Our Royally Insane Adventure....

For whilst thou proceed northward
to a land filled with merriment.

Sound like Shakespeare? Maybe? Anyway, on the topic of being British, this is our trip to London!

THE William Shakespeare was a regular at this very pub.

There's no way we could possibly recount all the AMAZING things we did and saw, but here's a pretty good recap.

So we didn't get to meet the Queen like we intended...she must have been out on holiday...but we did see Her Majesty's home, or one of them. Buckingham Palace was enormous and the guards were funny looking. We walked up expecting to see the famous guards in their little red get-ups, right? Well, they weren't the only ones there. Some random (non-Caucasian) guards in green uniforms were parading away from the Palace and guarding its doors. We found out that it was the Royal Malay Regiment - Malaysian and Indonesian men sent to guard the queen to signify the close ties between the countries. But then, the other guards were back the next day. Whew.

Here are the real ones:

London Eye = The biggest ferris wheel IN THE WORLD. The pictures speak for themselves (wow).

Once a castle for King Henry III and then Charles I, then eventually a prison notorious for torture, the Tower of London was a grand visit. Now it's home to the Royal Jewel House (the collection of all past royalty's crowns, swords, etc.). Who knew so many diamonds, ruby's, sapphires, and other rather expensive stones could be in one building at the same time?!?

Fortunately for us, London Bridge didn't fall down while we were there. Especially since our hostel was like two blocks from it! Even though Danielle sang the song every time we even mentioned it (which was a lot).
The Tower Bridge (pictured below), however, was much prettier.


Obviously we had to see the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. Luckily, they're all within a quarter mile of each other. They definitely are famous for a reason. Some of the "Londonesque" things we just had to do were: see a West End Play (the British equivalent to Broadway), eat fish and chips, take the underground everywhere, visit one of the largest parks in the world, Hyde Park, home of Peter Pan (monumental if you know how much Kely loves Peter Pan), eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, and use our umbrellas.


Speaking of...

Not to dampen the mood at all. But we officially had our first transportation mishap of the entire trip. And boy was it a big one! SoWeGotToTheBusStopOnTime, Actually, EARLY!, OnlyToHaveToWait IN THE RAIN ForAnHOUR JustHopingToCatchTheFirstTaxiOrBus. WhenWeFinallyDid, ItGotUsThere TEN MINUTES LATE AndOurGateHadClosedAlready. ThereWereNoMoreFlightsToFranceThatDayExceptForTheOnesWhichCostUs 300 POUNDS (that's $600, fyi). Something about the trains being closed and Great Britain being bloody lame...


Kely's a little bitter toward the Queen for this. Thank the Lord for the Sound of Music and American programming (aka Friends and Gossip Girls) on British T.V.


Whew, glad we got that off our chests. You can see how big of a deal that was to two people who think of themselves as somewhat on top of things. So we just spent the night in a hotel and caught a flight back this morning. We're now safely back in Clermont-Ferrand. Even after the blast we had in the UK, it's good to be back to somewhat normalcy.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSS (tomorrow)!! We love you. =)

Lastly, we'd like to know if there's anything exciting going on back home. A comment or an email would be delightful for, say, a tornado or whatnot. But that's all for now. We're still having a ball and still missing all of you. Until next time!