It is quarter to one and I am still wide awake. We've had an amazing day albeit a long one.
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| One of our first Eurotrip18 Photos...a week ago, but if feels much longer. |
After breakfast, we boarded the coach for a guided tour of London. Lucy, our tour guide, seemed familiar. I bet she worked with Saugus before, but I didn't check. She was fun and spunky, but we hit really bad traffic and the driver wasn't really up to the task. She pointed out that which she could, but I think we might have missed some things (totally not her fault, half the city was shut down for the Commonwealth of Nations meeting). Adding to the frustration was the weather. We eventually hit 84 degrees today. I know you are probably upset with me saying it was frustrating, but it made the long day even more exhausting.
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| The Royal Mounted Patrol horses have a balcony? |
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| A non-ostentatious memorial to Prince Albert |
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| Parliament building under construction. |
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| A different angle of the Parliament from the Bus |
After our bus tour, we hit up McDonalds for a quick lunch. I really don't like visiting the Golden Arches while abroad, but we had a lot to do in the 4 hours of free time that we had in front of us. Well fed....well, fed...we took off to take on the city. We walked over 8 miles today (yesterday, too). Our first destination was the Parliament building. Inside the clock tower of the Parliament building is Big Ben. It's the nickname of the bell resting inside. We took some photos of the tower (under construction) and crossed the Thames for the London Eye.
The Eye was built for the millennium and was supposed to be deconstructed after 5 years, but the people loved it so much (and it makes lots of money), so we were able to see how long the queue would be...it turned out to only be about 20 minutes. We would have waited a bit longer, but we were randomly selected to go to the fast track lane. It made the rest of the day possible. A few of us aren't really fans of heights and it took a little courage and convincing for us to hop on, but we did.
When we were at the peak of the giant Ferris Wheel, we could clearly see Buckingham Palace. The meetings had the roadway all blocked off and we didn't see it during our tour, but we had plans to walk there. It was a lengthy walk along the Princess of Wales Garden, but we enjoyed the sounds of nature and the causal attitude of the Londoners enjoying the nice day. We arrived at the Palace to see that the Queen was in residence, but we didn't see her. More pictures and then we continued.
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| Taking pictures outside of Buckingham Palace |
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| Trying to call home |
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| Buckingham Palace |
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| Flowers outside of Buckingham Palace |
We were meeting the other groups at Picadilly Circus before dinner at Wagamamas. It is an international chain which apparently had been at Market St. for a brief period of time. Most of the kids really enjoyed their meal, but I think everyone enjoyed the ice cream for dessert (except Laura who have hers to a new friend from Maine). Dinner complete, we spent a little time walking around the neighborhood in preparation for the Tube ride to the theater district.
Arriving in the West End, we were able to access the theater through a special group entrance (fire exit, lol) and take our seats. The performers nailed it and the kids were thoroughly entertained. I think a couple of the girls may have cried. We boarded the bus at 1015 and headed back to the hotel. The kids on the bus (all three schools) have become accustom to singing during our rides. Joseph requested that the kids only select songs that had a connection to the trip or was meaningful in some manner. The obliged and sang-a-long to a number of great tunes. As we arrived at the hotel, many of the kids were in tears.
Tomorrow morning at 4am, the group from Maine will leave with Joseph to go to France. Our group and the group from Connecticut will depart at 645am and head towards Heathrow. We have plenty of time to make our gate in preparation for the long trip home.
This trip has been really special for me. These 6 girls have been amazing. They have never been late to a meeting time (I hope not to jinx us). They have never been caught talking over a tour guide or Joseph. They have said "Thank You" and "Please" even then it wasn't necessary. They have really made the trip extra special. It is the smallest group I've ever traveled with and it was totally worth it. I will probably write a little bit more on one of the flights tomorrow or when I get home, but I wanted to say what a pleasure the past week has been for me. They've been pleading with me to plan a trip for next year, but I really think I need at least a year off...but we will see.
(PS. I am having similar photo troubles for the blog. I think most of them posted on Facebook though)
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