Make it count

Saturday, July 5th

Abigail's Graduation Trip - Day #9

Final full day in Europe for me. Tomorrow I'll be heading back to the states - departing London at 2:25pm. Abigail and I have combined efforts on the blog over the past 9 days. She will take over exclusively tomorrow -- as the Ohlms family will be staying in London through next Wednesday, July 9th.

This trip has been a blast! Although I've been to both Paris and London on prior occasions - I was able to see a ton of new things. The most fun was having the chance to spend the time with the Ohlms family. Really, really special -- all great stuff!

The day started around 10am. We took an extended metro ride across the city to the Tower Hill stop - to visit the Tower of London. The Tower of London is an ancient fortress that has a unique history - including famous prisoners, executions, and royal strongholds. It's amazing to see the fortress sitting within the new modern buildings that make up the area. We circled the fort and then took a walk across the nearby London Bridge. We were able to see the drawbridge get lifted - stooping the traffic on both sides. We had a unique perspective while standing only a couple meters away.

We then decided to take the metro to the St. Paul Cathedral. This makes the 4th significant church we've seen to date on the trip (Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur in Paris, and Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral in London). We had a chance to walk inside and get a quick glimpse of the exquisite structure. We weren't able to get a full tour without the entrance fee - but could really see everything from our view. We next had lunch on the steps of the Cathedral. A bride rolled up in a Rolls-Royce, taking a few pictures while we completed our lunch. We next walked across the nearby Millennium Bridge and took a few more pics. Madeline grabbed some roasted peanuts and we took in more great views.

Next up on our list was Harrods, a famous department store in London - the biggest in Europe. Our mission here was not to do a lot of shopping (huge crowds), but to see their Egyptian-themed escalator and Princess Diana memorial. A little history here - the owner of Harrods' son, Dodi Fayed, was Diana's boyfriend and with her at the time of her death, a car crash blamed on the paparazzi. On the bottom level of the store is a statue honoring both of them, along with a book of condolences. We checked this out and then decided to partake in afternoon tea at the Harrod's tea room. This was an awesome time - all five of us drank tea while eating small sweet cakes and scones. Harrods is famous for their afternoon tea and it was really a unique experience.

We then ended up walking the Victoria and Albert museum. Originally we planned to see the wedding dress exhibit, but were disappointed as it had already sold out. We also thought Kate Middleton's dress would be there, and it wasn't, so we moved on - instead looking at a few other highlights of the museum including various Raphael paintings and a Renaissance exhibit. At this point we (Abigail) was really tired because we had basically walked the length of London. However, we still wanted to see Kensington Palance, the home of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Located at the corner of Hyde Park, we walked all the way from the V&A museum to the palace and took in the site.We passed the playground dedicated to Princess Diana as well as a gate with birthday cards hung on the gate in honor of her birthday (July 1st). We walked past many embassies lining the same street as Kensington Palace and hit the metro to go back to our flat.

Another thing we all really wanted to do was to eat fish and chips, a typical English fare, while watching tonight's World Cup game - Netherlands vs. Coasta Rica. We all relaxed after a busy day, enjoying our last night with Kyle.