Frustrated

I am so frustrated tonight. I've created a slideshow of my London Holiday pictures in Photobucket and Slide but I can't seem to get them onto the side bar of my blog. (I put some in a post, but that's not what I want!) What am I doing wrong? Can anyone help me? I'm turning gray(er) trying to figure this out! I pride myself in doing this on my own, but for once I am stumped! HELP!!!

I'm not having the best of times (at work) since I'm back from London, but since I don't ever want to use this as a bitch session forum, I'm going to hold back my comments!! So if you don't see me post for a few days, you'll know why!! (Well sort of I suppose!)

This past weekend we probably did our last day of skiing for the season. It is nice to ski in warmer weather, however warmer means the snow is melting and you are actually "slush" skiing as I would put it! It's a lot of exercise, that's for sure! We still have 3 weeks left at some resorts, but if it stays this warm, they won't be very good. Looking foward to next season with a "better" knee!

I also got one of my ATC swaps completed over the weekend. I'll take pictures and post in a day or two!! Come back and visit soon!!!

London Holiday 2008

London Holiday Wrap Up!

We are home already and reflecting back on our 9 day Holiday to London.

It really went fast as we expected it would. On our final day in London, we took a spin on the famous British Airways London Eye! It was quite an interesting trip, that started out in the sunshine, moved into rain, then snow and we landed back in the sunshine! What a whirl-win in just 30 minutes! You barely even realize you're moving, unless you really watch the cars in front or back of you. The views are awesome - well at least when you're not caught in a blizzard! We could see most of the major attractions around London and tried to take a few pictures, but it they are not very clear. I would have liked a second whirl around the Eye!

We spent the next few hours wandering around London, doing a little shopping and having a long dinner before we headed off to the Jack the Ripper tour. The tour took us through the streets of the East end to hear about the story of the Whitechapel murders that occurred in 1888. The guide was very knowledgeable and you could tell was very interested in her subject. Although the night was cold, we all listened intently as she unfolded the story of the murders that were never solved. It was a great way to end our holiday in London! I think I will read some of the books she recommended - I like the everyday history of London!

When we returned to our flat on Saturday night, all that was left to do was to pack up our stuff and go to bed. We didn't buy many souvenirs (too expensive) and we didn't have much of a problem packing what we had bought.

We left the flat around 8 a.m. on Sunday and headed to Hethrow Airport - in the SNOW! Yep, it was snowing on Easter in London! We bid Dad farewell at the check in as we were on different airlines and had to go to different areas to check in. We had a bit of breakfast before going through security. We were selected for additional security - what a pain, but no problems as should be expected. Then we were finally in the air and headed for Washington D.C. When we landed, we collected our bags and went through security yet again! Then a 5 hour LONG layover before boarding a plane for Denver! Finally at 11:05 p.m. we touched down in Denver! It was a long way home, very uneventful and we were happy to be in our own beds!

We have one last day off of work (today)! We did our grocery shopping and are working on our piles and piles of laundry! The mail wasn't too bad, although Moira could have kept the bills for us!! Melanie did her homework and now we're all just relaxing, dreading the return to real life tomorrow! It's nice to holiday! Hopefully we'll do it again, really soon!

Day 8 - Bus Tour

We awoke from a very rainy night to SUNSHINE once again! We will consider ourselves very luck y to have 3 days with sunshine during our visit to London!

We decided to take the infamous "Bus Tour" of London today - after we have seen just about everything important in the city! It was good to learn a little bit more about some of the streets we've walked down, some of the buildings we've walked past and other such tidbits! We rode the yellow line, the blue line and a small part of the green line before getting back on the boat tour down the Thames. Disappointing though, there was no commentary on the river.

Midway through our ride, we stopped at "Ed's Diner" for a afternoon snack. It was very reminiscent of the 50's in the USA!

As we left the bus tour, we headed to find dinner and were caught in a magnificent hail storm! It even included some great thunder! We were looking for a fish restaurant, but ended up in a very nice steak restaurant to get out of the hail. It was a very expensive, but rather good dinner. After dinner we headed back to the flat once again.

With just one more day left in London, we have pretty much seen everything that we had wanted to see. The last 2 major things on our list are the London Eye and the Jack the Ripper tour, which we will conquer tom morrow. It has been a good trip, and somewhat tiring. I will need a vacation just to recover! Because our last tour is late on Saturday I don't think I'll get to blog again until we return to the states on Monday, so catch up with everyone then!

Day 7 - Kensington Palace

It is hard to believe that a week of our vacation has already passed! It has been a very good week, despite the cold, dreary weather! We have seen many historic places, with so much history learned, my head is spinning!

Today's first stop was to the Twining's Shop since they are to be closed the remainder of the weekend for the Easter Holidays. We stocked up on many different varieties. It is too bad I don't like tea! The shop clerk presented me with a fabric banner of the store for the misunderstanding of their opening sign for today. The sign read it was suppose to open at 9 a.m., at which time we were promptly waiting outside the door. Unfortunately he informed me that the store would not open until 9:30 and since we waited, he gave me that special gift. I felt that was extremely nice since we would have waited anyway!

From here we moved on to Kensington Palace the last home of Princess Diana. The small Palace was very beautiful and had a display of the aspects of Diana's life. I find that fascinating since she was not even an "official"member of the royal family upon her death, despite the fact she will always be called the princess. She was a beautiful woman and some of the photos that were displayed were very smart. The gowns that were displayed that she wore were fabulous. The rest of the Palace that was featured included the state rooms once occupied by Queen Victoria prior to her becoming Queen. There were many displays about the royal dress codes, which were very interesting. After we left the Palace, we strolled into the gardens for a very short time and found a bench to eat our "picnic" lunch. That didn't last long as it began to rain on our parade!

