All of the Different "Locomotions"

8am and Day 2 of London Begins

Let me start by agreeing with my mother, this does not happen often I might add. She always told me that the best way to know if you are ready for children is to "baby sit" someone else's. Well, Shelbi Harris at 8am in the morning makes me want ALL boys. Oh teenage girls.....

After I FINALLY wrestled her out of bed, we were off to finish the bus tour and hop on the River Boat Cruise. It was such an awesome way to see even more of London and add to our different types of "locomotation". Never a dull moment with the Harris Girls! While on the boat, we were having so much fun that we decided to stay on for the long hall…..45 minutes later, we came to Greenwich. Along the way we saw many historical sights including a little resturaunt where Charles Dickens wrote many of his novels. As soon as we got there, it started to pour down rain! Having no idea where we were, we ran into the first building we could see! Luckily for us, it turned out to be the visitors center and information desk.

Inside was a cute little museum and Shelbi and I got to be Admirals for the afternoon! It was a great place to warm up….we were freezing!! Then we were off to the observatory.



Standing in both Hemispheres at Once!!

This is where GMT is set everyday at 1pm. The best part about this story is that we had about a half of a mile hike STRAIGHT up….we didn’t think Mimi was going to make it! But she did :)  When we got up there, the sight was beautiful. By this time, the sun had come out and we could see all the way back into London City. We explored some museums that told us how people kept time and the evolution of the watch. Another cool thing was that we got to see the red ball drop…what’s the significant of that you say?? Well, it only happens once a day, at 1pm and this is when time is set for that day! It was awesome and we took tons of pictures! After we had our time at the observatory, it was back down the hill. 

At the bottom of the hill was the Maritime Museum and the Queen's House. The house was built for Queen Anne and was absolutley breathtaking but poor Anne died before she was ever able to see it finished! After we got a few snacks at the museum, we were off to the England Royal Naval Academy. Not knowing what to expect, we were more than plesantly surprised by the beauty of the two buildings: the first was the Naval Chapel. Not only was it gorgeous but it just so happened to be the day of an examination and not just any examination, but that of an opera student! Words cannot describe the beauty in his voice, such a delightful treat!

Then it was across the street to building two: the Grand Hall. Just a bit of interest about this building, this is where all three of the Pirate of the Carribbean movies have been filmed but that is by far NOT the neatest thing about this building! The coolest thing was the ceilings....just take a look at our goofy pictures!



This is a picture of a mirror so that we could see the ceilings that were above. Basically, it is like we are hanging from the ceiling upside down! We had WAY too much fun taking these pictures.....oh the memories that will last a lifetime!



This was so beautiful and an experience of a lifetime! But we all know how us girls are....after a long day we needed some retail therapy so off to the market we went. Here, Shelbi and I found the cutests dresses that will come in much handy with that hot Texas heat that we will be forced back into in a few short days. But then we found it.....a SOCK MONKEY!!! I was sooo excited (for those of you who don't know me that well, I am obessed with sock monkeys) because Seilah asked me to bring her one back and I finally found one and was able to do so! But after that bit of shopping, we were ready to head back to London City so back on the boat we went.

And guess what??? Our boat ride was another wonderful adventure! On the way back we saw a once in a lifetime event.....the London Tower Bridge was opening!!!! A "pirate" ship needed through so all of the traffice was stopped and our wonderful captain turned our boat sideways so that we would have the best view. What an amazing sight!!

But was this the end of our day.....most certainly not! Starving, we headed to a cute little Italian Resturaunt across from Parliment! I think that Shelbi ate the place clean! After we were more than satisfied, we decided to run over to Trafalgar Square and take a look inside the National Art Gallery Museum. Here, we saw beautiful paintings including my favorite, Sunflowers!

By this time, we were all a little cranky and ready to hit the hay! As our fearless leader, I did a great job locating our hotel and for the first time, we were not lost! Exhausted after our first 12 hour day, we were all out like lights!

(I am hoping to add more pictures to this post but here it is for now!)