Out and About in London

London was Laurel's number one bucket list destination when we made the move to Europe, and it did not disappoint. She and I both agree that it is our new favorite of the famous world cities we've been to so far. It's clean, easy to navigate, filled with parks, history, royalty, and great food, AND they speak English. It was like reverse culture shock for us to be able to read all the signs and understand what everyone was saying to us, and it was glorious. On top of all that, everyone we encountered was ridiculously kind and polite, not only in London, but in the UK as a whole. They have to be the nicest people on the face of the earth.

We visited all the major sites you think of when you think of London, and every single one of them was incredible. High on our list was Buckingham Palace. We love the royals and have so many memories of seeing them on TV waving from their front balcony after royal weddings and other celebrations. It was definitely surreal to stand in front of the palace.

We also saw Big Ben, Parliament's famous clock tower, and the London Eye which is Europe's tallest ferris wheel.

We did some window shopping on Oxford Street and indulged in some delicious Five Guys burgers! Two years is a long time to be without one of your favorite burgers.

One of Austin's favorite things to do in a new city is check out guitar stores. He found a friend in this one, and they had a little jam session.

We saw Shakespeare's Globe, a reconstructed theater associated with William Shakespeare.

We spent an entire morning at the Tower of London. There is so much history in this place, and all four of us thoroughly enjoyed touring it.

The Crown Jewels are kept in the tower complex, and they are beautiful!

A small glass monument marks the spot where numerous people lost their heads, including Anne Boleyn.

The Tower Bridge, built in the late 1800's, lies just over the wall of the Tower of London.

Out of all the things we saw, I think Westminster Abbey was my favorite. There's obviously an enormous amount of history associated with the church, and countless famous people are buried there. In addition to that, it was so exciting to see where the Queen was crowned, where Diana's funeral was held, and where William and Kate got married, 

There are a few more things we did in London that deserve their own posts, but I'll wrap this one up with one final picture. 

My super fan kids were so excited to go see this play, and it was amazing. We got to see it a few days before the book was released which made it even more fun. It was definitely a highlight in our London reel.

I'm pretty sure that London will go down as one of our favorite trips of all time!