Day 4 - Mildenhall and Lavenham

September 7, 2009 - The night before we had gotten to our hotel on RAF Mildenhall (an air force base) after getting lost a couple of times (our GPS did not give directions on base). Mom knew the area around here because we were stationed there when I was 2. This turned out to be an awesome place to stay. It served as a hotel for travelers and temporary housing for military families who were looking for a house. So the room was more like a suite. We had a kitchen, living room, a washer and dryer, and 2 bedrooms! After our tiny hotel room in London, this was heaven! It was nice to stretch out, and save a little money by making food instead of eating out for every meal. We stayed here the majority of our trip, and left each day to go exploring.

This is the only shot I had of the inside of our hotel - this is me reading New Moon aloud to my sister and Mom while I waited for those 2 slow-pokes to finish getting ready!


But as you can see, the results were worth it - look how hot Mom looks with her cute new outfit and her new hair-do, (compliments of Ashley) next to her fancy Audi rental car!

Mildenhall

We took a trip down memory lane in Mildenhall and Mom showed us some of her favorite places. This is in the middle of town - it was cool to see it in person; Mom has a framed picture of this structure at home from when we lived there.



Here is the semi-detached home we lived in when I was a little girl. (It's the left half)

Mom and I with the great-grandchildren of the ducks we used to feed here.

Lavenham

We drove to a nearby town named Lavenham to have "Cream Tea", in other words, fancy afternoon snack, and to walk around the adorable village. I LOVED the houses here!

Here we are having finger sandwiches, scones, hot chocolate, and dessert in comfy, squashy chairs.

Isn't this beautiful? The black lines are not just painted on there - they are original exposed wood beams.

Lavenham is famous for its leaning houses - here are Ashley and I leaning with them.

Look at the angle of the house in the middle!

Mom and I stopping to write some postcards home.

Day 3 - Windsor Castle and Hampton Palace

September 6, 2009 - One of the coolest parts about visiting England was the amazing castles and cathedrals and old villages we got to visit. There is so much history there - and the architecture of all these structures were beautiful! That's not something you run into every day here in Colorado, so I really appreciated the experience.

Ashley, me, and Queen Victoria outside Windsor Castle. This is one of the residences of her majesty, the Queen. She lives in Buckinham Palace most of the week, then uses this castle as more of a weekend home. I believe there is one more castle she uses as a residence as well, but we didn't see it. How spoiled can you get? I would think if you had ONE castle you'd be doing pretty good for yourself, but THREE??



Here are Mom, Ashley, and I posing inside Windsor Castle.

Gorgeous!! I love the ivy climbing the walls!

The Queen's Guard

Ashley and I with one of the Royal Guard. It is illegal to touch them - you could seriously be arrested, so I gave him a little space! I felt bad for the poor guy though, because he just had to stand perfectly still while all these tourists kept coming up to take pictures next to him. He couldn't even turn his head or anything to see who was next to him. I guess that's just part of the job description!

Hampton Palace

We had a quick bite to eat for lunch, then headed for Hampton Palace - former home of the famous King Henry VIII. I think it's sad to be famous for beheading your wives and forming your own church so you'd be allowed to divorce the others, though, don't you? However, the palace was beautiful, and we enjoyed the crazy king's taste in architecture!

Ashley and I in front of Hampton Palace (we decided to get a little more creative in our poses - we took A LOT of pictures on this trip!)

Inside the palace - a courtyard with a fountain - beautiful!


Behind the castle is a giant hedge maze, that was pretty fun - we did not do too well at first, so when we found the center of the maze, we thought it would be good to commemorate with a picture!

Mom making friends with some swans and geese.

Day 2 - Sight-seeing in London

September 5, 2009 - This was our biggest walking day of the whole trip. Mom was afraid to drive our rental car yet. I can't blame her - it's hard enough to remember to stay on the left-hand side of the road, I don't think I would have chosen a big city packed with unknowing victims as my first driving location either! So we took "the tube" in to the city and walked all day. We guessed that we probably walked at least 10 miles in all that one day.

First, we had to figure out how to mail our first postcards home. Tristan loves this picture - he says I look very confused! That is just my "reading the mail pick-up times face" though! We were very excited once we figured out that these big red things were "post" boxes. Then, we headed for our first major site - Buckingham Palace. We found this beautiful park on the way, though, and had to stop to take a few pictures.

Ashley and I relaxing (for 15 seconds) before we continued on our walk.

Mom having a taste of chocolate (we had a quota to eat so much chocolate per day to fill!) What a pretty scene.

I noticed this as we walked through the park - apparently we were on the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk, and didn't even realize it.

Bristish Geese and pigeons

Buckingham Palace - we think the Queen was there, because the British flag on top was raised. That what Mom thought it meant - but she reminded us throughout the trip that she was a FREE tour guide, and you get what you pay for!

West Minster Abbey

It was beautiful inside and out. Mom followed the rules this once though and didn't take pictures inside, so you'll have to take my word for it! It was HUGE, filled with statues and monuments of royalty and people they liked!

Ashley and I posing by the Thames River, with the Tower Bridge in the background. We got to walk across it - it was really cool. Up close it looks like more of a castle than a bridge.

This ferris wheel is apparently famous - it's called "The London Eye". I only knew about it from an episode of Phineas and Ferb I saw with the kids where they went to London and rode it, Phineas and Ferb style!

Day 1 - London

September 4, 2009 - I'm not sure if this was day 1 or day 2, the time zone change makes it all kind of fuzzy! But hey, this is MY blog, so I can call it whatever I want right?! So it is officially Day 1! =) Anyway, once we got our luggage from the airport (around 4 a.m. our time, but 11 a.m. London time), we found ourselves a bus to take us to our hotel, and immediately took a 2 hour nap. That was nice - beds are much more comfy than airplane seats! Then we got all dolled up and headed into the city to see. . .

. . . Les Mis! It was wonderful! The music was gorgeous - it had me crying a few times. This is the outside of the theater. Mom bought a CD that we listened to the majority of the trip since none of us had thought to bring road trip tunes, and we were not big fans of any of the British radio stations. We had those songs stuck in our heads the entire trip! Unfortunately, the CD got left in our rental car - so someone else in England is probably enjoying the beautiful music right now for free!

Here we are inside the theater, right before we got yelled at for taking pictures inside the theater. This would definitely not be the last infraction we would make when it came to "no cameras please"! Mom pretended to not see a lot of those signs throughout our trip! We honestly did not realize we were being naughty this first time though.

Ashley and I posing by a cute red telephone booth outside the theater.

I am home!

September 20, 2009 - I got home from my trip to England this week! I had a lot of fun - it was a very cool experience to travel and see new things and learn a little history, and just have fun with my Mom and sister. I will have MANY pictures to share with you in the coming posts, so bear with me!!

September 3, 2009 - This is our plane - the flight was a little over 9 hours long. That is a long time!! And airplane seats are NOT the most comfortable things to sleep in! I only got an hour or two of restless sleep.

Here I am on the plane eating a surprisingly yummy pasta dish while watching an in-flight movie.

My Mom and Ashley enjoying their yummy pasta dishes.

Landed at last! Here we are in the Heathrow airport ready to collect our large collection of suitcases!