Our First Day in London

We just got back from a fantastic two week trip traveling around London and Ireland, and I'm going to be posting lots of pictures over the next few weeks. It will be to share all of our experiences with anyone who is interested and also so I can write everything down while it is still fresh in my memory.

We left home on June 14th at 6:45pm on British Airways and 9 1/2 hours later landed at Heathrow. This was the first time the boys and I have ever been on a flight that long. Since it was an overnight flight, I was really hoping that we could get some sleep. Connor was really the only one who did. He stretched out over Chris and Spencer and pretty much slept the entire flight. The rest of us managed about 2, maybe 3 hours of sleep. 

We landed at 9:30 Saturday morning and breezed right through Immigration and Customs. I had pre-ordered us passes for the London Underground (subway), so we hopped right on it and made our way to our hotel. Before we left home, I had google-mapped directions on what Underground (also called the Tube) lines we were suppose to take, so we were all prepared on what we needed to do. Taking the Underground was so easy and we loved it all week long. There was a station extremely close to our hotel which also made traveling around the city super easy. 

This is our hotel we stayed at for our week in London: K+K Hotel George in Kensington.  

It was really nice and very quiet and we would all recommend it. It wasn't right next to the super touristy parts of London, but since it was so close to the Underground, it was very fast to get to where we wanted to go. 

And on that first day, I really hoped we could get somewhere fast. A few months back, I was researching the internet to find out about different things we could do in London. I came across an event called Trooping the Colour, which was being held the day we would arrive. It is a celebration of the Queen's birthday. They have a parade earlier in the day, then at 1pm the entire Royal family would make an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the Royal Air Show. I knew that we could not make the parade, but was really hoping that our flights would arrive on time and that we could make the appearance on the balcony. 

We arrived at our hotel and Chris' parents, Pete & Sue, were already there. Their flight arrived a few hours earlier than ours. We got our hotel room early, brought our suitcases up to it, and then it dawned on me. It was 12:10pm. If we left right then, we just might make it to the balcony appearance. And yes, I had google-mapped directions from our hotel to Buckingham Palace so I knew exactly what we were suppose to do. (I had made us an approximately 2-inch thick itinerary for the trip with all kinds of information and google maps. We were not going to be able to access data on our phones, so we had to go old-school and use paper maps.)

So we all left right then, and hustled ourselves over to the Underground. 20 minute ride later, a short walk through a pretty park and we arrived at Buckingham Palace with about 15 minutes to spare. We got up really close to the gates, but decided to back up a bit so we could see without the gates obstructing our view. 

And then they opened the doors:

They were all there. I'm not sure who the people on the left end of the pic are or the gentleman next to Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice. 

I seriously couldn't believe that we have been in the country approximately 3 hours and we were seeing the Royal Family! Talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity. 

There were a few different flyovers, but this one was my favorite.

About 20 minutes later it was all done and they started to leave. 

A closeup of William and Kate. She looked beautiful.

After they left the balcony, we crossed the street and I had Chris take a picture of us to prove we were there! And actually this picture isn't too bad considering we pretty much came straight here after being on a plane for 9 1/2 hours. 

We thought everything was all done, but the police came through and told us all to get off of the streets. These guys came through next and we were super close to them.  

Front row, I could have reached out and touched them when they walked past me. 

After they passed us, the policeman still had us stay back and then these guys appeared:

We had no idea what was going on, but they waited until this car came out and escorted it out of the area. I realized this must be someone important, so I just snapped pictures. I didn't know who I was taking pictures of until I got to a place were I could look at them. 

And it was....

Prince Charles and Camilla! 

They left and then this parade went by us. It was pretty long and they were pulling cannons. 

After that parade, everything was finally done. We decided to try and find someplace to eat because we were all starving. When we were wandering, we came across these guards. I found out later that this is Prince Charles' house.

We did finally find a little cafe to eat, which was good because it started pouring rain about that time. And all of us forgot to bring our umbrellas since we ran out of the hotel so fast to get to Buckingham Palace. 

The cafe was nice, and I was starving so I think anything would have tasted good at that point! 

After that, we made out way back to our hotel and relaxed and unpacked for a bit. Then we decided to explore our neighborhood and find something for dinner.

This is a pretty alley that was across the street from our hotel.  

We ended up eating snacks at the Earl's Court Pub and watching news coverage on their TVs of the Queen's appearance. We still couldn't believe we saw the Royal Family on our first day! 

We went to bed pretty early that night to get rested for the rest of our trip. 

Day One was a fantastic start to our grand adventure! 
Look for more blog posts in the next few days.

Thanks for visiting me!