Take Me to The Queen Please

The train departed Manchester early this morning and we were South bound for London.  More homework to be done and reading to do the Things were sleepy and grumpy.  I don't think any of us were really ready to leave Manchester.  Such a neat city.  So much to see and definitely a slower pace.  Much more our speed.  The trip had to be made nonetheless, the palace was waiting.

First stop in London, the Hyde Park Hilton.  I had left my cowboy boots in our room and they were waiting to be retrieved.  Thankfully they were in lost and found.  Whew!  My little keepsake from Nashville was not lost.  Then onto Paddington.  And another Hilton hotel.  No, this is not an endorsement.  Once arriving at the hotel we unloaded our luggage and set to making plans for the remainder of our day.  We had not been able to view Buckingham Palace up close and personal so we decided to take the Tube and do some sightseeing.  Yeah!

Awestruck.  The only word to describe our faces as we approaced the enormous iron gates and fountain.  Things went running to look at the guards.  We had arrived just in time to view the changing of the guards.  Not the parade or procession changing but a ceremony worth seeing.  For the rest of the day Thing 4 marched around as though he was the Queen's guard.  Quite entertaining.

For dinner we had plans to meet one of Husband Jared's colleagues in Shepherds Bush.  A quick taxi ride from the palace and we met at a little Italian restaurant near one of the largest shopping centres in Europe.  As our food arrived we all noticed that each one of us had ordered some dish containing pork.  Go figure.  We shared stories from the week, listened to Camille's latest adventures about her move to the UK, and we laughed over gelato and chocolate syrup.  A fantastic meal shared with a great friend. 

And that my friends is the conclusion of our holiday.  Monday is travel day.  Back to reality.