Day 5: Buckingham Palace!!!! and wesminster abbey

So I accidentally forgot my SD card this day, but luckily I can steal pictures from alyssa, also all of the places that we went to didn't allow us to take pictures so I didn't miss it too much! I do have a few pictures in the inside of some of the buildings because I bought postcards so that is how I got those!

Here is Alyssa's candid picture of me on the train with my hot chocolate!

Here I am eating a delicious pastry from a little bakery by Buckingham palace.

Before we went to get our tickets for the tour of Buckingham palace we went to a tour of the royal mews. It is all of the carriages and horses of the royal family. First we saw the indoor riding rink which was gorgeous. It said that many of the members of the royal family learn to ride there. Then we saw all of the queens different carriages. The interesting part is that each of the carriages is from a different country but they all look very similar. The one pictured is her diamond jubilee picture. The second picture is of alyssa with there set up of one of the older carriages and then the last picture is with one of the queen's horses! It was interesting thing to see.

Then we got our tickets to tour the palace and so with a few minutes to spare we took pictures out front. Then the pictures inside the palace are from my postcards! It was pouring rain when we came out, which we were not prepared for so we just ate at the little place they had set up on the back deck.

 

Then we got soaked in the rain but made it to a train station with a ton of flags so we took a picture! We made our way to Westminster abbey and so we only could take a picture from out front. Then we hopped on a bus and saw new parts of the city, one cool thing that we did see were the royal courts of justice!

Then we stopped for dinner at Ping Pong a little thai place by our house. It was very good. Then after talking with our waiter for a while he told us that his favorite dessert was a little cake with a passion fruit filling so he gave it to us as a "birthday" treat so that we could try it. It was quite good, it had a really refreshing taste!

Day 4: Southbank

So today was a lovely rainy day and yet we still made the most of it. We started out we decided to walk along the south bank which is the south side of the Thames River we started with that H and S Belfast battleship. They have very detailed and interactive displays.

View from the Deck

Gun chamber

Funny Rules

Hatch rules and the Hatch

Torpedo

Carpenter Shop

Engine

Us and the ship

Then we headed over to Hay's Galleria, a little shopping mall. To be honest it had more restaurants than stores but it was fun. We found this store called accessories. They just had jewelry and purses and scarves and things, it was very similar to claires in the states, but much better quality. Alyssa and I each got a little something and then we went to lunch at a cute little Italian place.

We finally took our telephone box picture!

Here I am at the London, Bridge!

Then we continued down to the Southwark Cathedral. Here is one view from the back. We were not allowed to take pictures inside so I don't have much to share, but it was very lovely.

Here is a picture of the postcard I bought so I could remember how it looked inside. While inside Alyssa and I lit a prayer candle that was meant to represent our continuous prayers going up to heavenly father! It was a fun thought as we left it burning there.

One thing I thought was very cool was that on the outside of the cathedral in the courtyard they had a special grave for the architect. Since I did not get any other pictures I thought they would be appreciated by our family. So Dad I hope there is a place for you at one of your churches, but probably not.

Then we went to the Borough Market. It was this big market with tons of little stands with all different kinds of stuff.

Here are some delicious pastries we came upon. Alyssa bought the chocolate one on the right.

Then we sampled some turkish delights. Those were very interesting but not too bad.

Here is a cool tunnel!

Alyssa with said Chocolate Pastry!

Another bridge over the Thames that we saw on our walk.

Then as we continued along the bank we came upon Shakespeare's Globe, reconstructed of course.The tour was included in our pass so on the way down to where to tour started they had a little museum of Shakespeare. The first picture is a time line of all of Shakespeare's plays. The next in one of a custom they made for someone to play Queen Elizabeth.

Here is the inside of the globe theater. They were in tech week for a new production coming up but I hope you get the general feel for the building.

It was a very cool tour with a ton of interesting and historical facts about shakespeare and his plays. The cool thing was that the architect in charge also built an indoor theater right next door in a similar style just smaller. With our ticket stub from our tour we were able to get into a piano concert for 10 pounds, so we decided to go. We bought our tickets and had time to explore a little more before the concert actually started.

Then we stopped on the "beach" that comes up when the tide goes down!

Then as we continued on we came upon the Queen's walk along the bank, it was a lovely little area, very pretty and it led us to the london eye across from the houses of parliament.

Here is where we ate dinner. It was a little mexican place. It was fun to see some of my favorite dishes on the menu. It was definitely different, but it was really good!

After dinner we went to the show. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but it was a lovely concert and it was fun to be part of this small activity that seemed more of an everyday thing rather than a tourist attraction. One cool thing about the theater is that it was completely lit by candlelight! Also the pianist used an ipad for her sheet music and she had an extra peddle/button at her feet to turn the pages, it was cool to see.

Here was a cool picture on the wall that talked about the waterman!

Here is "The monument" we passed as we walked home