Christmas in London

So it took a little longer to get this post up than I had planned.  It took Tommy a while to get the video together and then it took him a while to upload the video to youtube.  Finally, it is done!  And I present to you Christmas in London

As I said in a previous post, we decided to spend Christmas in London this year.  We had a week to spend there and there is a lot to see.  My family isn't real good with spontaneity, so I had to plan how the week was  going to be spent.  Once I figured out our priorities and where we would go, I put together a brochure with our itinerary and printed out a copy of it for everyone.  Although the weather made us have to change it up a bit, it was really helpful to have. 

Christmas Eve at the airport waiting for the bus to the hotel.

Before we decided on going to London for Christmas, there was one important thing that we did not know.  On Christmas day, everything closes in London, including public transportation and most restaurants.  So I had to do a lot of research to figure out how I would keep us busy and how I would feed everyone on Christmas!

Fortunately, St Paul's Cathedral had a sung Eucharist mass in around 11:00.  We wanted to See St. Paul's and what better way to experience it than during a service.  It was beautiful and a wonderful experience for Christmas. That is St. Paul's behind me and Mike.  I don't know if you can tell or not, but we are dripping wet.  We got a cab at around 9:00 when it was not raining.  By the time we got to the cathedral, it was pouring.  We had a couple of hours to kill, so we walked around in the rain.  It was nice to sit inside, dry out, and let the rain pass.

While the streets of London were empty, I had the kids pose with the phone booth, because that is what you do in London.

Starbucks to warm us up after mass.

After mass, we walked to Trafalgar Square where we met up with a walking tour.  It was to be a tour about Charles Dickens, and I guess I was thinking "A Christmas Carol".  It was not "A Christmas Carol".  It was more general about London in the days of Dickens.  It was interesting, and a good way to fill up our day, but it was not my favorite tour of the week.

Statue of George Washington in Trafalgar Square.

Fortunately, I was able to find an English pub that was open and taking reservations for dinner on Christmas night.  As it turned out, our tour ended just in time for dinner, and the pub was a block away from where the tour ended.  I patted myself on the back for the good planning, but everyone else was quick to tell me it was just luck since we had no idea where the tour would end, whatever ;)

Christmas dinner.  For me, Mike, and Tommy: fish and chips.  For Sam: a cheeseburger.  It was all delicious.  And, it was lucky we had reservations as it was tiny, maybe 10 tables, and full with a line of people waiting.

After dinner we walked over to Piccadilly Circus and walked around.  

Now, you would think that Christmas day would be enough time for things to close, but not in London.  A lot of places were also closed on Boxing Day.  So we used that time to do the double-decker hop-on hop-off bus tour, which included 3 walking tours.  We did the rock and roll one that day, and the Jack the Ripper one the next.  Both were really interesting and with all three of the tours, we covered ground and saw parts of London I am sure we wouldn't have on our own.  For dinner that day, we headed to a Christmas market. It was huge and a lot of fun.  There were booths with vendors and food, and carnival rides.  I don't know why we don't have Christmas Markets at home, I think it would go over really big in Fairport.

A little rain again, but not too bad.  And Sam bought an umbrella, so she and Tommy were dry.

The lines up there are zip lines.  You had to climb the stairs up to have the pleasure of jumping off, crazy!

Those are swings, can you imagine!?!

Without my itinerary, I don't remember the order of everything else we did, except for the last day.  So I will just put up the pictures in random order.

At the Tower of London, which really isn't a tower so much as a castle where they held prisoners.  The secret to the London Tower is get there early before the lines.  The crown jewels were cool, but I wouldn't have wanted to wait in line to see them.

Tower bridge.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater.

The London Eye

From our capsule on the Eye looking at the people who had paid for the champagne experience on their capsule.

Sam on the Eye

That is Buckingham Palace way back there.

Let's call this next section the Harry Potter Tour

The next 3 pictures are of Leadenhall Market, which they used for Diagon Alley

Of course we had to take a trip to Platform 9 3/4!

One of the many bridges we walked over.  You can tell that Tommy loved walking over the bridges.  He was not happy I made him stop for a picture, but this was the most secure feeling bridge.

Tommy and a bust of Hercules in the British Museum

The last day we rented a car and drove out to Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle

In Italy, they have signs on the hi-way for cow crossing.  In England, you have to look out for tanks crossing.  Can you imagine driving down the road and seeing a tank coming out of the fields? 

The kids in front of Windsor Castle

Sam at the Roman Bath, in Bath, England.  It is a natural spring with warm water, you can see the steam. 

 Tommy's video from London