Holiday Trip to London

As you may have read in our ‘Merry Christmas’ post, Jason’s dad, Alan, and stepmom, Dahlene were here with us for the holiday. We had a wonderful few days in Bristol before taking off for a two-day trip to London. This was a special treat for Jason and I since we had not yet seen anything of London. Back in September, the university reps. picked us up at the airport and shuttled us directly to Bristol. So, this was our first opportunity to visit the capital city, and we had a great time!

December 27 we were up bright and early, headed to the bus station for a two hour ride to London. After arriving and navigating our way to the hotel via bus and the underground, we checked in and headed off for some pub food. We found a great place to eat fish and chips and planned the rest of our tour.

The afternoon had us walking through Regent’s Park and the outskirts of the London Zoo. That evening, we watched a great performance of “Hairspray” at the Shaftsbury Theatre, followed by a stroll and light dinner.

It was early to rise again in the morning, for a fantastic all-day bus tour of London. We had a very comical and energetic tourguide to keep us entertained as we visited some fantastic sights, including: Westminster Abbey, a drive past Big Ben, the Houses of Parliment and Downing Street, then we saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace before a light lunch. After lunch, we managed to purchase some sweets on a walk through Covent Garden (you will remember it if you’re a fan of Pygmalion/My Fair Lady), followed by a walk to the River Thames and a quick cruise down the river to the Tower Bridge. We departed the cruise to tour the Tower of London, where we roamed the grounds and saw the Tower Ravens and Crown Jewels! By then it was dark, but we had a quick stop at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Thankfully the rain held out until the tour was over, and we only had to withstand it for awhile in our trip back to the hotel.

What a fantastic gift from Alan and Dahlene! It gave us plenty of ideas of what to see on our next trip into the city. I’ll be returning to London on January 17th for a one day conference with some classmates, and we’ll stay after to have dinner and watch a theatre performance of “Wicked” before heading back to Bristol.

Be sure to check out all the pictures on our ‘photos’ tab!