Pondskipping | Day Six | Kensington Palace

We thoroughly enjoyed poking around Kensington. They had a great exhibit going on that incorporated lines from the diaries of Queen Victoria into the actual artifacts, carpets and walls. You can tell a lot about people by reading the words they have written about their on lives. It gave a great insight info the real life of the queen. In another exhibit, the displays were unique and actually very hip which made me laugh. "Hip" as in massive paper cutouts, birds everywhere, and Alice in Wonderland-ish display pieces. Just a little out of place if you ask me. I was hoping to see Princess Di's gowns, but they weren't on display this time. We were able to finish our tour up at the cafe, the museums in London have cafe's like none other, and met up with our dear friend Beecher!

|photo by anna|

Pondskipping | Day Five | Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap"

We attended a performance of the worlds longest running play! Something like number 25,137. I was so pleasantly surprised with the whole thing and the fact that you can't guess the ending! We spent the whole intermission running through possible suspects and couldn't have been more wrong! Being in the historic St. Martin's Theater made it even more fun!

|photo by anna|

Pondskipping | Day Four | Hampton Court Palace

Hampton Court is located outside of London, about a 30 minute train ride. I love big cities but getting the opportunity to go to the countryside is always worth it. It was cold and wet (of course!), but we were still able to explore the castle grounds, eat lunch at the fabulous Tiltyard Cafe and run through the worlds oldest hedge maze (two lefts and right and we never hit a dead end!). Next time, I would love to spend the day visiting the little village that surrounds the castle. So lovely!

|photo by anna|

Pondskipping | Day Three | HMS Belfast

Docked in London is the HMS Belfast. A huge ship with a great history. I was especially fascinated to find out that this ship had been in Normandy. My grandfather was in Normandy at D-Day plus 10 and my family was able to tour the beaches in June of 2012. Here's a photo of me sending a morse code message. It was an activity for the kids, but the crew humored us...

|photo by anna|

Pondskipping | Day Three | Parliament

The tour of parliament was so interesting. It's hard for me to wrap my American brain around such things, but I was really impressed by the level of honor and respect that the British people bestow on their monarch. At the same time, thankful to live in a country that does things differently.

Here we are outside Westminster Abbey, waiting to get into parliament.

|photo by anna|