London Day 1

So as I said, we had a great meal with the Dore's. Aunt Jane and Uncle John; Gemma, Samantha with husband Mo, & baby Layla; and James and girlfriend Daniella; plus the five of us! We had a traditional English Sunday roast. It was delicious and the company was fabulous.

Following lunch, Gemma took the three girls shopping at Westfield Mall. While the rest of us went for coffee and dessert. After about an hour we came back together said our goodbye's, and John, Samantha, and Jane took us to our hotel: Kensington Close Hotel.
By this time with no sleep for more than 24 hours, we were about to hit a wall. We checked into the hotel and took an hour nap. We were somewhat revived...enough to make it to bedtime!
We met good family friend Charlie Rees from Bournemouth, and he took us on a walking tour toward central London. We went by Hyde Park onto Constitution Hill and stopped in front of Buckingham Palace.

The girls were excited to see the palace guards and dream of being a princess waving from the balcony which you see behind us. Which one will Harry pick? We continued on to the Thames and on the way we saw Big Ben, the Parliment, the London Eye, and other iconic British landmarks. We eventually found a place to eat a quick bite - a restaurant called (of all things) "EAT." I guess that says it all!

By this time it was close to 8 p.m., and we were all tired. We made our way to the London Underground and took the "tube" back to our hotel. We fell into bed exhausted!