All Hail The Queen!

Today we woke up bright and early to begin our tour through Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace. As it turned out, today was the opening of Parliament, so the Queen herself was leaving the Palace to deliver an opening speech. We got to see the whole procession and her carriage was leaving, as well as the 42 cannon salute that commemorates the opening of Parliament. It was really neat! After that, we continued our tour out to the Tower of London, as well as the London Bridge, and were left on our own by the tour guide around one.

We decided to go ahead and pay the admission to tour through the tower of London and saw the CROWN JEWELS-which are by the way unbelievable and breathtaking. There are diamonds in there upwards of 3000 carats. WOW.

After this, we went down to the Tube and rode it all the way out to Big Ben, which I have to say has been a lifelong dream of mine to see. Seeing it in person nearly took my breath away, and I cant believe it actually looks more amazing that I imagined it. We are going back tonight to ride the London Eye and see the whole city at night. I am very excited!

So far, my impressions of London are very positive. The people aren't quite as friendly, but we were told to expect that from the British. Everyone has places to go and people to see and we are just in the way! As I said yesterday though, we are doing a great job of navigating and getting the most bang for our buck.

Tonight, Mark is coming in for dinner so I am looking forward to that. They are having to drive into London so they aren't stay the night after all, which I am actually kind of glad about because we have a free day tomorrow and many things to see. This includes the famous ABBEY ROAD, which I have always wanted to walk along like the Beatles did for one of their albums. I may take my shoes off but I'm definitely not smoking a cigarette. (was that John that was doing that in the picture?)

Speaking of annoyances. Hyde park gave me EXTREME allergies. I probably sneezed a hundred times and my throat began to close up. I was starting to think it was all the cigarette smoke, but it is definitely whatever is in that park. I need some Benadryl...stat.

We are going to take some time to relax and then get ready to go see the London eye later tonight.

Below is the link to my pictures :)

In and Around London

Have a great day!

PS. Check out the quote to the right of my profile-it was on the wall in our crap hostel in London. It's my new favorite!