LONDON LAYOVER

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Kevin and I arrived at Heathrow airport around 9am on Monday, January 26th, right on time! We quickly got through Customs and hopped on the London Underground, heading towards Central London. We got Day Passes for the Underground, which cost us 7.50 pounds each. This way, we could make as many stops as we wanted. We had 12 hours total in London and wanted to make the most of out time! The temperature was about 5-6 degrees, a little chilly. Good thing we had our rain coats!

First stop: Westminster, where we saw Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. The architecture is incredible! The security in London is pretty tight. Cops everywhere, some with machine guns! Kevin and I couldn't resist taking our pictures in one of the red telephone booths. It's just a MUST when you're in London!

Second stop: St. James park. We saw Buckingham Palace, where we happened to see a small parade, consisting of two marching bands. Not sure what the occasion was! We saw St. James Palace and a large memorial for Queen Victoria. We also saw some tributes to Canada! The Canadian Gates, made of gold, are stunning. There were some other gates celebrating our nations in the British Commonwealth, but we thought Canada got the best ones! haha Also, there is a special memorial in Green Park, commemorating the one million Canadians, mostly volunteers, who served and/or died in Britain during WWI and WWII.

Third stop: Tower Hill. Here, we saw the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We had lunch in a small restaurant, which included some hot chocolate to warm up! (Mom was right, should have brought gloves lol).

Fourth stop: London Bridge. Not much to see here, although the bridge gave us an excellent view of the Tower Bridge! Got some good pictures.

Fifth stop: St. Paul's. Here, of course, we saw the beautiful St. Paul's cathedral. So much history in England! Everything is so old. It was here, unfortunately, that I took a bit of a tumble, right outside of St. Paul's. Scraped my hands and left knee. Kevin had a bit of a laugh because he was on the other side of the street, and thought I was ducking down to get a picture of a squirrel (which I did earlier). haha Oh wel, one day into the trip and I already had to use my nursing skills! haha Good thing I brought bandaids and Polysporin. 😊

Sixth stop: King's Cross Station. Being a Harry Potter fan, this was a huge thrill for me! Kevin took my picture at platform 9 3/4. :D

After a quick stop at Piccadilly Circus, we got back on the Underground and headed back to Heathrow Airport for our flight to Bangkok. We definitely saw alot in a span of about 6 hours!

Hillary (and Kevin)

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Photos

Heathrow Airport
Arriving at Heathrow in London.

Underground
Kevin on the London Underground, on our way to Central London.

London Eye
The London Eye.

London Eye
Kevin and Hillary, London Eye in the background.

Houses of Parliament
Houses of Parliament, including clock tower and Big Ben, with double decker bus in the foreground.

Winston Churchill
Statue of Winston Churchill.

Police
Two London Police officers.

Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey (too big to get it all in just one shot!).

Westminster Abbey
Another view of Westminster Abbey.

Telephone Booth
Hillary and a telephone booth.

Squirrel
A British squirrel.

Buckingham Palace
One shot of Buckingham Palace (we took tons!).

Victoria Memorial
Queen Victoria Memorial, with Buckingham Palace in the background.

Canada Gates
The beautiful Canada Gates.

Canada Gates
One of the side pillars of the Canada Gates.

Canadian Memorial
Memorial honouring Canadians who servied in the World Wars.

Tower of London
The Tower of London.

Tower Bridge
The Famous Tower Bridge.

St. Paul's
St. Paul's Cathedral (too big to get in one picture!).

St. Paul's
Another shot of St. Paul's Cathedral.

King's Cross Station
Hillary on Platform 9 3/4.

Comments

[Brooke]

I'm sure the photo of the British Squirrel is completely necessary! haha looks beautiful, glad its going well :)

[Gwen Fisher]

Wow
I can hardly believe you saw all that in london you did so well.I wonder how long the Canadian gates have been there .You got some unusual views of some of the famous buildings. I was very lucky to have worked close to St. James park when I lived in England.Isn't it a wonderful place. Good luck in the rest of your travels. Love,from Gwen.