We had previously scheduled this trip to London for Jim's 33rd birthday, thanks to the free room we got from British Airways. It's a good thing because London is one expensive place to visit! We thought Manhattan was expensive but it seems downright cheap in comparison to London. We drove to the closest Tube station and caught the train into town to avoid the traffic and all the extra fees of having a car in the city. After dropping our bags at the hotel we headed first to the London Eye. It's a huge ferris wheel with enclosed pods that give you a great view of the city. It was a novel thing to do but next time we'll just enjoy the view from St. Paul's and save our money.
Then it was over to the Parliamentary buildings to see the clock tower that houses Big Ben and watch some debates in the House of Commons. After, we headed across the street to Westminister Abbey to see the thousands of memorials and burial sites that are packed into that place.
From there it was a walk to the National Gallery with a stop to peer through the gates at 10 Downing Street. We did a quick tour through the gallery to see many of the highlight paintings- Van Gogh, Monet, etc.. By then the girls were getting close to their limit and we were all hungry so it was off to get some dinner. The next day we began with a tour of St. Paul's cathedral that included a climb into the dome with it's amazing acoustics and to the top with a great view of the city. Some worker left a door open on the way down and we unknowingly followed some other tourists into some of the behind the scenes areas of the cathedral with some unique views of the nave.
From there we headed across the Millenium bridge that spans the Thames to the Globe Theatre. We enjoyed the museum and a tour of the theater.
It would have been grand to catch a play there but with little ones it was not possible.
After our picnic by the Thames we hiked further down the river as it began to drizzle towards the Tower Bridge. We checked out the museum in the bridge before crossing over it to the Tower of London.
The highlight of the Tower of London was seeing the crown jewels. Quite an amazing spectacle! Whitney was even in awe and we had to go through the line twice so she could see the main ones again. We then boarded a boat for a narrated cruise down the Thames. The last day we did a 4 hour bike tour of the city which was our favorite part of the trip as it traversed many of the royal parks and stopped by many of the major sites.
We then stopped by the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone and the amazing Egyptian and Greek artifacts they have. It was an exhausting but fun trip. Next time maybe we can catch some musicals on the West End or a Shakespeare play at the Globe.
This last week we checked out the areas nearby. Tuesday, I took the girls to an indoor pool/waterpark. Unfortunately we went at the wrong time so the wave/zero-entry pool and water slide were closed. However they had a learning pool that was 2.5 feet deep the entire length which was perfect for Whitney to swim in. Maren enjoyed playing on the steps and swimming with Mom. Wednesday, we went down to Cambridge. We spent the morning at the Funky Fun House. It's a big indoor play place with a 3 story playground with all sorts of fun elements to climb and play on. The girls loved climbing to the top and racing down the slides. They provide the parents with a free hot drink so I enjoyed sipping my hot chocolate while watching the girls play. Unfortunately both of these places didn't allow photography so I couldn't get any great pictures of the girls. Afterwards I took the girls to downtown Cambridge for a picnic lunch where we watched people punting on the river while eating and to meander down the streets past the various colleges that make up the University of Cambridge. 
