Sophie London 2024

Was weird not being at home for Easter.  I was awake early so I went to the 8:00 service at Westminster Abbey.  Here's the line to get in: Anglican service, looked like a catholic mass.  No music.  About 500 people there.  My seat was 10 feet from communion station.  Was fascinating how many people had no idea how to take communion Anglican or catholic style.  But then they also gave no instructions, just directed people on up! Flight from London to Atlanta was uneventful.  Sophie being smallest got the middle seat: This sure was a fun trip.  Also sets an interesting precedent for future grandkids trips.  Thanks for being such a good kid, Sophie! 🦄

Today was our last day in London. We decided that we wanted to relax today before our long flight tomorrow. We spent our morning playing cards in our hotel room. After that, we went for a long walk and saw some of the major highlights of London, including Big Ben, the Two Houses of Parliament (top picture), and Trafalgar Square (bottom picture).  On our way back to the hotel, we walked through the St. James Park. The birds were very friendly, esp the green parakeets.  People were feeding them and parakeets were flying down to sit on their hands and heads! Finally, we ended today with a fancy dinner at the hotel restaurant, called The Pem. The food was very interesting... We had planned to go to Westminster Abby tomorrow at 8 for a communion service before we leave for the airport.  But we learned tonight that London's time changes tonight, spring forward an hour, we lose an hour of sleep.  So we have to drop...

Today we went on the Magical Mischief Harry Potter tour. It was really cool! We got to see all of the props, sets, and costumes that were used in movies. Everything was exactly like it was in the movie! The picture is of us in the Dining Hall. There were lots of special effects, like in the Enchanted Forest. When you press a button, mist comes from under the trees and lightning flashes! You can even feel the wind! The Hogwarts Express was an actual train that did not run anymore. We got to go inside and see all of the compartments set up with scenes from the movies.  At one of the restaurants, we got Butterbeer. It was delicious! Papaw taking over now.  You could pull up mandrake plants and they screeched until you put them back down.  There was a whole section about how they made masks and makeup for special figures, like these goblins. That have a scaled version of the Hogwarts castle that was very detailed.  We hurried through the last portion of the tour so we co...

Yesterday was a long day, so we struggled a little getting going this morning for our train to Grantham.  We are learning about taxis and trains too. The Harlaxton tour was lead by Douglas, who did a great job.  Harlaxton has a fascinating history.  The short version is its not that old and the guy who had it built really wanted to impress people. Here's some pics from the tour: We walked into town after the tour.  This is Sophie at the end of the driveway, zoom in and you get a great view of the front of the manor. We had lunch in Harlaxton village, then took train back to London.  Decided to take tube from train station to hotel, here's pic of Sophie enjoying her first subway ride: Back to the hotel, some down time, then went to supper at Pizza Express, our second visit.  Sophie enjoyed her Sprite: Came back to hotel and played Fruit Salad in lounge of hotel.  I decided this game doesn't work well for 3 people.  But we really liked the location ...

Today was our Paris day trip! After taking a taxi, train, and bus, we finally arrived in Paris. First, we saw the Eiffel Tower. It was packed! The elevator was so filled with people that I couldn't see anything! Next we ate at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. It was very fancy. We had cauliflower soup, crispy rice, and veal (baby cow). After that, we went for a boat ride down the Seine River. There were lots of pretty bridges and buildings to see! Finally, we went for a walk around the Louvre Gardens. It was a little chilly, but the pretty flowers and plants were worth it! Now we are on the bus headed back to Paris train station.  Traffic is awful.  It's been a long but fun day!

After predictions of rain all day, turned out the weather was great today.  Sophie is taking it from here. We started out walking from the hotel to our first destination, Hamley's. Hamley's is one of the biggest toy stores in the world, 7 floors tall.  Hamley's had entire walls devoted to stuffed animals, a candy store on the very top floor, and even a floor dedicated to Legos!   The queen here is made of legos: After seeing all of the stories at Hamley's, we walked to the British Museum. We saw lots of interesting things like mummies, statues, and ceramics. Even though it was a lot of walking and it took a while to find a place to sit, we had a lot of fun. Finally, we went to a bookstore called Hatchard's. It was a bit of a maze and had a lot of steps, but it was really cool. It was in an old building with really pretty windows and spiral staircases.

Flight was on time to Heathrow at 10:30, was at hotel by noon via taxi.  Room not available yet, so stashed luggage and went out for lunch! Pub food.  We actually left this place - they were out of sandwiches!  Instead went to pub at our hotel, was good. Then started walking towards Buckingham Palace, only 13 minutes walk from hotel.  Got some nice pictures on the way: Finally got in room, unpacked.  Sophie and Diane playing skipbo while I work out plans for tomorrow.  Late add - Diane said I should have worn my neck brace on the plane to hold my head up while sleeping in the seat. Great idea, but too late now.

So we got to the airport too early.  A foreseeable outcome, I hate to be late. One hour to Atlanta, 4 hour layover, then 8 hour flight to London Heathrow.  Probably get to hotel about 1:00pm tomorrow.  Hope they let us check in early. Our goal is daily blog updates.  Sophie will be doing some of the updates too, at least that's the plan.