Our Happy Days

Friday, Oct. 2, 2015

This was another full, fun day. Before we left for London we had Janae and Joshua try to do all of their school for the week. It's a good thing we did because we packed a lot in each day!

We went to see the changing of the guard at the Buckingham Palace on Friday morning! There were tons of people there. We got close enough to have a good view of the new guard arriving "on parade", but we were too far to see the actual "changing of the guard". It was cool to be there, though.

Big brother helping little brother get a better view! :) And it looks like he's getting choked in this picture!

Next we went around to the back of the palace to the Royal Mews. We enjoyed seeing the carriages, etc. that were there.

One of the royal carriages. Gorgeous!

Joshua, Michelle, Janae

The oldest car at the Mews. 1949 Rolls Royce Phantom IV. Ordered by Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh shortly after they were married. There were only 18 of these cars ever made!!!

Joshua "thoroughly enjoying" the tour! :)

A child's carriage

The golden carriage. Used for the most special events, like the coronation of royalty. Interesting fact - it takes them 2 1/2 days to get this carriage out of it's "garage"!!! They have to remove doors and a window from the garage, and I think a few parts from the carriage.

We decided to rent bikes for a while. It was lots of fun, and a nice break from walking. Until we had to ride on the main London roads to find our way to Westminster Abbey! And then we had a bit of trouble finding places to return the bikes. But it all worked out.

Riding back past Buckingham Palace. You can't tell from the pix, but the palace is huge!

Stopping for lunch in front of the palace.

Looking away from the Palace, down the long row of trees in the park.

The beautiful Westminster Abbey. There are so many monuments and statues in here, it's mind boggling. We actually felt like it was too much. It's a beautiful cathedral, though, and many royal ceremonies take place here.

We went by the Parliament buildings and Big Ben, but we were too late to tour inside of them. They are unreal - larger than life!

Had to get a pic with the red telephone booth, in front of Beg Ben! :)

Dave & I kissing inside of a red phone booth. :)

Tyler ordered Calamari at the restaurant for dinner! (ew)

After dinner we wandered around Trafalgar Square, and then went into the National Gallery, where they have some beautiful art.

In the National Gallery

I loved this one of the Nativity

The kids :)

Lastly, we went to find Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter series! They have a set up for tourists to take pix at, and a gift shop. It was a lot of fun to take pix here and look in the store.