London on Friday!

 Friday we spent all day in London. We got there about 10am, and the first thing we did was a Fat Tire Bike Tour of the City. The first place we went was Kensington Palace. Now Jenny, you will think this is awesome. This is where Queen Victoria lived until she was 18, and also where Princess Diana lived. But anyway, Jenny, remember on the Young Victoria at the very beginning when she is walking along sliding a stick along the fence? Well doesn't this fence look familiar!

 And then this is what the palace looked like. It is sort of plain for a palace, but it was originally meant to be a family home. In that case, it's pretty dang nice.

 Surrounding the palace was Kensington Gardens.

 We rode through the gardens for a while, and came to this memorial for Prince Albert, Victoria's husband. Because Albert was German, he wasn't allowed to interfere with British politics, so he did a lot for the arts and sciences. Behind this memorial there are a lot of museums. Apparently Albert died in his forties. Well, Victoria lived 40 more years after that, and mourned every day of her life. She wore black, and laid his clothes out every day. The tour guide said that when they first met, Victoria wrote in her diary, "I have finally found my greek god with brains." And Albert wrote, "Victoria is a little plainer than I had hoped."

 There were so many pretty gardens everywhere that we passed by as we rode along. There will be several pictures of pretty gardens throughout this blog.

 The horse guard passed us. They escort the Queen when she goes out, so that was really neat. We didn't see the Queen, they were just doing a daily march I guess.

 Buckingham Palace! It is so pretty, especially with the flowers. This was actually built to be a family home as well, then a man bought it because his wife wanted a weekend home. Unbelievable! It has over 600 rooms and 98  bathrooms. It is currently open for the public, but the line was so long, and typically you would need to make an appointment. It was booked for this weekend, so I didn't get to go in..

 Kind of funny to see the spelling of Tire.

 The famous guards that you see on movies. You can try to make them laugh or whatever, but they don't acknowledge you. They have 4 hour shifts of just standing there.

 The street leading up to Buckingham Palace.

 Then the royal band marched by with some royal guards.

 A street sign in the park.

 The weather was so nice, and Hyde Park was full of people. I think a lot of times in the U.S. our parks are kind of shady, and not as nice. These parks are huge, and beautiful and everyone goes to hang out. You can see people everywhere, just enjoying the weather.

 And more beautiful flowers.

 The streets of London.

 Westminster Abbey. This is where all the royals get married, or crowned, and where they are buried along with many other famous Brits. There are over 3000 bodies buried there! This is where William and Kate recently were married.

 The House of the Senate.
















 There was a statue of Abraham Lincoln in the middle of Parliament Square, along with Winston Churchill, and Nelson Mandela.

 Big Ben

 Just another pretty view through the park.

 I think this is where the Horse Guards are stabled and also just behind this building is the dividing point between Royal London, and Common London.

 The British Navy Headquarters.

 Pretty garden.












Pretty Garden as you enter the Princess Diana memorial fountain.

 This is the fountain. It is a round pool that flows up and down some hills. It is pretty, but children are playing in the water even though that was not the intention of the fountain. Our guide said a lot of Brits are disappointed with how this memorial was done. Many people don't even know that it is a memorial.

 The London Eye. You can go up on this and see the whole city.

 The Thames River.

 Big Ben and the House of Parliament.

 This is being guarded because it is where the Prime Minister lives. This is where he would come outside and address the nation.










The address for his house.

 The Cabinet Office

 The guard for the Horse Guard Stables.

 Trafalgar Square

 There were a lot of neat things in Trafalgar square.

 The London Olympic countdown

 This awesome piece of art made of different plants.

 A huge ship in a bottle












 That was all of our sight seeing for the day. Then we went to eat at the Texas Embassy. When Texas was it's own nation it had an embassy in London. Today it is a Tex-Mex restaurant.

 Inside there is a wall that you can sign if you're from Texas. It has a lot of college pride all over it. Of course dominated by A&M.

 Someone from Abilene! There were a lot of ACU people on there.

 Texas Fight!

 And Hump it, don't hook 'em.

 God Bless Texas!

 On the top floor there are all these flags from different Texas universities.












 ACU is represented!

 The next several pictures are just cool things from around the restaurant. I absolutely loved this place. They really did a good job of getting Texas right. They were playing country music, and it was just so western. It didn't feel like London at all. Being there made me so so proud to be from Texas, and ready to be home. It was the coolest environment, and the Mexican food was really pretty good.

 I loved the look of everything.

 The view of downstairs.

 The signing wall.

 All the girls and our food!!! One of the best things about this place is that they gave us free refills and a free order of chips and salsa!! I had my drink refilled probably 6 times. Nowhere in Europe I have been does this, so I basically walk around thirsty all the time.







Lonestar, The national beer of Texas. Haha

 Come and take it flag

 The Dixie Chicks had been there too, and signed this picture saying, "thanks for making us feel at home."

Love this!

 Some Republic of Texas currency.

 I signed the wall too!

 After we finished eating, we went to Chicago on Broadway.

The show was really fun. I loved the music. My only complaint is that the girl who played Roxy really wasn't that great. I thought she was too soft, but other than that it was good! London is for sure my favorite of the big cities we have been to. I definitely want to come back one day.