I love London

London was amazing!!  I don't even know where to begin.  We got there on Friday a little after noon.  After we checked in at The Cumberland next to the Marble Arch, we went walking around Hyde Park.  It's a lot like Central Park in that it is an oasis of nature and quiet in a bustling city.  We came to Serpentine Lake and some of my favorite pictures are from there.  There were swans and ducks all along the water's edge and they weren't afraid of people.  I was squatting down taking pictures and a duck plopped out of the water right beside me.  He didn't move away from me.  We had been there for a little while and were about to leave.  I stood up and contemplated trying to pet the duck.  I took a small, slow step with my right foot.  He took a small. slow step with his right foot.  I took a small. slow step with my left foot, and he did the same.  Mark was watching and laughing.  He said it was like the duck was mimicking me.  There were the fattest squirrels I have ever seen eating their acorns.  We walked on to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.  It was closed and there wasn't any water running (disadvantage of going in winter) but I bet it is really pretty in the summer when it's in full force.  We never made it to Kennsington Palace...maybe next time.  There was a Christmas Fun Fair in the park and we walked through it.  We didn't stop because there is a smaller one set up here in Nottingham that we knew we'd be going to. We had to go back and get ready for the play.  We had asked the concierge about the best way to get there and he said a taxi...5-10 min.  So we left about 15 min early thinking we were giving ourselves a little extra time.  We finally got a cab and the traffic was so bad that it took us 30 minutes to get there!  We saw Wicked and we were both blown away!!!  I am a believer in the statement that the real talent is on the stage!  I can't describe just how good it was.  We had eaten such a late lunch that we didn't eat supper until after the play.  Most places around the hotel were already closed.  We found a little restaurant called The Spaghetti House.  When I say little.....it honestly had 9 tables in it.  But the food was amazing!  And the service was great!  Saturday and Sunday were full on touristy sight-seeing days!  We had tickets for a bus tour.  I made Mark sit on the open air top so I could take pictures.  It was cold and windy while we were there, but not enough to keep me on the bottom :)  The sights were amazing!  It's like a lot of other places, the pictures don't do them justice. We went into Trafalgar Square.  They had a monument to countdown till the Olympics, foutains and of course statues :) We walked down Downing Street where all the government buildings are.  We saw where the Prime Minister lives and monuments to veterans.  The WW1/WW2 monument was still decorated with the poseys from Rememberance Day on Nov 11.  We saw guards on horseback that you could go get your picture made with.  We did a walking tour of Jack the Ripper.  It was one of the best parts of the trip.  The guide did a great job and it was so neat to know we were walking in his footsteps and that a lot of things are still the same as they were back then.  We were walking through the east end of London (Dickens's London) and they still have gas powered lamps, cobblestone streets, small alleyways, the pub where "Jack" and the ladies of the night frequented.  Mark had to get a book in the train station because he wanted to know more about it after that.  It was funny because the guide said the people that live in that area don't like to talk about it and you could hear people as we were walking by say "That's the Jack the Ripper tour."  On Sunday we went to Buckingham Palace.  What a spectacular place!  We were at the fountain and Mark asked on of the security officers about how to get somewhere and he asked where we were from.  We said Alabama and he said he hadn't been there yet.  He's been to 35 states...more than us.  I told him that I had missed our big game to be there and he said that queen was there and waiting on us :)  He was really nice and funny.  He's the one that took the picture of us in front of the palace.  We then went to the Tower of London.  That was neat too.  We had a tour from a Yeoman Guard that told of the bloody history of the tower.  He talked about the public executions and where people were held.  He talked about one that escaped with the help of his wife.  He showed us where the private executions were held.  He has the neatest job in the world!  The Yeoman Guards have to have served 22 years in the military and they live on site with their families.  The church on the grounds is where they go to church (it also has the crypts where the executed are buried).  They have their own pub.  It was just incredible.  Then we toured the crown jewels.  Now THAT'S some jewelry!  The crowns, the sword, the coronation robes, the gold....it leaves you speechless.  Some stuff is still used.  We went through White Castle Palace, which is where Henry VIII (and many other kings) lived.  It was used as a residence for 500 years.  It's now a museum and has armor from the 1600's on.  There is also a little chapel in there.  After the Tower, we took a riverboat cruise on the River Thames and got off at Big Ben.  We walked around there for a few minutes and then took the tube back to our hotel to get our bags and head to the train station.  We managed to take as many forms of transportation as possible....train, taxi, bus, boat, and subway.  St Pancras train station is pretty and is a sight seeing stop itself.  There are several shops and places to eat in there.  We ate supper there then took the train home.  We were exhausted!!  But we also left there with a list of things to do next time.  London is definitely a place we will go back to many times while we are here!

Cheers Y'all!