Summer Travels- London, England Part 1

Can you believe it is already October 1!? Where has the time gone?   Ready for all of the details of my summer vacation? Be prepared, it will last over MANY, MANY blog posts.  Let's begin.
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London, England

My family and I arrived in London on July 31.  We left the US Wednesday night and took an overnight flight.  One of the best things about flying overnight?  Your body adjusts to the time zone easier- at least that's what I think!  Sleeping on the airplane, even if it is for only a few hours, always helps you adjust to time changes.  

We went straight to our hotel, Le Meridien Piccadilly.  Overall, it was a nice hotel.  The location was great for what we needed. We were able to walk to many places- the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Fortnum & Mason, Picadilly Circus, etc.  We were on the club level, which was good because we ate there a lot! Overall the hotel was good for the two nights that we were there.  

Anyway, once we checked into the hotel, and got our bearings, we walked down to the Westminster Abbey pier.  My mother had bought tickets for the CityCruises boats that make 2 (well 3) stops: Westminster Abbey/London Eye, Tower of London, and Greenwich.  We thought that taking the boats the first day would be best since we were all pretty tired and the less walking and thinking would be best.

The river boats were great!  It was a great way to see a lot of London since most of the city is built along the River Thames.  We went all the way to Greenwich and walked to the Observatory.  We did not stand over the actual Meridian line (the line was too long) but we did see it!

Our "lunch" for the day was ice cream.  We don't usually have a full 3 meals a day- most days consist of ice cream or pastries for dessert :) You only live once right? 

We had dinner at Caffé Concerto, a London restaurant serving Italian food.  I got Ravioli Spinach & Ricotto for my main course and then the Tiramisu for dessert.  Both were delicious and I would recommend going there if you want a good meal.  I know that is is more of a "chain restaurant" but it was good, located close to the hotel, and a descent price.  

Friday mornig we woke up early and went to the Tower of London.  Thankfully my mother had read to get to the Tower of London as soon as it opens and head straight to the Crown Jewels.  Since we were some of the first people there, there was absolutely no wait for the Crown Jewels, which gets very crowded, very quickly.  

The Crown Jewels were amazing! Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures, but the Jewels are huge.  I can't believe how big some of them were.  There were also swords and other incredible pieces of gold that have been part of the royal family for centuries.  We took the Beefeater tour which was interesting but basically told a bunch of stories while walking around the Tower. 

One of my favorite parts of the Tower of London were the poppies volunteers were putting in the "moat".  I'll post more about this later.  

I'll leave you all with that information- which is a lot!  My next post should be coming out tomrrow afternoon so be prepared for more London!