London, baby! November 21-22

Post 3 of 4 about our London trip.

Tuesday, November 21

Tour of Wembely Stadium.

At a "press conference."

Messi's jersey...we also saw David Beckham's too.

The white things on the field are used to simulate sunlight, to help the grass grow!

In the stadium.

This arc lights up a night and will display the winning team's colors. It's also shoots fireworks.

We also visited Selfridge’s department store. Near the store. The part of town had a lot of Christmas decorations hung above the streets.

Then we rode the London Eye. It moves one mile per hour...total rotation was about 30 minutes. It was originally built to celebrate the Millennium and caused a controversy in London. Some thought it looked too "new age" and didn't go with all the old buildings and such. So the plan was to run it for five years. Well, it became a tourist attraction and brought in lots of money...so...it still stands 15 years later!

View from the top!

Each capsule can hold about 30 people. There were only about 10 in ours.

Bird's eye view of Parliament and Big Ben.

Nighttime (or 4:30 p.m. 😂).

Wednesday, November 22

A visit to London isn't complete without a little Harry Potter. We rode the tube to the King’s Cross train station to visit Platform 9¾.

We waited in line to get our picture taken, then spent about an hour in the Harry Potter store...well, not all of us went in the store! We ended up buying three Deathly Hallows symbol keychains, a Platform 9 ¾ notepad, sign that says “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” (the phrase to activate the Marauduer's Map).

Kings Cross train station.

We tried to go to Postal Museum but the fire alarm went off while we were there. We also found out that tickets had to be bought in advance.

We walked to a neighborhood pub for lunch.

The doorknobs are in the middle of the door.

Then on to St. Paul’s Cathedral...a huge church! It was ornate (more so than Westminister Abbey). St. Paul's was where Princess Diana and Charles got married.

We climbed 257 steps to the Whispering Gallery and saw where a bomb had hit the cathedral in 1940. We walked back over to Thames on the “wibbly-wobbly bridge” – Millennium Bridge. This bridge swayed so much when built, they had to close it for two years to make it more sturdy. It was destroyed in the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 1 movie.

Then walked to an outdoor market for dinner.

Brough's Market.

London, Baby! November 19-20

Post 2 of 4 about our London trip.

Sunday, November 19

This was the only sunny day we had.

Remember the crisis with Adam's phone? Bought rice at the little market by our hotel. It worked!

We took a boat ride on the Thames where we heard interesting facts about the buildings and structures along the Thames.

Me and Zach on the boat.

Saw the London Bridge, which is nothing neat...if you look close the bridge says "London Bridge."

We toured the Tower of London. We saw the Crown Jewels, torture tower, and bloody tower. The White Castle was used as a prison.

View of the Tower of London from the boat.

Tower bridge.

All of us in front of the Tower bridge.

Tower of London.

Inside the Tower of London.

Narrow hallways.

Another view of the Tower bridge.

Cool stained glass window in the White Castle.

The White Castle.

For dinner, we cooked pasta in the room, enjoyed our nightcaps and planned the next day.


Monday, November 20

We rode a double-decker bus to Buckingham Palace to see changing of the guards.

On the top of the double-decker. Wasn't too cold...

Buckingham Palace.

There were tons of people there. The ceremony was cancelled but we don’t know why.

We walked through St. James Park - lots of people, birds and pigeons.

You can see the London Eye in the distance.

We had to pay 30 pence to use the bathroom.

We walked to Westminster Abbey and took the tour inside. I didn't realize how many famous people were buried inside the cathedral. We looked around the gift shop. Zach was in search of British themed keychain for his backpack and I looked for a Christmas tree ornament.

These remainder came in handy...it's easy to forget which way to look!

We walked to 10 Downing Street, hoping to catch a glimpse of famous London politicans. Several important cars went in and out, but no one we knew. A newscrew was there too.

Pam and Ted went back to the hotel. The rest of us walked to small pub down a back alley for refreshments.

See that sign in the building on the left? That's where we were.

After, we walked across the Thames and through a Holiday Festival. Here's the London Eye at night.

We ended up at Cubana for dinner.

Scott is cured of wanting to live in a tiny home after three days in the small hotel room. We did have a kitchenette, which was nice. We ate breakfast in the hotel and was able to have snacks and sandwiches.

We like to talk in British accents but for some reason I bet people would know we are really from the United States.

London, Baby! November 17-18

Post 1 of 4 about our London trip

Our first family overseas trip! Thanksgiving week - we met Lisa and Jason, and Pam and Ted, who arrived in London the day before us. The boys had the week off from school. We left on the Friday before Thanksgiving (the boys missed one day of school) and arrived back in Wichita the Friday after Thanksgiving.

November 17-November 18

Friday, November 17

Left the house at 4:15 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight to Chicago.

Waiting at the Wichita airport. It's early.

Chicago flight.

We arrived in Chicago at 7:45 am. Must. Have. Coffee.

Zach sees the sign for water fountain and asks “is that a sign to show where to go to throw up?” 😂

Our flight to Heathrow leaves at 9:25 a.m. First things first...plug in electronics!

The plane seats three on each side and four in the middle. Zach sits by the window, Adam has the middle, I have the aisle. Scott is across the aisle the aisle from us.

Lots of enterainment with movies, TV shows, and games the screen in front of each seat. There’s even a way to "seat chat" and an interactive map with flight information. At one point the outside temperature was -79 degrees! The flight was about eight hours.

The boys watch movies (Harry Potter, The Martian, Pacific Rim, The Dark Knight Rises, etc). I watch the movies Dodgeball  and 127 Hours, 1 episode of Veep and five episodes of The Office. Scott plays golf, poker and watched movies.

We are served breakfast and a snack. Free drinks, including booze!

And then there's a crisis! I put my cup of water on Adam’s tray table while I go to the bathroom. It spills. In his lap. On his phone. And then his phone won’t work. Uh oh.

We arrive in London at 10:40 p.m. London time (4:40 p.m. Wichita time). At the airport, we call Pam and Ted to tell them we arrived. We called the wrong “Ted Hayes” twice. I had forgotten about another Ted Hayes I know, and we just called the first "Ted Hayes" from my contacts.

It takes about an hour on the tube (the Underground). Near the airport, no one was on the tube.

It gets a little more crowded closer to the city. We got off on the Waterloo stop and it’s super crowded. It’s 11:30 p.m. on Friday night and the crowds are in full swing.

We walk to our hotel. It’s after midnight when we get there. Here's where we stayed:

Saturday, November 18

We sleep until 12:30 p.m.

We eat breakfast/lunch, then over the Thames River by the Parliament and Big Ben (which was under construction), the London Eye, Westminster Abbey and stop at a little Pub for drinks, snacks and bathrooms.

Bridge over the Thames River...Parliament in the the background

Scott and Lisa.

Outside Westminster Abbey. We didn't go in, but do later in the trip.

Pub for snacks and drinks. Everything is decorated for Christmas, which is fun!

It got dark about 4:30 p.m., which made it feel much later than it really is! We walk to Harrods and eat dinner there. There’s a lot of people there.

We eat at Harrods, then back to the hotel for a nightcap in Lisa and Jason’s room.

Adam High School Soccer

Adam on the Maize South High School soccer team. He played JV and Varsity games.

He is circled in blue...

Starting lineup (he's #28, on the end).

Soccer banquet - with his Varsity letter!