London, Part 2

Westminster Abbey was where I left off, right?
I loved it. I think it was the intricate, lacy architecture that made me love it. Most old buildings look "solid" to me, but Westminster Abbey was almost delicate. It felt more feminine.
I can see why Kate Middleton chose it to be married in.
Seeing the other cathedrals, I think it would be my choice as well.

The Rose Window

Westminster Abbey was built in the 1500's. I still can't get over how most of these buildings in England are older than my whole country by hundreds of years.
I guess I could technically claim England as my old home, since my ancestors came over on a boat from England.
Also, we all picked up British accents pretty quickly while we were there.
It might be in the blood, mate.

Detail shots

(You might want to click on the detail shot photo. That puking gargoyle was a Wadley Family favorite.)
We were far enough away from Big Ben to get a family shot with the whole thing in the background.
Indulge me, while I add it here for posterity.

We hit the tube again, to get to some more must-see spots in London. I just want to put this out there, cause I am all about keeping things real on my blog.
We are totally cheap.
Remember when we busted out Paris in one day?
Well, we busted out London in a day too.
Now, we could have sprung for some tours or museums or something, but really, we are simple folk, and we were just happy to "be there."
Also, the kids have the attention span of a gnat.

Back to the Underground!!

Chop, chop!
The Underground was entertaining in and of itself.
Good people watchin'.

There was a little Jersey Shore:

And I noticed that in London there were a lot of girls that wore patterned tights--most of the time with short shorts. I am not a fan of the shorts/tights look, but I did love the patterned tights. And check out these shoes!! Oooo, love!

At some stations the tube ran above the ground. You could see scenery whizzing by. Some tile-roofed row houses, and laundry hung on the line. It made you dizzy, watching it, but it was nice to have something to look at.
Other parts of the Underground ran way, way, under ground. You could tell that you were dropping deep when your ears started to pop. All there was to see were colored wires and pipes.
I chose not to think about myself being burrowed deep in the earth.
Like a trapped mole.
At a couple of stations, when we got off the tube, we had to go up several escalators to reach ground level again.

You can kinda see how steep the escalators were. And at one of the stations we went up three steep escalators.
That tube must have run close to the earth's core.
One of the stations Jayden and I chose to run up the stairs instead of taking the escalator.
I don't recommend that.
No matter what cardiovascular shape you think you are in.
Some of the stations had musical performers.
That was cool.

Our next few places were just random things to see in London.

Like the Tower of London.
Really, I was sad that there wasn't a moat with alligators. It is just grass.
I think Disney needs to take over, and throw in some Anima-tronics.
It was not impressive enough that this pile of rocks was built in the 1080's.
I want drama! I want action!
(I am being sarcastic.)
The moat would be cool though.

Like any old building it has been added onto, and renovated over the centuries.
This is one of the original parts, still preserved.

 This is a "newer" addition, built in the 1200's.

Our whole family in front of a real, live, CASTLE.
SO awesome.

We should have our pinkies raised. Fancy!

Next to the Tower of London, is the Tower Bridge.
Did you guys know that there is no "London Bridge" in London?
Nope.
They moved that sucker from London....to Lake Havasu City, ARIZONA in 1962.
I am totally NOT kidding.
So I personally like to refer to the Tower Bridge as the London Bridge, because it is in freaking London, and not Arizona.
No offense, Arizona.

And this gentleman came walking past, and was right jolly about letting us take our photo with him.

There are two things that I want you to notice about the above photo.
The first thing is my bangs.
Go ahead and click on the photo if you can't see them good.
I will wait.
See that?
I swear to you, Internets, whenever I go on a trip, my bangs grow- like an inch a day.
They hang in my eyes, and look greasy and gross.
I am not sure why this is?
And everyone knows, when you fly stand-by like we do, you CAN'T PACK SCISSORS cause you have to carry on.
This day was the worst.
My hair was making me crazy, I kept asking everyone if they had scissors. Food vendors, hotel clerks. This one gardener guy had some wicked looking shrub trimmers that I was almost desperate enough to hack away with.
Now, take a look at the photo again.
See the upper right hand corner?
The domed building?
That building has been nick-named "The Gherkin."
It looks like a giant, um....pickle.
Yes! Pickle. Let's go with that.
Here is a better look at it:

At night, they light it up with greenish lights. We weren't there for that, but here is a photo to show what it looks like.

Photo Credit

One more of the Tower Bridge:

I had several people tell me that I needed to see Harrods if I went to London.
Harrods is a giant department store.

I thought I understood department stores, until I went to Harrods.
We have malls in the states.
Y'all know how they work, right? You have a Nordstroms at one end, and J C Penney at the other, and then sandwiched in between these department stores are specialty shops. Bath and Body Works, the Sock Shop, Verizon Wireless...
Well, at Harrods there were whole FLOORS dedicated to ONE THING.
So here is the chocolate portion of the FOOD floor.

They had little shops inside the chocolate area. A little nook with macarons from France, and a little part of a counter with a vendor selling Belgium chocolates.
From Belgium.

Each "department" had little shops within the department, but each floor was one thing.
Food, clothing, toys, furniture, etc.
I was mostly fascinated with the food floor.
They had big loaves of Foie Gras, they sold it by the slice.
It works out to be about $12,000.00 a pound.
I need to start raising geese.

Here are some more things we saw:
Beef Wellington, and Hot Crossed Buns.
You can click on the photo to see it better.

They also had a really fancy public restroom. On a large silver tray on the marble counter where you washed your hands, they had multiple bottles of fancy lotions and perfumes you could use.
Man, in the states, you are lucky to have disposable towel dispensers and not just those stupid blow-dryers.

We had to take a trip to the toy department.
The kids loved that.
And remember the bangs issue I was having?
Well, behind one of the registers, I spied a pair of scissors!
When no one was looking, I nipped them.
(Nipped is British for borrowed, or ripped-off.)
Then, I went to the Barbie corner, and found myself a plastic fun-house mirror.
I cut those bangs right in the middle of Harrods.
The clouds parted, and the angels sang!
I didn't care if anyone saw, or thought I was a nutter.

I will always have fond memories of Harrods.

We were quickly running out of daylight, so we had to squeeze in the rest of London. We walked to Piccadilly Circus, and took that in.
Here is Heidi and Mike in front of the big water fountain.

Mikayla was quite fascinated by this living statue.
I hope this girl has another job. She didn't move, unless someone put a coin in her bucket, and then she moved kinda jerky like she was plugged into an outlet in the pavement.
It was kinda freaky, really.

And I am not sure how fun all that make-up would be. It makes me think of the poor guy who almost died filming as the tin woodsman for the Wizard of Oz.
This is also the area we saw the butt-cheeks girl.
Remember her?

Our last stop in London, was St. Paul's Cathedral.
Really, the daylight was gone. It was beautiful at night, though, all lit up.

All in all- we looooooved London.

Me and Sam "loving" London

We tubed it back to Epping Station, and drove back to Mike and Heidi's house.
Sam and Mike made a run to a local pub for some authentic Fish and Chips.

We all ate, got heartburn, and went to bed.
The End.
Next up, Cheddar.
(The town, and also, incidentally, the cheese.)