Our flight wasn't too bad. We left Denver at 1:30 pm and headed to Washington D.C by 7 pm. From there we had about a 3 hour layover. I was somewhat thankful because I was feeling really sick and I needed food, but I also wish we could have just kept going so we'd be to London earlier. At 9:46 pm we left Washington and headed for London. It was supposed to be a 7 hr 22 min flight yet we arrived about 6 hours later at 9:30 am the next morning. The flight wasn't too bad however I couldn't sleep the entire way and we probably only got a bout a solid 2-3 hour nap before landing in London and staying up the whole day with Jake and getting situated. I also came down with a cold :( Oh, and I conquered my fear of airplane bathrooms lol
On Monday, October 12 we arrived around 10 am and then found our driver and headed to the hotel. It took about 2 1/2 hours with traffic. The traffic is nuts here! After arriving at the hotel we headed upstairs, put our bags down, took a potty break, then headed off to find Jake at his hotel. It was about a 20 minute walk ... He had workout at 4 and that's when we headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow he'll compete. However, today we did see the O2 Millennium Dome (where Jake competes and where the 2012 Olympics will be held) on our little walk so that was exciting. Oh, and we can see the London Eye and Tower Bridge from our hotel room.
Tuesday, Jake competed at 7 pm, but until then we decided to go see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. In order to get there we had to take the DLR to get there and only managed to get slightly lost once! I'm really good at getting around here :) It's kinda fun... the underground/ The 'Tube' is awesome... then there's a train called the DLR which is also pretty fun. The only thing we haven't done was the bus system and a true cabs here, but we saw plenty of them! The tube was crazy fast. It travels at super high speed and I just get a kick out of it (mom did not lol). After arriving at Tower Hill Station, we had to walk a few blocks to get to the actual bridge. We even passed the castle on the way to the tower and were excited about it just by looking. The Tower Bridge was amazing. We climbed MANY stairs to the top of the bridge in order to get a full panoramic view of the Thames River and it was beautiful. Then there was the Tower of London. How fun it was too!! However, there was a TON of walking to be done and we where there for a few hours. We were completely pooped after those two sites and headed back home for a quick nap and then we were off to watch Jake compete in his first World Championships!
Here's another view of the downtown Canary Wharf.
Me with Tower Bridge.
Mom and the Bridge.
Thames River ... looking west off of the Tower Bridge.
Tower Bridge :) Gosh, it was beautiful and I'm still so amazed at the detailed structures here.
A Lamborghini we saw as we were walking on the Tower Bridge.
Windows on the Tower Bridge.
Top of the Tower Bridge.
More windows.
Detail shot of one of the arches of the Tower Bridge.
More detail shots.
What the levers look like to raise the center bridge so large vessels can pass.
Engine room and the hydraulics.
Engine rooms and the coal...
Photo showing how the bridge opens.
After we walked across the top of the bridge we entered this small room and a man told us to look up. (I believe this is close... my memory isn't all there. We've seen and heard too many things to keep it all straight, but its something like this...) This bridge was built in 8 years with 30,000 concrete and I think 10,000 workers. Only 10 died the entire time this was being built.
A view of Canary Wharf from the top of the Bridge walk.
Mom at the Tower of London. (Where kings and queens used to live!)
A view of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London.
I want one ... lol
Replicas of King Edward I room.
Crazy old castles...
This is how the guardsmen would protect the castle from intruders.
Cute little houses ... they're inside the castle and mom and I wanted one.
Wednesday... We woke up and ate breakfast. Our only real meal here that can keep us full. The food here isn't as good as we're used to and they come in smaller proportions which wouldn't be bad if it would taste good. So, needless to say we're ready to come home and eat some real food lol however, I truly am loving it here and would like to stay a bit longer...I also don't want to go back to school now that I'm 2 weeks behind :( it'll be good for me though I suppose. It will kick my butt into gear and the quarter will go faster :) Anyways... We went to Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Wellington Arch, and the Buckingham Palace. Phew! We got a lot done that day hahah We're guessing we walked at least 10 miles that day.
Me and Big Ben! Still can't believe that we went there. I've ALWAYS wanted to see that and it's so unreal... Best thing in London besides being with my family.
Momma and Big Ben.
House of Parliament detail.
Big Ben close up :) We came off the Tube and we were on the sidewalk. I was looking around trying to figure out exactly where we were and as I looked up I gasped and was like, "Mom! We're right under Big Ben!" lol
These are the sexy glasses we got going into the 4d experience for the London Eye.
Our London Eye tube :) This was such a cool ride. It took us up 1,000 ft up in the air and gave us full panoramic views of the city of London.
Looking at the tube below us.
Tubes ahead of us.
Love this <3 style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJMsFtPlN1oiccfkkRSa1v3aKAQzq08_FSHbiMJd1wwHT9ITCiGJrcYi4bpjtabZYpeMq-jgTr2KgZ0kJCdMBHRLRruEp_3ut6iyqor8ow8KzKMDOI7U7hGU3wCF5K-V7dwAn0vJX7obw/s320/_MG_0225.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393219825297180434" border="0">
You can see the top of St. Paul's Cathedral...its the white dome on the North side of the Thames River.
London Eye.
Me on the London Eye.
Mom <3 style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhcmsQ57z1qxa6BpTeBt4UzORJMwsxyzzmp8E7wO6QUR77-W2KY-WGIFZwFq_hfzeJKIInInMXFbONAyvHyHgkkK5sICY8ToZ4yKlhk7jgZjhUpK7gkoal78edYISh-uNCmOKLFGPv30U/s320/_MG_0241.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393221173687688034" border="0">Thames River.
Westminster Abbey.
Ahaha this cracks me up.
So pretty!
Big Ben and London Eye.
Stained glasses windows on Westminster Abbey.
Whats a trip without a picture of the squirrel lol
Eros Statue as we headed towards Buckingham Palace.
Mom at Buckingham Palace.
Buckingham Palace with the taxis.
HAHA! He's marching...
Seriously...do not mess with this guy!
Royal Crest on the top of the Buckingham Palace.
Fuzzy hat guy :) I wish that they were on the outside of the fence so we could get a picture with one...
I panned with the taxi to get this effect :) I love it lol They're so dang cute and I wanna bring one home!
Wellington Arch. This is where the horses pass through after the changing of the guards at the Buckingham Palace.
By Thursday we'd done just about everything we had planned. The only thing we didn't get to yet was St. Paul's. There was also Men's finals that night. St. Paul's was absolutely amazing. We weren't allowed to take photos of the inside, but I really wish we could have. The details inside that were crazy!
The original arch into London.
St. Pauls!
After St. Paul's we headed to shop and we saw a Rolls Royce!!!
Mom and Harrods!
Mom and the cute phone booths!
Cabbies :)
My favorite shot and place here <3
Friday all we did was hangout in Jake's hotel (so we could get free internet) and we web chatted with dad :) And today all we have done is watch event finals, ate dinner, and right now we're web chatting with dad again!! I love it. Tomorrow is event finals day II and then on Monday we make our way back to Denver. We arrive at midnight and I'm so excited to see Zach and my cats. I'll post photos of the boys competing when I get home. This is probably the last day of internet we have so take care!
XoXo
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