Since we sorted out the laundry situation (is there a pun in that?), we were comfortable heading out for the day. After breakfast in the hotel lounge (same thing every day - scrambled eggs, hash browns, chicken sausage, and baked beans), we hopped the tube to the Tower of London. We walked the whole upper perimeter going up and down narrow spiral staircases in many of the external towers. We read about the murdered princes and other famous prisoners. Of course, there was a lot about Anne Bolelyn, Jane Grey and Catherine Howard. One thing that surprised me, though, was that the last execution there was in 1942 - a German spy in WWII. They make a big deal about the ravens but to me, they look like the noisy crows we get in the yard. ... read more

So Don has started to make fun of my late night spelling so I’m just going to say tonight that we had a good day that ended with a lovely dinner with Hannah. I’ll fill in the details in the morning…on my laptop with spell check. ... read more

Today we planned to do many of the touristy things. We started out with a changing of the guards tour. While it’s definitely an option to just go watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, we did a tour which took us to several different perspectives. First we started at St James Palace. This is the senior royal palace where key events, like the pronouncement of the queen’s passing, takes place. The old guard came out and this time, they were a regiment from Nepal, the Gurkhas, they rarely have the opportunity to be the palace guards so it was a bit unique. From there, we marched with the military band to the Wellington barracks where the new guard came out. These were the traditional bear skin hatted grenadiers. We didn’t see much of ... read more

So when you look at all of our bags, it really looks like we're either travelling for years or moving houses. So much for being able to pack efficiently! While two of them are for Hannah, we've probably still packed way too much! We'll also see if our packing trend holds up - whatever the last minute article of clothing we throw in the end is usually turns out to be the thing we wear the most. We leave for the airport in a few hours as we're on the red eye to London. I always struggle with flights that are late in the day. It feels like the whole day is just anticipation of the trip. Of course, there are all the little things that need to be done - cleaning out the fridge, petting ... read more

Our journey has come to an end and we’re home again. We look forward to sharing the photos and stories beyond what we could share on the blog!... read more