After our 4 day adventure in Paris we boarded a very small cramped bus around 11:30 at night and started a 8 hour bus ride back to London. It was a night I wish not to recall. The driver left the AC on all night and we all froze. There was no room to spread your feet out, so sleep was impossible. Then to add to the nightmare around 1:00 am the bus driver got over the loud speaker and told everyone to get off the bus. We had no idea what was going on but found out we were at customs and had to collect all our luggage and wait in an extremely long line of people while they inspected out bags. Oh don't forget we had my brother's 3 kids, who were all sound asleep, so we were holding them and trying to push in our suitcases. To say I was mad would be an understatement. After boarding again and getting settled in we found out we had to de-board AGAIN to show our passports and hand in custom forms. Another horribly long line! But it was worth it...we arrived in London at 8 am, freshened up in the bus station bathrooms and headed off to tour London! Even with our night of no sleep we were able to have a fun day and stay awake..for the most part.
Day 2 in England we toured Oxford, where my bro is getting his MBA. The college is in different sections all over the city. Each building was added at a different time, but they all keep the same style. Oxford was amazingly gorgeous...it is crazy to think it was started in the 1200s..that's kind of old right?!!
On day 3, our last day we castle hopped. We saw Kenilworth and warwick castles, and toured the city where Shakespeare was born. I could have spent another week looking at the castles and reading their histories of royalty, but time ran out. It truly was fascinating though!
And the funniest moment of the trip. So when we arrived in London we were exhausted...we headed to McDonalds for breakfast (don't judge). Well while we eating Jon fell asleep in his seat. He had his big brown winter coat still on and his hood over his head and halfway covering his face. We just let him sleep while we finished and did bathroom breaks and all that. So I am sitting at the table beside him when a McDonalds worker comes over to Jon's table and looks at him for a bit as if trying to decide whether or not to wake him up. I realized the worker thought Jon was homeless and using their restaurant to sleep in. I should have let him proceed to wake him up and kick him out but I intervened and but instead told the man he was with me and just tired and taking a nap. Seriously the funniest thing...as I looked at Jon (who was had no idea what just happened and was still sleeping) I realized in his big brown coat, brown scarf, brown pants (whoa, fashion no no) he totally did look homeless!!!
 |
| Warwick Castle. This castle was visited by the Young Queen Victoria and I believe her uncle, the King of England lived here. Today they have staged to appear how it would have hundreds of years ago. |
 |
We visited Statford upon Avon where Shakespeare was born.
And the house where he grew up... |
 |
| This was Kenilworth Castle. There is not much remaining of it, but to think it was built in the 1100s, it's amazing there is anything left. Half way around this castle the sky turned black as night and we were caught in a torrential downpour...I guess we needed to have the whole "english" experience. |
 |
| This was the oldest church in Oxford and considering some of the churches were built in the 1200s that is OLD! |
 |
| She's a hottie huh! |
 |
| This was Christ's Church..one of the colleges at Oxford. Many of the scenes from Harry Potter were filmed in this college. It was beautiful! |
 |
| The library where you can study if you are a part of Christ-church College |
 |
| Big Ben. I had no idea it was attached to the beautiful old church. Today their parliament meets here. Oh seriously I was in love w/ the architecture. |
 |
| Westminster Abby. We didn't get to see Kensington Palace, and I was so bummed:( |
 |
| If our phone booths were this cool maybe people would still use them? |
 |
| I had to get a picture of my sister in law Cam with her kids and stroller. This was her life for 6 months. 3 kids a huge stroller and no mode of transportation. Can you just see her with her 2 kids in it, one kid riding on the top and Cam carrying groceries and pushing at the same time. She is a trooper. She said she felt like the "bag lady" and from this pic I kind of agree;) haha! |
 |
| Watching as they began the changing of the guard |
 |
Buckingham Palace! It was seriously cold and wet that day..but wow what an amazing city.
And that was our trip to Europe. It was amazing and it probably won't happen again, so I'm so glad we made it work. And thank you to Steve and Cami for giving us an excuse to visit! |
3 comments:
Oh, the night bus! We rode it just the night before you and everyone almost died of heat stroke because the heater in the back of the bus was sooo powerful. Maybe so many people complained that they froze you out the next night. There was a line of angry red faced people talking to the bus driver. The stops in the middle of the night were awesome! I now feel better that at least we didn't have to do it all with 3 kids. Love your pics!
Love this! So so cute, Lori- I'm so glad you guys went and had some fun! Great pictures- you are a fox!
Dude what a RAD trip. Looks freezing but RAD. What a fun memory to have with your sister and brother too. I love europe and I swear it calls my name on a weekly basis. London....its on my hit list!
Post a Comment