We made it safely and had a great first day. We're dog tired but I figured I better get some pictures up. I will add to them on this same link as we continue our week.

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Nice... Hyde Park is great!  Best to go there on a Sunday morning and listen to the people on the corner...

Looks like everyone is having a great time! Enjoy!

Glad to hear you made it safe and sound.

Two questions:

Did you get crapped on in Hyde Park? It's good luck if you do.

Christy, did you dump that stud of a husband for some old guy? He's like grey and stuff.

Be SURE to look to the RIGHT before you step off the curb!! They drive funny over there and will definitely run over you Yanks!

Have fun.... :-*

Great pics Christy. Although I had to turn my head sideways on a few of them. Some day we hope to cross the Atlantic as well.

Thanks for sharing.

Brew wrote on Aug 5^th, 2009 at 2:47pm:

Did you get crapped on in Hyde Park? It's good luck if you do.

I think that's Paddington Station dear - where YOU got crapped on.

I'm envious, and yet joyous for you two.  Enjoy yourselves!!

Mosaicwench wrote on Aug 5^th, 2009 at 4:28pm:

Brew wrote on Aug 5th, 2009 at 2:47pm: Did you get crapped on in Hyde Park? It's good luck if you do. I think that's Paddington Station dear - where YOU got crapped on. I'm envious, and yet joyous for you two.  Enjoy yourselves!!

Oh, yeah.

Nice pics!  Enjoy your stay in London.

Beth

Thanks for sharing, you lucky ducks.....Have fun!

Diane

Wow... you guys have visited many of my favourite places in London already and now I miss that city badly! :)

Have a wonderful time and if you do have a moment, visit Holland Park, its a beautiful park near Holland Park tube station. :)
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Can't wait to see the rest of the pics later on... ;)

Sanna

Brew wrote on Aug 5^th, 2009 at 2:47pm:

Glad to hear you made it safe and sound. Two questions: Did you get crapped on in Hyde Park? It's good luck if you do. Christy, did you dump that stud of a husband for some old guy? He's like grey and stuff.

Have managed to avoid the birds so far. Still have Joe, have grown fond of the gray!

Thanks for sharing the pics. :)

Glad you all are having a good time.

Thanks for the pictures and I'd be more than happy to see more if you have a chance..... :)

Today we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, then had lunch with a co-worker from our subsidiary office here. Afterwards we toured Tower of London which we could have stayed at all day!  Tonight we walked down Oxford Street to get some dinner, got caught in a torrential London downpour!

Believe tomorrow we will go to Westminster Abbey and Buckingham palace.

New pictures added to the link in the original post.

Thanks for the updates Christy - looks like a great time is being had by all.

I'd give my eye teeth to see St. Pauls Cathedral and spend like a week in there. You are so lucky.  

Sadly Linda, we did not get to take pictures, not allowed. :(

Christy, I KNOW that you try hard, but can't you control that pervert that you brought with you?  Picture 34 shows proof, as he tries to grab your bewbie, to the point that in picture 35 you had to grab his hand to keep him decent.

Joe, TRY to behave!  After all, do you want those Limeys to think all us Yanks are perverts?  (Oh wait ... we are ...)  

Looks like, despite Joe's disgusting, lecherous ways, all are having fun!

Thanks for the pictures, and the continuing updates!

Chuck

Sounds like a great getaway!   So much in London to see.  Have fun and enjoy the time.

thank you so much for sharing the pics.

Charlotte

It sounds terrific and I'm beside myself with envy. I'd love to see it someday.

Have a great time. kids.

Charlie

Hope you have a great time Joe & Christy, it's definitely a great city to visit. Great pics BTW.


Lefty...!

Looks like you all are having a fabulous time... I soooo love these pics!!!! Thanks heaps for sharing them with us.

with warm regards,
Tony

Went to Buckinham palace yesterday. It was fun, took lots of pictures of the parade of guards going in and out. We met up with Patty's former coworkers for drinks in Camden. Added new pictures to the link.

