England, Day 7: Our last day and a visit to the Natural History Museum

Our last full day in London we headed over the the Natural History Museum, aka site of Night of the Museum 3. The was one of the free museums they have in London and it was super crowded because of that!

We had to wait around 30 minutes outside just to get into the museum. But once we got in we had a great time. There was so much to see and do there we barely scratched the surface. 

We enjoyed seeing stuffed animals, a body exhibit, and of course dinosaurs! 

Their dinosaur exhibit was really big and clearly the best part of the museum. 

They even had an animated T-Rex. 

Finley was memorized by it. 

In the body exhibit we realized that other countries show way more about the human body than I think a museum in the US would. Luckily Finley didn't seem to notice too much or be embarrassed by it. He simply laughed at the naked boys and kept walking. 

They had plenty of hands on experiments so we made our way slowly through the human body section and didn't do too much more. 

Before heading out we checked out all the rocks and gems. Check out this hunk of gold! 

And this huge emerald. After lunch it was time to head back to our hotel and check out so we could head to our next hotel (closer to the airport) since our flight out the next morning was at the crack of dawn. 

Here are some other random memories from our trip: 

- Anytime a local person learned you were from the United States they immediately wanted to talk to you about Donald Trump. I would simply shake my head and tell them I really didn't think he could win. Right guys? 

- I asked a man where the restroom was and he had no idea what I was talking about. They simply call them toilets. Where are the toilets? 

- Everything in England is pretty expensive and they charge you for everything. At one Pret A Manger (restaurant) they asked if you were dining in or out. If you dined in, your food would cost more! 

- I would randomly yell out "God Save the Queen" in my best British accent just for fun. And speaking of accents I totally started up my own British accent when talking to the locals. It's just hard not to!

- Cadbury Chocolate is the best ever and it's a good thing we don't have my favorite Curly Wurly's here in the US. 

- Finley loved trying to use the local vernacular. Some of his favorites included lifts, loo, brilliant, futbol, pants, jumper, dahdey, mummy, wellies, pitch, and biscuit.

- The people are super friendly and helpful almost everywhere you go. Except for the one woman who cut Finley and I off on the escalator and didn't say excuse me. I yelled at her as my 'mama bear' instincts came out :). 

- On several occasions while visiting the cousins David or I would go to get in the passengers side and realize it was the drivers side. 

-Outside of the city the streets are really narrow but the cars are too. Even though most of the time I was sure we were going to side swipe something! 

- The Underground is super easy to use (easier than NYC) and we didn't get lost on it once. Although I did see a mouse on the tracks!

- Things I would do again: visit with family, Tower of London (and for longer), a soccer match, visiting Hailes Abbey and Sudeley Castle. 

- Things that were a little over rated (I'm glad we did them once, but probably wouldn't do them again): The London Eye, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the train ride. 

- Things I want to do next time: A visit to Downton Abbey (I mean Highclere Castle), Harry Potter Studios, and the National Gallery. 

We had a super fun trip and were so glad to spend time with our cousins! We can't wait to see them again and go back to England sometime in the future. 

England, Day 6: Tower of London & the London Eye

Next up we visited the Tower of London. The fortress has been used as a palace, prison, armory, and even a zoo! Free tours are given by the Yeomen Warders aka Royal Beefeaters (nickname because being so close to the King they could eat all the beef they wanted) who actually live there with their families! 

We learned all about St. Thomas' Tower which is one of 21 towers that surround the fortress which later became known as traitor's gate. 

Here is traitor's gate below the tower where prisoners would enter the tower. 

This is the bloody tower. It got it's name during the 16th century because it is believed to be the site where the Princes in the Tower were murdered. King Edward V's surviving sons who were only 9 and 12 and heirs to the throne were being cared for here by their Uncle when they mysteriously disappeared. And then of course he took the crown. 

Here is the church where it is believed that Anne Boleyn's remains are. Because she was considered a traitor, along with many others, she didn't have a marked grave. The church was beautiful inside, but we weren't allowed to take pictures. 

Here is the outside of the building where the crown jewels are kept. Again, no pictures were allowed in here, but we had a great time seeing all the crowns, necklaces, scepters, crosses, gold utensils and serving ware, and necklaces. 

This is the white tower. All throughout the day there are different people dressed up as important people in the fortresses history. They had activities where the children had to run around and listen to each person's story to figure out which person went with what item and location around the fortress. 

We easily could have spent the whole day there exploring and I'm kind of sad I had only allotted a half a day. 

