Sightseeing in London, Day 2

On Saturday, we woke up a little earlier so we could get going for the day & it was beautiful weather. Sunny & a little warmer so we decided to walk through Hyde Park towards Kensington Gardens. It took about 20 minutes but it was so peaceful, we kind of forgot we were in the middle of a big city. Kind of reminded me of Central Park in New York. Eventually we made it to Kensington Gardens. When we crossed over a bridge, we saw some beautiful swans swimming with ducks. We took pictures & videos for the girls because they would have loved them:

 

This was right in front of the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain:

 

 

It was a large round fountain that flowed like a river with small currents. I am sure it had some type of symbolic meaning, but it wasn't what we expected at all:

 

 

We continued our walk through Kensington Gardens, around the pond & finally ended at Kensington Palace:

 

 

When we told Sadie that we went to Buckingham Palace to see where the queen lived, she wanted to know where the princess lived! So we told her that Princess Kate & Prince William live here. We toured the outside gardens & got to see a few things inside, but we didn't take a full tour of the property. We did find royal chairs where Bryan & I could pretend that we were the king & queen:

 

 

We entered the palace from the back where the gardens were, so we walked around to the front to see where the main entrance is:

 

 

From here, we jumped on the Tube, which is London's underground subway system & headed to Westminster Abbey:

 

 

We didn't have much time to research before we went, but the few people we talked to recommended we spend time here. We stopped by on Friday night but they had already closed. That's why it looks darker in the picture above. Westminster is still an active church but it's main source of income is from tourist. It is usually open for tours but was going to be closed on Saturday for service. We were so disappointed to not be able to go inside until we realized that anyone is welcome to attend their services, so we made it in time to participate in their prayer walk. This is the front of the church with it's main doors:

 

 

I remember seeing this entrance on tv when Kate & William got married!

 

We couldn't take any pictures inside but we were blown away with the detail & architecture of the building. And the history behind it was mind blowing. We got to see the coronation chair which is used in all of their royal coronations. And I have no idea how many people were buried here inside the church! Tons of kings & queens, but also Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton & so many more. We only spent about an hour walking around inside in silence while they prepared for their afternoon service, but we could have spent the entire day marveling at the detail & the history. Once we walked outside around the gardens, we could take pictures again:

 

 

Westminster Abbey is on the corner right by Parliament & Big Ben so as I was walking out, I got a really good picture of everything since it was finally a beautiful clear day:

 

 

We walked over the Thames from Westminster towards the London Eye but we stopped for lunch at:

 

 

We were hoping to find a pub for fish & chips but we stumbled across Byron's & we had been seeing their restaurants everywhere. We love hamburgers so thought we better try a "proper" one! It was pretty good but the onion rings were the best! By the time we left lunch & walked to the London Eye, it was cloudy again:

 

 

I know this is one of those tourist traps, but honestly, how could you go to London & not right The Eye?! I really did have fantastic views of the city & it was fun riding it after we had done most of our touring so we could recognize where everything was:

 

 

As you can see, while we were up there it started raining. Only on one side though - the other side was clear:

 

 

By the time we got off, it was dark outside:

 

 

So we walked to the bus stop to hitch a ride back to our hotel:

 

 

Of all of the trips we have taken, I really can't remember when we have taken a bus tour & ridden a double decker like this. We really liked sitting on the top & seeing everything, except it was pretty chilly up there & our last night it started pouring:

 

 

Thank goodness the bus gave us ponchos! We were dry & warm on the bus, but we still had to walk back to our hotel. Our final night there, I was exhausted. We had 2 long days of sightseeing & 2 really late nights out with friends, so this night we had a bite to eat at our hotel & turned in early.