Well, I have a few minutes before we go to dinner and I thought I would share the last memorable moments of London. We had another packed day in London - There is SO much to do here and so little time. I am glad now that we had five days. We went straight to Westminster Abbey and had a guided audio tour for a few hours. Ford was given a scavenger hunt "The Children's Trail" with questions to answer...some pretty tough questions because I had to quit my audio to help him find the clues! Very interesting and fun to do! It was amazing to be in a place where people have worshipped God for the past 1000 years and where Kings and Queens have been crowned since the time of William the Conqueror and where many of them are buried - that was wild seeing all the tombs. Catherine seemed to breeze through on her own and for about 15 minutes she was 'lost' (in my mind) and I panicked - we all stopped and searched - and in the masses of people we could not find her! Finally she 'appeared' around the corner - saying 'what?' 'I was following the audio guide!' From then on we were in pairs - I just cannot deal with the MASSES of people and having my chickens get lost in the sea of them!
We finished up and Ford got a huge gold coin for finishing his 4 page paper - I wanted one too since I had to help out so much - the moms I would see helping their children would all say - 'this is hard!!'
We left there and had a 2:30 tour of Parliament with Philip which was very informative - they are only doing these tours for 2 months while everyone is on 'holiday' and we had a wonderful tour with about 15 other people. That was fascinating - we started the tour in the Robe Room where the queen gets dressed in her crown and royal robe and then proceeded to house of Lords and the house of Commons - the girls were itching to get out and shop - but faired well during the tour. Ford stuck right by the side of Philip - I think he really enjoyed it.
Finally around 4 - the boys and girls split up for 2 hours. The boys were going to the War Museum and the girls to Covent Gardens to shop the streets! The girls and I went straight to the Underground and - as we have done for the past 5 days - Taylor does not have to have a ticket and goes through the electronic gates with and adult - however, a VERY MEAN man looked at me and asked me where her ticket was and I explained that we have a week Oyster pass and she has been getting in on our pass (that is what the man who sold us the passes said - Ford and Taylor go free!) He basically yelled at me and said "SO - that is NOT THE RULE and do you know the fine for that is 50 pounds - and you better go get her a ticket" I am telling you he was R U D E...we huffed off and did not get her a ticket because I had not one pound on me and we decided we would W A L K!!! We managed - feet weary - but had fun shopping. We did get some pounds for our ride back - I was not going to take the chance of being fined - and entered into our familiar 'Covent Gardens Underground'. Before I bought a ticket - I asked a man guarding the post if she needed a ticket and he said NO. HMMMM...the other man just was having a VERY bad day! We got home and are packing - going to have our final meal and bed early - up at 6 am to get our flight at 10!!!
I praise God for the weather we have had - in 30 days - not one day of rain. London has been exceptionally COOL - they were calling for a heat wave and I went out yesterday with a sundress/bare shoulders and the high was about 78 degrees! Everyone (the Londoner's) were saying it was HOT and I was Cold!! Anyway, it has been beautiful every step of the way!
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