London 2012

 Doug had to take a business trip to London and Grandma was kind enough to come and watch the boys so Melissa could join him.  We left Sunday after church and arrived in London around lunchtime on Monday.  We ate lunch together and then Doug went to the office.  The night picture of London bridge was the view from his office.  While Doug was working Melissa relaxed, took a nap, took pictures of London, explored Trafalgar's Square, and went on a walk to Big Ben.  Our hotel was about a 10 min walk to Big Ben/Westminster down one street and about a 10 min walk to Buckingham Palace down another street.

 On Tuesday, while Doug was working Melissa went on a walk to Buckingham and stopped at St. James park along the way.  The tulips, forget-me-not, other spring flowers were beautiful and they had gorgeous daffodils scattered throughout the park. After the walk to Buckingham, Melissa rested and read at the hotel until Doug came back to the hotel for dinner.  We tried fish and chips and walked around near our hotel until we found a place for yummy dessert.  Doug felt bad he was gone longer than he had planned and he would have to go back to the office as soon as our dinner date was over and brought flowers to the hotel.

 Wednesday Doug only had to work a little in the morning.  So we picked up lunch at the train station and went out to the London temple.  The London temple was beautiful and it was so fun to walk around the grounds.  After having a wonderful experience at the temple we took a taxi to Edenbridge.  Doug did the temple work for an ancestor from Edenbridge and we went to the church was his family was christened.

 On Wednesday night we went to L' Entrecote for dinner.  The first Entrecote was in Paris and we went with Melissa's uncle and they serve the best steak and fries.  We were so excited to go again, it was delicious.

 We only had a couple of days to see London and we packed in a lot of fun.  On Thursday we started they morning at Westminster Abbey.   Then we went on a river cruise (which was a nice was to see the highlights of London). During the river cruise Doug showed Melissa the office building he worked it (the modern looking building above). We went to London tower, was an interesting place to learn some British history and see the crown jewels.  On the way back to the hotel we went to the Courtauld gallery and they had some great works and a special exhibit of works by Mondrian.  We quickly ate dinner before changing our clothes to go see Wicked, which was absolutely amazing.

On Friday, I don't have many pictures because we spent the day visiting the museums.  We started the day at the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace.  Then we went on a walk through Hyde park.  We went to the British Library, where we got to see a lot of really exciting things like the Magna Carta, Gutenberg bible, works by Shakespeare, Jane Austin's writing desk, Handel Messiah, lyrics from the Beatles, etc.  We then went to explore the British Museum.  We lots of history from Greece, Egypt, Assyria, China, etc.  We had dinner and did a little shopping for the boys.  Then we ended the night at the National Gallery, where we got to see a lot of great artwork.  We loved seeing the works by Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and more.

We had a great time and loved exploring London.  It was so fun to ride in the double decker buses, taxi's and all the great public transportation.  It was a wonderful little getaway and it was fun to see the boys again.