We had a lovely surprise - Andrewjb PM'd me the other day to invite us to meet. We met today for lunch at a wonderful pub. Pictures below!  Andrew and his lovely Alena met us -

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(_{edited to correct spelling}

And 2 more....

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Based on that last picture, I'd say it was Richard Nixon you met up with. ;D

Seriously, nice to put a face with a name, Andrew.

I'm really pleased we could all find time brief as it was,
there were a number of occasions i had pins and needles
from the ease of understanding, simply from a knowing smile or glance.
As i say, really pleased to have broken the ice.
:), Andrew.

PS. Its the right spelling for Alena.

 

We had a fabulous day today. First of all it was Patty's birthday, so what fun to spend it in London!  Secondly, we had arranged to go on an all day tour by bus and boat.

We started the day by motor coach to Leed's castle. Our tour included a private guided tour before the castle was open to the public. Then we drove on to Dover. We had lunch at an Inn at the top of the hill and got a few pictures with the cliffs in the background. Very windy as you'll see in the pictures.  Then we drove on through dover, enjoying the view from the coach of the white cliffs, and the dover castle. That castle has alot of history from WWII.

From there we went to Canterbury Cathedral - OMG what a gorgeous church! Alot of work is being done to restore, actually clean the limestone. It's a shame King Henry VIII ruined so much of it.

We went on to Greenwich - you know, where time begins. We toured around where the Queens House there is, and what used to be the hospital for the sailors. It's now a maritime academy and a music academy. The chapel there was lovely. We boarded a riverboat there where we had reserve tables and were served tea and scone. The tour took us back to Westminster area.

Long day but very enjoyable. I'm uploading the pictures now to my same ofoto link for those that wish to view. I'll clean it all up when we get home. I mainly want to upload in case something goes haywire with the cameras, don't want to lose the pictures.

Aw Christy, I personally thank you for taking the time to post these pics and let us know where you've been and what you've seen.

Anrew, it is so nice to finally put a piture to the name.  I don't drink beer, but I would have loved to be in the pub and quaffed one with y'all.

Joe and Christy...have a safe trip home.  

Thanks Linda.

We went back to Greenwich today because yesterday's time there was very short and we really wanted to go to the Royal Observatory. We stood on the Prime Meridian, 0 degrees longitude. That was quite cool. The museum there was pretty cool too with all the historic time pieces.

From there we took the river tour back down to Westminster. We took the obligatory pictures of Big Ben. Did you know that the clock is not Big Ben? The Clock tower is St. Stephens tower. The bell inside is Big Ben. Actually  - only the bell that rings on the hour is Big Ben.  Trivia for you. We spent a couple hours in Westminster Abbey and honestly you could stay there all day and not absorb it all.

A former co-worker of Patty's has a researchers badge into Parliament so she took us for a tour. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the Abbey or in Parliament. But we did go out on the terrace at Parliament (which was a big deal because we weren't allowed) and got pictures with the London  Eye in the background.

When I get home I'll clean up the pictures and add narratives so you know what you're looking at.

We leave in the morning to go home.

What a fabulous trip.  I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the highlights and looking at the pictures.  Have a safe journey home Sprecco family!

hugs,
:)mel

Linda_Howell wrote on Aug 10^th, 2009 at 9:27pm:

Anrew, it is so nice to finally put a piture to the name.  I don't drink beer, but I would have loved to be in the pub and quaffed one with y'all.

That would have been just great Linda
a fine addition you would have made.
Andrew.

We're home! And I just got back from driving up north to pick up Patty (she flew into LAX yesterday - we flew into San Diego). So now, besides piles of Laundry, life will be back to normal!

Welcome home!  Glad you were able to take such a fabulous trip.  It was nice to see Andrew and Alena as well.

Jerry

Welcome Home and thanks for sharing your experience.

Diane