
Going to London after Paris was like taking in a big deep breath of relieved air. Paris was amazing, beautiful, and romantic, but the fact is, they don’t speak English everywhere. And why should they? But I felt ten times more comfortable just walking through the train station in London. I could understand everyone! Well, almost everyone… There were a couple of people that sounded like they had mouths full of beef jerky.
Westminster Abbey was so beautiful and old. It was thrilling to see the cathedral in person after having read so many references to it in English literature.
Speaking of old, this castle is in downtown London. It’s more than a thousand years old! It’s the castle where the crown jewels are held, but because the Queen was going to parliament the next morning we couldn’t go in to see them.

I wish we had more castles (real ones) in America. I’m not sure why, but something about them makes you feel like the city is legit. Like it’s been around for a really long time, therefore making it more significant. Whatever. Vegas has the Luxor, I guess.
By the way, if you’re wondering whether you can take a 10 day trip to Europe with only two small carry-on bags, I’m here to tell you that it’s possible. Not only is it possible, it’s preferable. We had to wash our underwear, but we wore all of our outfits twice and it worked out perfectly!

The London Eye was so fun to photograph. I took a ton of pictures of it. I don’t love ferris wheels though, so we didn’t go on it. Now if they’d had a roller coaster that toured you around London I would have been in the front seat.
Photographing some of these phone booths was a high priority for me. I knew I wanted to before I even left the states. I know everyone takes pictures of them, but they’re just so cool looking! I probably took pictures of 50 telephone booths.

I only took one picture of the mailboxes, but aren’t they cute? I think we need to lobby to change our mailboxes to something more interesting.
One of the highlights of our trip was seeing the QUEEN! We really got to see her! Well, we saw the side of her head in a bullet-proof horse-drawn carriage, but still.
These guards that were waiting for the Queen to arrive were pretty serious fellows. There were gobs of tourists taking pictures next to them, and one unfortunate guy wishes he’d stayed at the hotel that day. He touched the tassel thingy on a guard’s hat and the guard in the photo on the left screamed at him, ”STAND AWAY FROM THE GUARD” right in his face. And when I say right in his face, I mean he could have bit his nose if he’d been so inclined. There was spittle involved. It was embarrassing if not extremely amusing for everyone watching. What an idiot, right? I mean, who messes with someone who’s scowling and holding an extremely sharp-looking saber? Plus sitting on a massive black horse? I wish I’d had my camera on them when it happened, but we gave that guard a wide berth after that.

Look, it’s the queen! Why isn’t she waving at us…?
Sorry the pictures of her are so blurry – she was hauling through the gates. She’s a granny on the go, if you know what I mean.
The first question everyone asked was “Which city did you like best?” It would definitely have to have been between Paris and London, but I’m not sure I could choose. Both of them were fantastic, but for different reasons. Paris is chic and sophisticated; London is exciting and hip (plus everyone speaks English there). I don’t know, I can’t choose! I guess I’ll just have to go again and do a more comprehensive analogy…Mr. Wright? What do you say? ;)















