Sightseeing in London - Day 4

We had our next day all planned out, but plans changed when our train was cancelled. After that, it was a bit later than normal. We decided to head over to see St. Paul's Cathedral, or as Katie knows it, the Bird Lady's stairs from Mary Poppins. Once again, the cathedral was beautiful inside, but pictures aren't allowed, so we tried to get some pictures from the outside.

After that, we headed over to Kensington Palace. Our tour became a mystery called, "The Case of the Missing Grandma." My mom decided to start the tour by taking the elevator, while Jennifer, Katie, and I took the staircase right next to the elevator. We got to the top of the stairs, and my mom wasn't there. Jennifer went back down and looked while I waited upstairs by the elevator. We couldn't find her anywhere. We waited around for awhile and then decided to go through the palace to see if we could find her. Katie was very worried the whole time. When we finally got to the very end of the tour, we found her. Strangely enough, the elevator right next to our stair case stopped at a different floor than the stair case. We were all happy to reunite as we looked at the last part together.

When the tour ended, Jennifer took Katie through the maze behind the castle. Katie couldn't have been happier. She loves those mazes.

We walked back to the hotel through Katie's favorite park. Once again, we visited her favorite swans, and one came up out of the water to say hello.

After we got back to the hotel, we dropped my mom off, and the rest of us walked back to the museum to get Katie a souvenir. It was another jam-packed day.

When we got to St. Paul's Cathedral, there was a service going on, so we had to wait a bit for our tour. 

It was very pretty there! 

Sometimes it's hard to get a picture in front of a very tall building! 

It was another cold and windy day. It was a good thing I had my hat while I waited!

This is how I knew about St. Paul's Cathedral.

I wanted to sing "Feed the Birds," but I got shy around all the people. My version ended up quiet and in slow motion, but I can say I sang it!

On the way to Kensington Palace, I fell asleep on the Underground. Riding those trains put me to sleep almost every time I was on them.

When we got to Kensington Palace, I rested on this fancy seating area. 

I couldn't believe how wide this dress was! How would you get through the door? 

This dress was more like it! 

Back behind the palace, there was a maze made out of hedges. I wish I could see it in the summer! 

Every once in awhile, I'd pop up (with Aunt Jennifer's help) and wave hello to my mom and grandma. 

At the top of the maze, Aunt Jennifer and I saw this pretty view.

Before we left, my mom and I took a picture in front of the palace.

I loved this statue of Queen Victoria! 

I made my mom and grandma get a picture with it too! 

I went to visit the swans again as we walked through the park towards our hotel. 

This swan got out of the water to come see us. Aunt Jennifer told me that you have to be careful around swans, so I put her in between the swan and me. 

We still got a picture with it though. 

At the end of the night, I was so happy when Aunt Jennifer bought me this dinosaur from the museum!

Sightseeing in London - Day 3

The next morning, Jennifer, Katie, and I walked through Hyde Park to visit the Diana Memorial Fountain before heading to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards. After that, we walked through the Royal Mews, where we were able to see one of the Queen's horses and some of the royal carriages.

After our time with royalty, we made our way back to the hotel to pick up my mom. From there, we went to see Big Ben and visited Westminster Abbey. Once again, we were not able to take pictures inside, but I don't think I would have come close to capturing the details and beauty anyway.

Our next stop was the London Eye. It was completely worth the money to see the skyline of London at night. It was a nice ride. While we were in it, Katie spotted a carousel, so the carousel was our last spot before we headed back to the hotel.

I loved everything about Hyde Park. I would have stayed here all day if we could have! 

I went for a short jog while my mom and Aunt Jennifer walked. 

You never know when you'll look up and see something beautiful! 

This statue was by the Diana Memorial Fountain. 

Since it was early and cold, there weren't a lot of people at the fountain, so we could enjoy it as much as we wanted. 

One of my favorite parts of the park was walking down to the water and seeing the swans. 

They were so graceful! 

Everywhere we looked, it was pretty. 

We walked through the Wellington Arch on the way to Buckingham Palace. 

We had to watch the Changing of the Guard from the side, but we had a front row seat. 

As we waited, the Horse Guards rode by us. 

The Changing of the Guards is a big process. 

These guards were checking out the area by us. They walked back and forth a lot of times. I caught one of them smiling once! 

I was excited to see one of the Queen's horses in the Royal Mews. 

We saw a lot of royal carriages. 

My favorite was the carriage that was used for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. 

It had lots of gold details.

 Jennifer was excited about it too!

Do I look like a guard?

After visiting the Royal Mews, we went to see the front of Buckingham Palace. 

The queen was in residence, so we waited awhile for an invitation to tea.

Then we walked across the street to see the Queen Victoria Memorial. 

I decided to just sit for a few minutes since my feet were tired. 

Of course, I had to have at least one picture where I tried to make a funny face! 

We stopped by Piccadilly Circus before we went back to the hotel. We saw a street performer that I loved. He had a Michael Jackson puppet, and he made the puppet dance to his music. I gave him some money, and his puppet waved at me!

I love most things that involve singing and dancing!

After we picked up Grandma and had lunch, it was already getting dark. We stopped for picture with Big Ben. 

Then we waited in the cold darkness to get into Westminster Abbey. 

I liked the entrance because it was lit up with pink lights! 

It was huge! My favorite thing I saw was the coronation chair. 

When we left Westminster Abbey, I just had to get a picture with the Abraham Lincoln statue. I was happy to see him! 

Of course, Aunt Jennifer and I had to get our pictures taken as we made our way to the Eye of London. 

I couldn't wait to get to the very top! 

From inside our car, we could see London all lit up. 

I loved going on it!

Sightseeing in London - Day 2

The next day we took a train ride to Windsor and went to visit Windsor Castle. We loved going there. The grounds were beautiful, and we got to see a lot of the rooms inside the castle. Katie really liked seeing the huge doll house that belonged to Queen Mary. She also liked seeing some of Queen Elizabeth II's sparkly gowns.

After that, we went to visit the Museum of Natural History. Katie really liked the museum, especially the dinosaur exhibit.

When we got on the train to Windsor, I was pretty excited to find that I had a tray just like on an airplane! 

I couldn't wait to go into this castle! 

It looked grand!

 My mom and I tried to keep each other warm because it was windy the whole time we were there.

There are all sorts of little passageways inside the castle walls. 

It was too bad we couldn't hop the fences and go wherever we wanted to! 

I think I could live here. 

When we walked down to see the chapel, the guards marched right by us.

I love to hear the clicking of their march.

The chapel was very pretty, but we couldn't take pictures inside. 

After we left the castle, we walked through the town and I took a picture with this soldier.

When we got back to London, I wanted to go to the museum, so Aunt Jennifer and my mom took me. This was the outside of the museum. 

The main hall inside was very pretty. You might be able to tell that there weren't a lot of lights inside.

I really liked everything about the dinosaur exhibit!

There were two areas like this. I got a little scared when I was close to these dinosaurs, but I love to watch the videos!

After the dinosaurs, I found some other animals that I knew about like the snake, and... 

…the owl. It was a fun museum!