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Drew has graciously volunteered to write the blog on yesterday's activities, while the rest of us pack and get ready to clear out of the apartment. We're taking the train to Portsmouth today, then the ferry to Normandy tomorrow. Friday we'll tour the D-Day Beaches, then Saturday it's on to Paris by train. We won't have internet to continue blogging until then...
Unfortunately, we've learned that the bad weather will be coming along with us to France--rain is predicted for our entire time there! So glad we packed all those shorts, tank tops, sandals, skirts, etc. On the upside, who knew you could survive 3 weeks wearing just 3 pairs of long pants! Next trip we will know you really can pack light!
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Tuesday was our last full day in London, and we still had a lot of stuff we wanted to see and do. We started by going to St. Paul's Cathedral early in the morning because it was something we had missed seeing on Monday. It was a really cool church, and we were allowed to climb up to the "whispering gallery"in the dome, and up even higher to the balconies outside the bell tower.
St. Paul's Cathedral
We were walking around on a walkway at the top of the dome. Supposedly if the church is completely quiet, one can whisper towards the wall at one side of the whispering gallery and another person will be able to hear it from the other side. It sort of worked for us, but none of us could have a clear conversation because of all the other people and noise. We then walked up to the higher levels of the dome, which were outside and had views of the entire city. It was raining a little at this time, though, so we didn't get the best views.
After the church, we went over to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards which starts at 11:30. It was fun to watch, although it was a little cheesy and long. I think every tourist in London was there, with all sidewalks and available standing room filled. We think we saw the queen drive out of the Palace in the middle of the ceremony, which was awesome.
After the crowd cleared, we started walking towards Trafalgar Square for a picnic lunch. On our way down "the mall", we saw one of the royal guards and got some pictures with him. While we were eating our
lunch, some British college students came up and asked to take a picture with Chris for their scavenger hunt because they needed a picture with an "obvious tourist." HAHAHA 😊
Next we took the tube out to Abbey Road which was amazing. Well, amazing as a crosswalk can be, haha. We played the game of "dodge the traffic while having the other members of your family run out into the crosswalk and walk like The Beatles, so you can get an awesome picture". We won 😊. Then we found the Abbey Road Studios, which is just down the road, and has a "graffiti wall" outside where people sign their names and say they love The Beatles and such. Chris and I left our mark 😊.
We then left and went to Parliament hoping to be able to watch some of the debates, but there was an over two hour line, so we decided to go to Harrod's, the really famous huge department store. We didn't buy anything but candy and Krispy Kremes (because everything is ridiculously expensive--like a watch for 29,000 pounds...yeah that's 58,000 dollars), but it was a cool experience.
We headed home to change and went out for
a night on the town. We had dinner at a nice pub called The Sherlock Holmes, and then we went to see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theater. It was a great production, and everyone (mostly kids) in the theater loved it. It was a very solid last day in London, and I believe we're all going to miss this city. But, we're looking forward to some more good times ahead with some more new experiences.
That's all for now...love and miss you all!
-Drew
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