London and Paris

Ben and I took a trip this summer for our 15th Wedding Anniversary to London and Paris.  Yay us!

Ben is a very sleepy travel companion!

We were in a traffic jam on the tarmac.  We were on a bus stuck at a 4 way stop with airplanes!

It was a long plane ride!

Look at this cute little taxi cab!

This is the neighborhood our condo was in.

Inside the condo

The local church

The metro!  Why did I feel like I was on Harry Potter the whole time?

Or Sherlock Holmes.  The pubs in London Have great names.

Big red buses

Trafalgar Square

What is that I see back there?

I was trying to climb up next to the lion.  It was not as easy as I remember it being in 1998.

I had to ask Ben for a boost.

I made it!

Ben and Big Ben!

Me and Two Ben's!

Will this one take me to the Ministry of Magic?

Ben and I went to Tea at the Fortune and Mason

Cool Fork

Finger Sandwiches and Peppermint Tea

Shrimp, Salmon, Cucumber, Chicken Curry and Egg salad.

That pink eclair on top tasted like roses.

Ben's Savory Tea

This cake deserves a repeat

This is the O2 where I had a conference.

That evening we went on a Jack the Ripper tour of White Chapel

All of these buildings and lampposts are the same ones that were here at the time that the murders happened

Well not that one!

Here is the repeat I was talking about.  They sent me home with an extra!

Tate has several museums named after him in London!

I think he forgot something!

Him too!  What is the deal with these guys!

I wish this was closer to my house.  We would be set for birthdays.

This is the art school across from the Tate Museum

I totally got a kick out of the funny signs over there.  This apparently means no performing for money.

Ben's dream came true!  The Globe Theater.

The gate outside the theater was so ornate and beautiful.

One of the people in the pit passed out.

That is a real thatched roof up there!

The costumes were amazing!

Shakespeare was definitely a little on the risque side!

We are standing on the Millennium Bridge.  The one Voldemort destroyed.  Looking at the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge.

The Tower Bridge

We had our second Tea at a Restaurant called Sketch.  It was easily the coolest restaurant I have ever been to.

This is the bathroom.

Inside the pods were the toilets and each pod played sounds.  Mine sounded like chirping frogs.

There was all this silly art lining the walls.

The dishes were adorable.

The food was so delicious!

That little sandwich wrapped in paper on the bottom was heaven.

So was the little round cream puff with green sprinkles.

So cute!

We found this fun shop that sold hilarious things.  Somehow we forgot to take a picture of the shop but it was adorable.  My kids would have loved it.

We went to an upscale mall called Harrods where they literally had everything.

I got into trouble for taking a picture of that diamond.  Oops!

Those were all cakes.  Decorated with frosting.  Crazy!

This was the train station that took us to Paris.  We rode the chunnel under the ocean.

This is by far the most amazing hot chocolate I have ever had.  It was like drinking the most delicious chocolate bar.  Hmmmm...I want some now!

Le Petite Arc in front of the Louvre

The Louvre

This lady speaks for herself.

The Seine

The Palais du Justice

Still don't know what this means.

Or this.

Notre Dame

The Eiffel Tower

I have been told that this is a musk rat.  It was huge!  Probable a foot tall by 2 1/2 feet long without the tail.

So pretty!

They have these delicious mouse cups in Paris that I was so excited to get for our picnic but I forgot the spoons.

Love this guy!

He loves me!

This is the view from La Sacred Coeur 

We had to stop by platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station

Bek is also famous in London!

This was the craziest restaurant but it had the most delicious burgers and cheese fries.

We went on a bus tour to Stonehenge.

The story behind this wonder is so fascinating.  I could not get over the shear size of the stones.

See how big that stone is!

They lived in cute little huts.

This is the Cathedral at Salsbury

The last stop on our tour was Bath.

It was so beautiful there in the English country side.

Buckingham Palace

My feet started swelling the day we were in Paris and didn't get better until we were home for a few days.

They are kind of stingy about ice in London.

We stopped at this pub after our tour of Highgate Cemetery to get some steak and kidney pie.

The cemetery tour was very nice but it felt weird to take pictures of graves so there are none.

The Tower of London

The Tower Bridge

This little fox liked to hang out on the roof behind our condo.  Apparently London has a fox problem.

This was our last breakfast at the airport in London.

I had to have porridge and bubble and squeak!

Back in Utah my feet are all back to normal.