Housewife Takes London by STORM!

Okay...that might be a bit of a lie! But we landed this morning in London at around 9 AM local time. We breezed through customs and headed for the Express Train to downtown London.


This being my first trip to Europe I loved seeing how the houses are built here, cute homes, the roofs have a different pitch to them...all so neat! We came up through Paddington Station and I got my first view of one of the Underground Stations.

After trying to figure out how we were going to get downtown since the Circle Line was closed for weekend repairs, we finally made it downtown and got to our hotel. We are staying at a nice place about a 5 - 10 minute stroll from Buckingham Palace. We walked down that way today while we were waiting for our room to get ready. There was some police activity and we weren't sure what was happening so we stuck around...only to find out after watching the police, firemen and dogs come out that they were waiting for the royal mail! We couldn't stop laughing!!

Walking towards the palace

Buckingham

Some of the police, they had everyone blocked off and backed way up!

After walking around there for a bit, we headed to get some lunch and made our way to Harrods to check it out.

Looking up Constitution Hill towards Wellington Arch

Harrods

After about five minutes inside of Harrods we decided to leave. There were so many people and no one spoke English (ha ha ha) and it was just too much. So we decided to head back to find some grub. We ate at a little pub that is apparently a chain but I had a spicy burger and Mike had a Beef and Onion Suet Pie...and of course...I had a Guinness!

After stuffing our faces we made our way back to our hotel and could NOT wait to take a shower. We left Seattle at 11:30 AM (after getting up at 7 AM) and flew through Philly and then on to London. It was a LONG day of travel and I didn't sleep much on the plane. We did watch Toy Story 3, which was SUPER cute. I may or may not have cried. I can neither confirm, nor deny that. And then I played games on the screen for most of the rest of the flight. So needless to say we were looking forward to a shower and then to go back out and walk around. Well, Mike showered first so I laid down on the bed for a few minutes and passed out! I got up and showered and we laid down again and we slept for 5 hours! But it felt so good!

We got up and got ready to go get MORE food! We walked down Piccadilly towards the theaters and found a cute little place called Cafe Koha in an alley way and had a nice little dinner and shared a bottle of wine.

The Ritz

London's version of Times Square ;-)

Tonight I had a wonderful charcoal grilled sirloin for dinner and Mike had Potato and Leek soup and seared scallops. It was nice to be able to sit down and enjoy a meal with my husband. We didn't have to worry about the dogs, or doing dishes, or rushing home. This vacation is definitely starting off right! :)

We found a GREAT bar we wanted to stop at...we can't figure out if it is a gay bar or not....thoughts??

On the way back to the hotel we walked by a guy standing on a box preaching. This had to have been the best part of the evening because there was a black homeless guy standing next to him, mimicking his movements and laughing. It reminded me of how a little kid will stand out of some one's line of sight and make fun of them behind their back. Mike and I couldn't stop laughing and Mike said...I bet that guy is thinking...."I'm crazy...I know crazy! And this guy is BAT SHIT CRAZY!" I couldn't stop laughing.

So here we are, back in our room enjoying another bottle of wine. I'm looking forward to going to sleep and having a full day tomorrow! We have a lot of things we want to do and see so it'll be a quick trip filled with TONS of things. Oh, I have lunch plans with the Queen tomorrow. Let's see if she shows up! You know how the Brits are flakes ;-)! AH HA HA.

Until the next post! Cheerio!!!