We flew out of SLC and had a layover in NYC. Alan's (my step dad) brothers and sister in laws were on the same flight to JFK. They were headed to England, on a different connecting flight, for a cruise. When we landed at JFK we found out our flight was delayed. Within 45 minutes we then found out our flight was cancelled until the following night. This was about 10 pm. We stood in line for almost 3 hours and was almost to the front of the line when someone said that our line was shutting down and that we would need to go and stand in a different line. REALLY?!? I like how they rolled out complimentary snacks and water about 5 minutes before they gave us the bad news. Way to butter us up right before you sucker punch us! Since it was almost 1am we decided to leave the airport and try and find a hotel to stay in. We also left all our luggage because the line for that was probably at least an hour long wait. Nathan called a third party to book us a room while we stood in line for a cab that eventually took us to the hotel. When we got there to check in the guy at the front desk said that they were booked and that our reservation was for that afternoon/evening. REALLY?!? Nathan told the guy on the phone that we needed the hotel now. Our cab already left but luckily there was another hotel just across the street. We ran over there and we got the last room available! I felt kind of bad for the guy right behind us.
Once we woke up we had almost a whole day to kill. Originally we thought we were going to go to the MET but once we got off the train we decided to go to the American Museum of Natural History since we hadn't been there before.
Monday, August 5th:
We also got pizza by the slice and Junior's Cheesecake!
Because we were a day late we missed our Oxford/Downton Abbey tour. Nathan called and tried to explain why we weren't going to make it and if we could just reschedule for another day. It was a third party of course and they said they couldn't help us but to try and email some lady. We did but didn't hear back in time (we only had Wednesday available) so we booked new tickets.
Tuesday, August 6th:
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
We got on a double decker tour bus and rode around until it was time for our Buckingham palace tour. We didn't know it at the time but we were lucky to have a tour guide on our bus. Of course he pointed out main attractions but he also gave history/ background information and told many stories. He was pretty funny too! I just assumed that all the buses were like that but the next day, it was just a boring recording that just pointed things out and most of the time it was way too early or too late. Definitely not as fun or entertaining.
London Eye
Of course we had to get Buckingham palace ice cream.
Wednesday, Aug 7th:
Oxford University Tour
The Sheldonian Theatre-Oxford University
The man who designed this building was actually a professor of Astronomy. He wasn't an architect.
J.K. Rowling got inspiration for Harry Potter's scar from this mark in the stone.
Memorial for the three men who were burned at the stake for their religious beliefs.
Meeting place for famous authors J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
Downton Abbey Tour:
The Dog and Duck pub
Hospital
Crawley house
Haha! This is where they had the fair. This was so small. I have no idea how they filmed the fair here!
Cemetery
Highclere Castle
We couldn't take any pictures inside the castle.
Harrods:
Queen made of Legos
The King is blurry for some reason.
Thursday, Aug 8:
Windsor Castle
I wish we would have been able to stay longer but we were on a tour, so we only had a couple hours to look around (unless we wanted to be left behind). I think if we went back to England I wouldn't bundle the tours (if I could help it). I felt rushed all the time and I felt like we really only got a taste of what there was at most places. It would have been nice to take our time and see everything we wanted to see.
Stonehenge:
I would have been fine to skip this one. The weather was horrible (pouring down rain and wind blowing said rain sideways). There was no way to escape the rain! We were soaking wet!
Bath:
I would have liked to stay longer here. Again we were rushed and weren't even able to finish the audio tour because we ran our of time. We were told that some people opt to stay over night and just catch a train back into the city. We weren't prepared for that but something to think about if there is ever a next time.
Forms of currency found in the Roman baths from all over the world. Crazy how some of them ever ended up in Bath way back then.
Harry Potter tour
This was a fun tour and I wish the kids would have been with us because they would have loved it!
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Tower of London:
Saturday, Aug. 10th:
Tower of London
We got to see the brown jewels
Other Monarchs would give the King animals as gifts. They had lions, bears, zebras, elephants, camels, monkeys, alligators, snakes. Eventually the animals were taken away as many accidents kept happening.
Tower Bridge:
Churchill war rooms:
This tour was a lot more interesting than I originally thought it was going to be.
I totally forgot to take a picture of the telephone booth until the very last night we were there. It came out a bit blurry unfortunately.
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