Day 6 Adios Espana, Hello London

Got up about 8:30, had breakfast and loaded the luggage in the car. Had to take the protective cover off to make it all fit. The drive to the airport was uneventful and made it there in no time. The earlier flight is still checking in so we staked our spots at the end of the line to get low numbers. We still got the higher numbers (90+) because there were groups in front of us and we all ended up sitting away from each other except mom and I.

Landed at Stansted London on time and hung around the baggage area to wait for Rich who was arriving 20 minutes later. Received a text message from him when his plane landed but didn't answer since we're still inside the arrival/baggage claim area. The kids met him and we all went down to the train platform, got our tickets and boarded the train which was already leaving.

Arrived at the Victoria Train Station which is the main hub for the trains, subways, buses and taxis. Broke out my map and started walking to our hotel which was only about 5 blocks away. It was actually like a hostel and can accomodate backpackers as well as families in a room and has shared and private bathrooms. Our room had a single bed, a double bed and a bunk bed. Theresa and Leanne took the bunk beds, Rich had the single bed, mom and I had the double and Romar had the floor. Not much room to move around with the suitcases on the floor but we're all in one room with our own bathroom. The kids mapped out their places of interest and we headed out to the subway station after having a group shot.

Our first stop was the Parliament buildings so we got off at Westminster. Exiting the subway, we came out right at the foot of Big Ben and the kids got really excited and started shooting away.

Here's the view of the Parliament Buildings, Big Ben, London Aquarium and the London Eye from the Westminster Bridge.











The tourists.













Walked across the Westminster Bridge for a better view and took more pictures: Parliament buildings and Big Ben, Theresa with one red eye.










Kids' group shot (Romar with the monkey face) and family shot (who has the most teeth?).










Walked back across the Westminster Bridge to the front of the Parliament building and then to the Westminster Abbey. It wasn't well-lit as the other buildings so the pictures didn't come out as good. Just did a bit of touch-up to make the details come out. The picture on the left is the side entrance and other is the front. Not sure about the third picture.





Got on the subway again and headed to the Tower Bridge. We barely made it too because right after taking a couple of pictures, the guard asked us to leave. Walked by the Tower of London Palace, took some shots and then headed back to the hotel.