Another London Countdown

You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

True that Samuel, true that.

I promise London, I wasn't tired of you at the end of yesterday, neither were Jim and Talmage.

We weren't tired of you, but rather, because of you.

You have so much to offer, we can hardly resist.

We get up early to come visit you, run around for hours, and come home way too late.

Here are a few of our favorites from yesterday.

1. Tower of London

We arrived in London just as the sun was rising. It was beautiful. This is the Tower Bridge. I'm pleased to report that it, as well as it's friend the London Bridge, has not fallen down!

Me and T on our first adventure of the day...walking on the Tower Bridge.


This, my friends, is the Tower of London.

To make a long story short, it's a royal palace turned Alcatraz.

King Henry the 8th sent 3 of his wives here to be beheaded and they estimate about 1500 others were killed on Tower Hill.

It was so fun learning more about this place.

Two young princes were killed in this tower...we kept a close eye on our little prince!

This was our BEYOND awesome tour guide. His name is Ken.

After going on his hilarious and informative tour, we mosied over to another building where we saw THE CROWN JEWELS.

The real-life, totally authentic, super-blingin crown jewels.

They're gorgeous.

This pub is right down the street from the tower. Fitting, isn't it?!

We cracked up at this quote on the pub wall!

2. St. Paul's Cathedral

Such a gorgeous day and such a gorgeous cathedral.

Daddy and Talmage.

Me and T.

Jane and Michael Banks weren't allowed to feed the birds at St. Paul's. Luckily Talmage's daddy is nicer than theirs! (Mostly I just think Jim didn't want Talmage dancing on rooftops or anything!)

Talmage was SO excited about all the birds!

3. Research Meeting at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

This picture is actually at the Royal Courts of Justice (which Jim saw on our way to Trafalgar Square and wanted a picture with). BUT, I wanted to let you know the real reason we were in London yesterday was so my smarty husband could go to a snazzy meeting with some of England's big names. He had a great time, and was even asked to present in front of everyone. I love being married to a genius!

4. Winter Wonderland--Hyde Park

While Jim was in his meeting, T and I walked to the park so we could play at Winter Wonderland. It had a huge Christmas market, lots of food, rides, an ice skating rink and lots more. It was such a legit party!

Mr. T sitting in the big boy Christmas chair!

Talmage's first picture with Santa (who they call Father Christmas here). The boy wasn't really in the mood to be photographed...but it'll still be a good one for the baby book!

The Christmas tree at Trafalgar Square. In my own opinion, it was pretty lame. There was no star on top, there were no ornaments (which they call baubles) and it looked like it was going to die any second. Oh well, I guess that's why no one asked my opinion!
T didn't seem to mind...he wouldn't stop looking at it!

5. Westminster Abbey

No great (or even good) pictures from this place...but a good time was had nonetheless (well, mostly!) We met up with Jim for Evensong--a choral service they hold every night at 5 pm. After about 3 seconds of the first song Talmage decided he hated every second of it! I tried entertaining him with all of the ornate tombstones in the chapel (I know, a little morbid)! It didn't quite work, but I saw the tombstones of William Pitt, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and other really important people, which was pretty cool!


And so, my dear London, once again we must bid thee adieu.

With some chips (AKA fries) from the street, and a hopeful heart that our bus would eventually arrive (it was 30 minutes late) we recounted all of the fun moments we had shared.

Below you will find us exhausted.

Not of you London, but because of you!