Mind the Gap….

I am writing this sitting at the airport waiting for our next plane -which is delayed. That seems to be the theme of the first few days of the sabbatical. 😦 But regardless, we are having a grand time. 

Saturday was the day we were supposed to leave. Well, I started the day with a speeding ticket, FML. I guess I was to excited to leave Portland. When the policeman came to my side door, he was surprised it took me so long to pull over. HELLO! he only had the lights on…no siren and it was ~6:00am. How was I supposed to know he wanted me to pull over? Lol.  For $160 he could have given me the full police display and used the sirens too.

Our plane out of Seattle was “delayed” for 25 hrs….hmm… how is that different from canceled? But the airline insisted they were delayed. Try rebooking a flight to Europe at the last minute and not mess your plans? I am relentless, so I got us out of the US and on our way to London via Portland – yes we had to drive back- the next morning. 

We ended up scrapping Venice when our flight from London was delayed and we missed our Venice connection. So we have been in London since yesterday morning and had a great time. Found an awesome hotel on the south bank and did as much.as we could in 2 days. I am back in 10 days for a longer stay but this is it for the kids. 

Looking for platform 9 3/4 😉

On our way to the hotel on the Tube

Yesterday before leaving on our first sightseeing expedition, Bibo had to have fish and chips. The picture below are the kids waiting for our drinks and food. 

At the Mad Hatter Pub waiting for fish and chips.

First stop was Buckingham Palace. We did the tour of the State Rooms of the Palace. It was great and the kids were so absorbed in the history. My favorite part is the exhibition they have of Queen Elizabeth celebrating her 90 years of age. The State Rooms were impressive! I think they had a drawing room in every color.:) 

Wow!

We were sooo tired but powered thru the day!

Then we walked and walked, and walked some more…  We went to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and then we walked along the Thames on the south bank. 

Big Ben. Kids took lots of these pics 🙂

What I like about London is the diversity of people you see, so many different languages, food choices, it is so alive! I’m glad I am coming back. 

I still get confused with the left driving and freak out thinking our Uber driver is going to crash. The kids find this amusing. 🙂

Today we went to the Tower of London. What an amazing place! I could imagine the people in the 1400s walking around the Palace and doing their normal life. This Palace was built by William the Conqueror, the first Norman King. We got our history lesson when we took the Yeoman Warder Tour. Those are the guards with the funny looking hats and puffy collar. Fantastic view of the Tower Bridge

This is the Tower Bridge across from the Tower of London. 

We had a great time at the Tower. The kids like history so they were very curious to learn more about British history. 

At the Tower of London

King Henry VIII protecting the crown jewels! Hahaha 🙂

The scolds briddle. Used in gossiping women as punishment. Sheesh!

Same door….

With baby girl ❤

At Heatrow waiting for our plane

We had a greay day, great lessons in history and a lots of fun being together.

 I need to wrap this up since they are finally ready for our plane leave. Next stop is Rome. Let me know your favorite restaurants and places to visit while in Rome. 

Until next post! And don’t forget, mind the gap. 😉

Much love, Ana ❤