July 3rd London

We woke up at about 5am, and headed out for the airport. There were no delays, and no extra security that we noticed. Our plane left at about 9am, and we arrived in London at about 10:30. After finding our hotel we grabbed some lunch, and stared some sight seeing. We walked past West Minster Abby, and Parliament (Big Ben) on out way to Buckingham Palace.
We took lots of photos, and video tape of the guards, the palace, and the surrounding area. From the Palace, we got our first look at the London Eye. We walked through the city and found our way to the British Museum. There we saw the Rosetta Stone, statues from the Parthenon, and a wide assortment of items from the ancient world. We then stopped at the National gallery were we saw works from all the masters. We also saw Leonardo's "The Virgin of the Rocks" , Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" and Rembrandt's "Belshazzar's Feast" . While walking back threw out the city, a thunderstorm rolled in, so we headed back to our hotel. We stopped at a grocery store and picked up some bread, cheese, lunch meats, and a bottle of soda (we had a mini refrigerator in out hotel room). We had sandwiches for dinner, and we were asleep by nine o'clock.





July 4th Stonehege Tour

After a very good nights sleep and a light breakfast, we went out in to the city for an up-close look at the near by sites. Our first stop was Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. We crossed the river Tames, and stood under the London Eye. We then went to Westminster Abby, where inside I saw the tombs of Queen's Elizabeth and Mary, Henry the 8th, King George, Mary Queen of Scott's, Chaucer, Newton, and Darwin. After lunch we went and waited for the tour bus that would eventually take me to Stonehenge.  Our first stop was to the largest stone circle in the world located in Avebury. There was also a sweet village complete with thatched roofs. Our next stop was a neolithic burial mound that we were allowed inside to explore all the chambers. Right next to the mound happen to be a crop circle that had "formed" in the past few day. It was a simple circle however there were a few people in the middle, chanting. Next we drove threw Pewsey valley, passing the white horse carved in to the chalk hillside. Our last stop was Stonehenge. Normally visitors are not allowed any closer then with in ten feet of the site, and there is a fence to make sure of it. The tour I took is called the "beyond the Fences Tour" and takes its passengers inside the site so you can walk around the stones and touch then. This tour runs either before stonehenge officially opens to the public at sun rise, and just when it closes at sunset. I was on the sun set tour. We spent about an hour walking around the stones and taking photos. It was an amazing experience. The best part was at the end. Myself and another person from my tour were the last people to leave the site. Because of this we each took a turn standing in the center of the stones all alone. It was an unsurpassed moment. We then boarded the bus and headed back to London. We arrived at about 10:30 pm and we headed to bed.



July 5th All Over London

This was a very long day that ended with blisters formed on top of blisters on our feet. After breakfast we headed West to reach the days attractions. All the places we are visiting offers free entrance if you buy "The London Pass" which also gives the bearer special offers at shops and restaurants. We first crossed London Bridge (the original one is long gone and is now just a normal bridge) to arrive at "The Monument". The Monument is the largest stone column in the world, and was built to commemorate the great fire of London. After climbing the 311 steps to the top of the tower, you are rewarded with spectacular views of the entire city. Our next stop was the "HMS Belfast, which is a cruiser that fought in World War Two. Visitors are free to explore nine decks and see recreations of what life was like on a war vessel. The best parts were the boiler rooms, and sitting the captains chair. This was much bigger then we thought it would be and could have spent a lot more time there. We then visited Tower Bridge which most people mistake as London Bridge. We rode to the top and crossed the Thames from the foot bridge at the top of the towers. The bridge was built in 1894 and survived World War Two, because the Germans used the bridge as a landmark to find their targets. For this reason, no pilots were allowed to bomb the bridge. We visited the engine room, and saw fun interactive displays on how the bridge hydraulics work. Next we visited the tower of London. Here we saw the Crown Jewels, traitor gate, the White Tower, The Bloody Tower, and of course the Ravens. We then headed to St. Paul's Cathedral which was featured on Disney's "Marry Poppins" as the location to buy crumbs from the old lady to feed the birds. Here we climbed 530 steps to the top of the golden dome, for more breath-taking views of the city. Our final stop was a gift shop that gives a free teddy bear to you if you have a London Pass. We did a little bit of shopping on the way back to the hotel, and stopped at Pizza Hut for good hot food. When we returned to the hotel, we backed out backpacks and got ready to return home.


July 6th

We started our last day with a good breakfast at the hotel. We checked out early, but left our packs so we could squeeze in a bit more sight seeing before we had to be at the air port. We walked to Hyde park to see the "Wellington Arch" then walked threw the city to see Harrods department store. Our destination was the Science Museum which we arrived at a few minutes before it opened. Once we were in the museum, we saw exhibits on space, train travel, airplanes, and a display on plastics. After a few hours, we headed next door to the Natural History museum. Here we saw lots of dinosaur skeletons and very cool dinosaur displays including some life size animatronics. From here we walked back to our hotel and picked up our bags. We took a bus to Heathrow airport and checked in. Our flight was delayed an hour, and sat on the tarmac for an hour after we had left the gate. We finally got home at about 10 pm, and headed to bed after we took a nice hot shower.


All in all we had a fantastic trip. We saw lots of amazing things and had some fantastic experiences.