some really strange rules in place.  Like you couldn't be in the playground area without parents, yet there weren't many places for the parents to sit. So we left after a bit, which was kind of disappointing.

Instead, we strolled through Kensington Gardens toward Hyde Park and the kids were chasing birds and goofing off.

At the edge of Kensington Gardens, there is a beautiful statue to Prince Albert.  It was really a beautiful day to stroll the gardens!  We had to leave shortly after to go back and get our bags at the hotel and take an Uber to Victoria Coach Station where we took a (pre booked) National Express bus back up to Stansted Airport. It's always an adventure!

We didn't fly out until the next morning, after a good night sleep at the good old Holiday Inn Express.  But apparently, it wasn't enough sleep for this kiddo who passed out on descent back into Nuremberg with gum in her mouth!

We really had a blast in London, but it's never enough time to see everything!  Five times in the city and I STILL haven't seen it all!  Until next time, London!