We took the tube back to the Trafalgar Square area where we hunted down the Ben Franklin House. We had just missed one tour, so we milled around for 40 minutes while we waited for the next. While we were doing that, we picked up a few trinkets and got our pictures in at Trafalgar Square. The Ben Franklin Tour was a bit disappointing however the house itself was pretty cool to see. Our guide was not used to providing such tours but was forced to since the audio tour was not working. The house had almost been torn down at one point, but thankfully it was saved and has been restored. They had put a huge beam under the building to keep it standing, which caused the floor to bow. Other than that, we didn't learn too much.

After that tour, we headed down the mall to get a good look at Buckingham Palace. The Palace is not open for tours at this time of year, so a few pictures of the front facade is about all we got.

From there we headed back towards our flat, with a stop at the market and the chocolate shop! (Important things!) We hoped to get back in time for the Charles Dickens Museum (which is a few doors down) but it was a bit too late. We relaxed a few minutes before enjoying a nice dinner at the corner pub. Melanie and I had Bangers and Mash (otherwise known as Venison Sausage) and the men both enjoyed the Lamb Burger. It was very good. Maybe one of our better meals!

Tonight we are researching our options for tomorrow. It looks like a Bus Tour is going to win as our first option of the day! Off to buy the tickets....

Day 6 - Hampden Court Palace

We woke up to the glorious SUN!!! What a wonderful site for London and probably the last we see of it before we head back to Colorado!! Too bad with the sun came some really cold air! I was freezing all day long!

We took the tube and train today to Hampden Court Palace arriving just as they opened. We joined the first guided tour led by a gentleman dressed in period costume. He welcomed us to the Palace and gave us some general information about the complex. From there we joined another tour where our female guide (dressed as a Lady) described in great detail the rooms of King Henry VIII. The great hall that we were awed by was used as a dining room for members of his court. His court was rather large and more than 600 were fed in that room in 2 shifts. The tapestries on the walls were wonderful and each one is worth more than than a ship today. There were a total of 10.

After our guided tour, we got the audio guide and set up to learn more on our own. We got to view the Apartments of King William and Queen Mar, the apartments of George II and lastly the great Kitchens. Afterwards we headed out into the gardens to enjoy their splendor. Lastly we took a quick jaunt through the hedge maze. This was yet another wonderful tour ant took us almost 6 hours!

From Hampden we headed back to London and to Harrods Department store where I proceeded to have a "meltdown" with all the crowds of people. I was looking for a few souvenir items to take home and just couldn't seem to get around without stumbling into millions of people. Eventually I found what I wanted and couldn't wait to get out of there.

After the tube ride back to the neighborhood where we are staying, I had yet another brush with disaster when my shoelace got caught in the escalator! I couldn't pull it out of the elevator - it just kept trying to pull me back into it. The people behind me kept pilling up and trying to help me get out of the hold of the monster! Eventually Dad pulled me free!! Thank heavens!

After a nice meal at an Italian restaurant by the flat, Dan and I headed back out to explore the area. We looked for the BBC shop only to find they are no longer in business. (Guess we'll have to order Doctor Who stuff online.) Then we searched for the Twining's shop and found that they will be open tomorrow and closed for the remainder of the weekend... looks like we're going there tomorrow. And before we headed back home we went back to the Toy Store where they did find Doctor Who stuff and found out their hours so we can go back and get Melanie what she wants! It was a nice walk. Hard to imagine that people are still out and about so late.

Speaking of late, it's past my bedtime. Another day out by 8 tomorrow, so I'm off for some sleep...

Day 5 - Westminster Abbey

This morning we headed for the Westminster Tube Station bright and early to see the Winston Churchill Cabinet Rooms and War Museum. For those who enjoy World War II history, this is a very interesting place. I was surprised that the bunker was not embedded deeper into the ground. It is amazing that it was never bombed! The exhibits in the War Museum were very high tech and hands on.

From there we headed over to Westminster Abbey, another very old church with lots and lots of history. We choose not to take the audio tour on this one, but wondered around on our own. The royal memorials throughout the church were very interesting. There are many Kings and Queens laid to rest in the Abbey and each one had a special little niche. There were also some wonderful displays of royal costumes that were over 400 years old! It was amazing at how they were still in such good shape. We thought the architecture was beautiful but overall I think my family enjoyed St. Paul's Cathedral more. I suppose they each have their own piece of history!

After we had our "inside picnic" lunch, we went back to the House of Parliament to see if we could go in and watch some debates. The wait was over 2 hours, so we decided to take a tube ride over to Piccadilly Circus and see what was there. We took a few pictures and then headed to a store that supposedly was selling Doctor Who stuff. It took us clear away from the Circus... The store was more of a toy store but Dan did find a Tardis to take home. We continued on to try and find the BBC store, but to no avail. After a long walk, we ended back at the flat where we took a brief rest and then went to dinner.

So far our vacation is 1/2 over. We have really done and seen a whole lot! Poor Dad has come home every evening exhausted! He is doing an awesome job at keeping up with us, so hats off to him! Tomorrow we are going to see Hampton Court Palace and Gardens. I'm hoping it rivals Windsor as that still has been my favorite spot so far!

Just 4 more days... :(