Inside the White Tower we got to see the royal armories. 

Finley enjoyed pretending to be a soldier. 

And check out this cool dragon made out of all types of helmets, shields, guns, etc!

Here's Finley checking out some more weapons!

Outside we spotted one of the six resident ravens. There is a legend that if the six ravens leave the tower will fall. So now they house them and protect them so that doesn't happen! And I think their wings are clipped too so they don't escape. 

And here is the famous location where many traitors were beheaded including Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey all casualties of Henry VIII's! 

Just outside the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge a very iconic symbol.

We took a few pictures then rushed off for our next adventure! 

We had pre-booked a time slot at the London Eye which included a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed experience. 

Finley had fun pretending with their photo opps. 

And he was especially excited to get a golden ticket!

One of Willy Wonka's helpers was there to take us on our tour. 

He was very sweet and mainly kept the children entertained during the half hour ride. 

But they did have some things they had to look for during the ride. 

Like this egg! 

And Big Ben. 

It was really cool to see the city from the eye. 

But a little hard to take pictures because the glass walls were rounded and created a strange glare. 

It was nice not to have to wait in the line for the ride! 

The River Thames and Finley dancing. 

And just when I think everyone is exhausted Finley finds a man on the boardwalk blowing bubbles and gets a second wind!

It was another beautiful day in London and luckily no rain and not too cold for all of our outside activities for the day. 

England, Days 4 & 5: London - a train, Buckingham, and a match at Wembley

Alas it was time to leave our dear cousins and head into London. Dear sweet Annie cried her eyes out when we left, but luckily we will get to see them again soon when they head this way during the summer. We took a train back into London  so we could enjoy a scenic view. This meant taking two trains though and having to change trains. The first leg was awesome and hardly anyone was on it. The second leg was a mess. The train was so packed we couldn't get to our reserved seats! Apparently they over sell the trains so there is standing room for others too, but it meant we couldn't make our way through the crowd to sit down. So we had to stand for an hour and couldn't relax! Bummer. Lesson learned. We arrived into Paddington Station and made our way via Underground to our hotel. 

After finally making it to our hotel we decided to explore the 'neighborhood'. 

After grabbing a quick bite to eat we checked out West Minster Cathedral. 

And look who I spotted? My very favorite tennis player! :)

We then walked over to Buckingham Palace to scout out the place because we planned to see the changing of the guard the next day. 

It was nice to be there at night when it was a lot less crowded. 

If the flag is up that means the Queen is home! Did you know that she is turning 90 years old this week? Amazing!

She is the longest reigning British Monarch. 

After a bit of a walk we headed back to our hotel to crash for the night. The next day would be another fun filled day! 

In the morning we headed back over to see the changing of the guard. 

It was pretty crowded and a little hard to see, but it was still fun. 

There was lots of music and fanfare. 

The entire ceremony lasts about 45 minutes. 

It was a bit long for Finley's taste. 

But we felt like we had to do it while we were there!

Next we headed over to see West Minster Abbey. 

The outside of the Abbey is just beautiful. 

But we didn't feel the need to pay such a high price to go inside. 

We also enjoyed seeing the clock tower, aka Big Ben which is the bell inside the clock in the tower of Westminster Palace. 

Because the Palace of Westminster is the meeting place for the House of Parliament it is heavily guarded and you can't go in. 

So we just had to enjoy the outside views. 

That evening we headed out to Wembley to see a soccer match!

Unfortunately it was pouring down rain when we arrived. We had to walk around getting wet while we hunted for a place to eat. Finley was happy when we settled on McDonald's but it was a mad house in there! 

The stadium holds 90,000 people and I guess everyone else decided it was a good idea to arrive early and try to grab dinner nearby. Ooops. 

The nice part about Wembley is that once inside all the seats are covered! But of course by then the rain had pretty much stopped. 

We were so excited to see England play Netherlands. 

Finley and David have been studying up on the players and also knew many of them via their FIFA 16 game. 

Finley's favorite player Vardy got to play and he even scored a goal!

Unfortunately England lost 2 - 1. We ducked out with about 15 minutes left in the game so as not to get caught up in all the traffic. We ended up missing the Netherlands wining goal. Bummer. 

Here's Vardy! We had a great time at the game and Finley is all into the European teams now because he got a free Euro 2016 sticker book as a souvenir. But of course now we have to keep buying stickers of all the players to fill up his book! We also found an adorable England kit (uniform) for Finley to take home and wear. So it was a successful although wet day out at Wembley!