Back in February, my father-in-law surprised my husband and I with a trip to London. Pretty awesome father-in-law, eh?

We only had two days to spend in the city itself, so we decided to make the most of them. After a 10-hour flight from the Dallas/Fort Worth airport to London Heathrow, the ride on the Heathrow Express was a welcome change.

We took a taxi to our hotel near Buckingham Palace. The taxis in London are distinctive, but in a non-yellow way.

After checking in to our hotel, we discovered that the building was actually several different old buildings that had been sown together over time.

Since we couldn’t fall asleep on the plane, and because we were several hours behind on sleep, it didn’t take long at all for us to crash.

Here’s a tour of our room from the next morning.

We ate breakfast in the hotel lobby, and I discovered what bacon actually looks like.

That’s apple juice and hazelnut hot chocolate (with an apple for later), a cut of ham, a croissant that looked like an inverse Mayan pyramid, an oily hashbrown, extremely bland eggs that were good with a decent application of salt, and a pickled rice dish with a weird name I can’t remember.

We set out for a tour of downtown London by foot. We saw Buckingham Palace first, and a ridiculous amount of statues, including Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and King George VI.

Near these statues was a building that my father-in-law claimed was MI-6…

As we were wondering around, we came upon a beautiful house near the lake in front of Buckingham Palace.

We also visited the Churchill War Rooms, a massive underground bomb shelter from which the country was run during the bombings of London during World War II.

For lunch we went to the Texas Embassy on the recommendation of Susan Ellingburg. It was like a little piece of home!

There—and only there—did we find Britian’s own version of Dr. Pepper, which was bottled in a unique way. There’s a new one for my collection!

After lunch we went to visit Westminster Abby, which was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen. There were hundreds of people buried there—inside the Abby itself. Kings, Queens, authors, poets—the list was incredible.

Unfortunately the fun was abruptly halted when a guide dressed in elegant red robes directed us to the grave of Charles Darwin.

We strolled around the block to the river to see Big Ben and the London Eye.

We ate dinner at a restaurant inside the hotel and went in to sleep at something like seven o’clock. We were tired!

The next morning I continued to torture my husband with a video camera.

We took the London Underground (also known as the Tube) and learned to MIND THE GAP.


When we got out of the Tube at Tottenham Court Road, we were immediately greeted by the Carphone Warehouse, the European version of Best Buy.

Inside was a Geek Squad, where my husband works back in Texas! We couldn’t resist a visit.

On our way to the Tower of London, we ran in to a sort of bike that my mother-in-law instantly fell in love with.

We also ran across a store sign that caught my eye. I wondered if they were serious, then remembered that we weren’t in America…

At last, the Tower of London!

I know, it doesn’t look like a tower. More like a castle, eh? The acutal “tower” is in the very middle, and over the centuries walls, gates, and even houses have been built around William the Conqueror’s White Tower.

There’s an old legend that says that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, the crown will fall. Just to be safe, the tower guard (the most elite of which are called Beefeaters) care for eight ravens.

Afterward we visited the massive British Museum, where we saw the Rosetta Stone and relics from the Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Mayan Empires.

We wanted so badly to see more but the place was enormous. You could stay in that place for an entire week and not see everything!

For dinner we just couldn’t resist going back to the Texas Embassy. So I was there every single day I was in London! What can I say? I just can’t stay away from the Lone Star State.

After another grueling flight, I’m glad to be back home where I can get some rest. But even though we only had a couple of days there, it was so worth it!

Cheers!