Fantabulous!

I have to say this was my favorite trip to London.  The hotel was perfect.  Budget (for London), in a quiet neighborhood (Southwark - near London Bridge Station) and CLEAN!  Breakfast was terrific in the attached pub.  Across the street was a great restaurant called Nando's.  Terrific, filling chicken meals for about $50 for the four of us.  That includes the pints of African cider Dan and I had.  Nummy. The hotel is right on the river.  The first night we got in and threw our bags down so we could go find something to eat.  We saw Nando's but thought it looked expensive so kept going.  The first thing we saw on the river was Tower Bridge.  Beautiful all lit up at night.  We also saw the dome of St. Paul's.

As you know we were going to see The Lion King.  I'm telling you.  Where ever you are.... GO SEE IT!!!  I bawled during the opening it was so beautiful.  We had an aisle seat in row L, so they were great seats.  During the opening song an elephant (huge puppet with people inside) brushed right past Joseph.  All of our mouths were just hanging open.  Dan turned to me after the opening and said, "We could leave right now and I'd be satisfied"!  Seriously, it was that good. 

The next day we went to see if we could get tickets to see Stomp but it didn't run on Monday nights.    We went to see Mary Poppins instead.  It was Supercali... well, you know.  While Lion King was more about the special effects, Mary Poppins was more about the singing and dancing (they had a few special effect tricks up their sleeves too).  Because we didn't buy the tickets until that day we ended up in the first balcony, 2nd row.  Wouldn't have been bad if Bouffant Hair Lady in front of me would have stayed sitting back in her seat instead of leaning forward.  I didn't want to get in the way of those behind me and there were side balcony seats open.  At intermission I asked if we could move into one of them.  They let us so we had an unobstructed view for the 2nd half.  At the end Mary Poppins flies across the stage and then comes out over the audience.  I wish you could have seen the boys' faces (probably ours too) as she came straight for us.  She went up just as she got to our balcony.  We could have reached out and touched her foot.

Before we went to find the tickets on Monday we went to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards.  The boys didn't get to see it last time we went and Daniel doesn't remember when he went the first time.  I hope that's the last time we have to do that one! lol. The crowds were bad enough in January.  I can only imagine what it's like in the Summer. 

It was a fantastic trip.

I'll give you a sneak preview of the baby sweater:

Comments

[kendall]

Wow! You're color coordinated tourists! Great pictures! Sounds like a great vacation!

[Kathleen in Forchheim]

Wowie wow wow!! That sounds like a fantastic trip!! I'll have to ear-mark the Lion King, sounds like a great one for the whole family! Glad everything was safe and fun :)

[gail]

Wonderful trip--best of all, wonderful smiles in the photos. My husband, 14 year old daughter and I will visit Paris this summer. Have you been there with family? Any recommendations on where to stay/eat?

[Ali]

I'm so glad you enjoyed London Jean. I especially liked the picture of one of our Bobbies!

[Gracie]

I'm so glad that you had a wonderful time!! I have heard the Lion King is fabulous as well, I want to go when it comes through here next. The baby sweater is beautiful so far!

[La]

Looks like you all had a great time. Makes me wish I was still stationed in England. God, I loved it there! Welcome home!

[Wendi]

Hi, Haven't commented in a while. I took off from blogging for pretty much all of my pregnancy. You probably don't remember the name, but I'm the one who was in Basic at the same time and same place as you. I love your vacation pics. I'm going to bookmark that hotel, because hubby and I REALLY want to go to Europe, and we'll need reasonably priced accomodations. When the trip really looks like it might become a reality, I may write to you for info on other places to go as well.

[Christina]

It looks like it was a wonderful trip! Everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves quite a bit.

[wendy g]

I enjoy hearing about your travels. London is one of my favorite cities and I have visited several times. Thanks for the hotel recommendation too. Also enjoyed your account of the trip to Italy.

[bri]

It looks like you had a wonderful trip, Jean. I really hope that your happy times sustain you with what's to come. I've been thinking about you all and will continue to do so.

[Rose]

Wow!!! Now that sounds like fun. Thanks for sharing.

[Li_B]

Wonderful photos! I know what you mean about Nando's. We're lucky to have one in our town. I love to hear about your travel opportunities, Li

[LisaB]

Oh so cool! My husband and I were there for a quick two days in September before we hit Scotland. It's so cool to see pictures of London again!!

[Cate]

Sounds like you all had a blast. And it is wonderful seein such happy faces.

[Chris]

Wow! Another great trip. So glad to hear it. Where to next?

[PJ]

WHAT A TRIP...WHAT MEMORIES! Your SO lucky! I know your trying to take it all in before the move. It's been wonderful 'seeing' the boys grow up in the pictures. You have a GREAT looking family!

[Mary-Heather]

Great smiles! Sounds like a fun trip. And how nice to have found a terrific hotel and restaurant- travel activities are great, but it's nice to have a "home base!"

[Lisa]

Great travel stories and pics again! I saw the Lion King here in Boston a few years ago. Actually, the same day we had tix to see the show, my husband had Red Sox / Yankees tickets. It was a tough call, but we chose the play instead of the game. Despite my obsession with baseball, I am SOO glad we made that choice. The Lion King was absolutely amazing!

[wool winder]

Great family pictures...a good time together, I know.

[Lauren]

Sounds like so much fun! Love the London theater scene.

[Chery]

Your pictures are great, all the smiling faces.