It’s time to go to England again!

Kathy and I have been looking forward to our return to the United Kingdom since we were last there *NINE YEARS AGO*! (sheesh)

This time, though, we have the added joy of taking Kathy’s sister, LeAnn, on her first visit to Eng-ger-land! We’ll be spending 3 days in London before heading out to the Midlands of England and specifically to the beautiful Cotswolds area to spend the bulk of our time with our dear friends John, Marianne, and Mark.

After a lovely weekend with Kathy and LeAnn’s parents, we head for IAD (Dulles International Airport, just outside of Washington D.C.). It’s nice to have the United Club to chill in for awhile prior to getting on-board our 777, because we end up being about 90 minutes late getting out of D.C, due to some weather up the East Coast of the US.

No worries, though – I ping our car service to let them know we’ll be late, we settle back into our nice seats, and enjoy a relatively uneventful ride “across the pond” to LHR (London Heathrow).

Once we get through customs (really quickly!), we find our driver, load up the bags, and start the drive into downtown London towards our hotel. It takes almost an hour-and-a-half to get there, due to our plane being late enough to hit rush-hour traffic. I am *so* glad that I arranged for the car service. Trying to have man-handled these bags and two VERY tired girls (they both slept on the ride into the city) on the train/Underground would have just been “too much”. 🙂

We’re staying at the London Marriott County Hall, thanks to Kathy’s parents’ generous gift of two nights at this luxury hotel.

It is located on the Thames at the Westminster Bridge, immediately next to the London Eye and directly across from Parliament/Big Ben/Westminster. We could not have picked a more perfect location as our “base of operations” for the London portion of our trip.

Once we arrive, we get our luggage to the porter, and I go to get checked in when… FIRE ALARM!

Ugh.

No worries, though – eventually things are sorted (false alarm), we get the bags into the luggage holding room, and checked in while we go off sightseeing!

We walk across Westminster Bridge, giving LeAnn her first really great views of The London Eye, Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben), and Westminster Abbey.

For Kathy and me, London is a familiar sight, having been here several times, but it’s still such a beautiful and historic city. In addition, this will be the first time we’re actually staying *in* the city, so we’re really looking forward to some of the night sights!

With our pre-paid admissions (yay Internet!), we get into Westminster Abbey with very little queue waiting. While dodging some fairly obnoxious Spanish tour groups, we get to absorb so much of the beauty and history of this amazing cathedral.

There are so many things to see inside Westminster, that it could easily be a full day (and more) just reading and gazing on the many markers, carvings, stained glass, and tombs.

We’re hungry… so LUNCHTIME! We head off towards The Albert pub. When we were here with the kids in 2006, we really enjoyed having our first “England pub lunch” here, and definitely wanted to do this again. It did not disappoint!

LeAnn can’t keep herself from catching a quick cat-nap while we wait for our lunch.

The good thing is that some excellent coffee and tea for the girls and a pint of the local 1730 Special Pale Ale for me coupled with some YUMMY traditional “pub grub” puts the spring back in our world-traveling step!

But, given a long overnight flight/arrival delay, an extended car ride into the city, the extra fun of a fire alarm, etc., we skip Buckingham Palace for today (we will just have to see the Queen tomorrow!) and walk back to our scheduled afternoon rotation on The London Eye.

It’s a bit drizzly, but it’s still an amazing rotation on The London Eye.

Even with the clouds and occasional rain drops, the views of the city are fantastic for a first-time visitor. Sometimes, even the rain drops make for some great photos!

If you’ve never been, seeing London from The Eye is a great introduction to the city.

After this afternoon rotation, we’re finally able to check into our room – and it’s perfect for our stay in London! After a quick nap, it’s time for a walk along the refurbished Southbank.

We’re hungry for dinner before our sunset rotation, so we duck into the trendy-looking Giraffe Cafe. Fun times with the waitress, nice food, and we’re fully recharged for the walk back to The Eye.

If you haven’t taken a sunset rotation on The London Eye, it’s completely worth the effort!

The views of London as it lights up for the evening are really something to see.

The on-again/off-again rain has left some really nice cloud features for the setting sun to take advantage of as well!


We take a stroll onto Westminster Bridge to take in the sights. The Elizabeth Tower at night really is a sight to see, but it’s the London Eye and County Hall that give some amazing photos.

A few more night photos and we’re ready to call it a great first day in London!