We woke up early today and got ready for church. The bus we were planning to take was delayed, but we managed to get to church right on time. The London ward was awesome and we got to talk with the sister missionaries which was way fun! They had a special Sunday School class for visitors so Dad, Mom, Zach, and I all went to it while the younger boys went to primary. We all had a great time!

After church we walked over to a nearby park to eat the sack lunches we'd packed. Then we went to the Science and Natural History museums since admission is free. The Science museum had an awesome hands on physics floor which the boys loved! Some of the highlights include the rocket launch, dry ice pool, and the reflection watch. Next we walked over to the Natural History museum. The building itself was probably my favorite part! It was built in 1881 by a very spiritual man who believed in the creation. The building looks a lot like an old church equip with high arches and stain glass windows. The stone was intricately carved with plants and animals. It was super cool! We saw tons of old dinosaur bones, a kola bear, a life sized blue whale replica, minerals, and precious gems!

We were getting pretty tired after that so we headed home via the tube and the buses. When we got home we relaxed, played games, ate dinner, and got ready for our trip to Paris tomorrow!

From the Borough Market we walked over to the Tate Modern, London's modern art museum. It was amazing to see a real Picasso up close! After looking through the museum we walked across the Millennium Bridge and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Thames and the surrounding area. We were also able to see the top of St. Paul's Cathedreal. Then we hopped on the Tube and headed home!

This morning we had to stop by Victoria Station to get Oyster Cards for everyone. Oyster cards are used to pay for public transit. Then we headed to the Tower of London, which was built in 1078.The tower was once home to the royal family. We got to see all the royal crowns, jewels, and scepters in the Crown Jewels collection, but unfortunately we couldn't take any pictures inside the vault! They were amazing! 

Next we went on a tour given by a Yeoman Warder (Beefeater). The tour was a lot of fun as we got to explore the tower and learn about the royalty who'd lived, loved, and died there. We got to go inside of the old cathedral which was really neat.

We went through the White Tower and had a good time looking at the old armor and weapons. We walked through some other cool buildings including the Coins and Kings royal mint! It was fun to see all the old British money! I hadn't realized Isaac Newton had been in charge of the Mint during his life!

After exploring the tower we walked out to the Tower Bridge and crossed the RIver Thames. The Tower Bridge is intricately decorated and we had a great time taking pictures while walking across. Then we went to the Borough Market which was just like a huge farmers market. It was so crowded we could hardly move around! It ended up being really fun, and we tried some homemade potstickers, english sausages, turkish delight, tropical smoothies, and granola! 

Later we took a boat ride down the canal over to Little Venice. The ride was fun and took us through some of London's back streets and past the US Ambassador's house!

We walked to a nice little area that was full of small restaurants. We ate our dinner outside in the big open area which was nice.

We all slept in late this morning since we were so tired from our long traveling day yesterday. When we finally got going we went to catch a train into the city, but the trains were all canceled due to an accident that had happened that morning. We ended up taking the bus and then the Tube to get to Regents Park. We saw a Shakespeare play at the open air theatre in the park which was fun. Then we explored the gardens and park grounds. It is such a big park! London has been experiencing a little heat wave the past few weeks and today tons of people were out enjoying the sunny weather!

By some miracle we actually made it to London, can't believe we are finally here! We got off the flight at 10am London time, but 5am DC time. Everyone was pretty tired after only sleeping a little bit on the plane, but we had to stay up until 8pm London time so that we wouldn't have jet lag. Needless to say it was a long day!

When we got here the family we are swapping homes with met us and helped us navigate using the Tube and the buses, then they left for Paris. It was so nice of them to help us get settled in!

Our little English flat exchange home is perfect! It is a cute little row house in East Sheen just out of the Richmond borough of London. We are about 45 minutes from the heart of the city.

We checked out the grocery store and exchanged currencies at an ATM. Then dad, Zach, and I took a bus out to Richmond to get SIM cards for the two iPhones. We walked down to the Thames river and explored for a bit. The area is beautiful and looks really fun!

We managed to stay awake long enough to make dinner then headed to bed. We can't wait for the real London experience to begin tomorrow!

While in New York we are staying in the Affinia Manhattan hotel and this morning we ate at the restaurant here. After breakfast we took a taxi over to Pier 84 along the Hudson River. We don't have much time in New York, but we wanted to see as much of the city as we could so we took a water taxi down the coast. We had an awesome time sight seeing and enjoyed the ocean breeze since New York has been even more hot and humid than DC. We were able to see the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, the new World Trade Center, and the Statue of Liberty.

Seeing the Statue of Liberty up close was incredible! I never realized how big it actually is! We took some really neat pictures and marveled at its beauty

We ate lunch and did a bit of shopping before taking the shuttle to the JFK airport. We said goodbye to Grandma and made sure she got on her flight home. Our flight to London was supposed to leave at 9pm, but it was delayed by about an hour. We all tried to sleep on the seven hour flight, but the flight attendants kept coming around which made it difficult. Zach and I only got about three hours of sleep so tomorrow will be rough.

Woke up this morning and said goodbye to our little place in Gambrills. After packing and cleaning  up we are off to the next part of our grand adventure, New York City!

After returning our rental car we took a shuttle to the AmTrak station. We had to wait for about an hour before we actually left. When the train finally came we boarded and began the two hour ride to New York. It was fun to look out the window and enjoy the scenery. We passed through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey before finally reaching Penn station.

We got off the train and walked into complete chaos. People were rushing here and there, not to mention it was noisy, hot, muggy, and a bit smelly. We were feeling a bit uneasy about the whole thing. Later after getting checked into our hotel we started to feel better about things as we explored the busy city. We took a taxi to the Manhattan Temple and were amazed to see that it was right along the streets of New York. The temple itself is actually a separate building inside of another building which blocks out the noise of the city. We went to Nike Town, the NBA store, the Lego store, the iconic glass Apple store, etc. We walked down 5th Avenue and window shopped looking into stores like Michael Kors, Tiffany's, and Louis Vuitton!

We ate dinner at the Rockefeller plaza. It was so cool to eat outside next to a giant golden fountain and surrounded by world flags. The food was really good and we got a banana split for dessert which ruled! We hailed cabs and went back to the hotel to settle in for bed.

Afterwards we walked over to the American History Museum. By that time everyone was getting pretty hungry so we got some salads and sandwiches from the cafe before checking out the museum. We started on the third floor with the First Ladies' dresses! It was fun to see how the styles have changed over the years. The next part was about the Presidents. We saw a bunch of stuff ranging from Washington's Telescope to Eisenhower's Army Uniform.

The second floor highlight was seeing the original Star Spangled Banner that inspired Francis Scott Key to write what would later become the National Anthem. We also went to the American Stories exhibit which had pop culture icons like Dorothy's Ruby Slippers and Kermit the Frog. Zach really liked the Apple II Computer and Apollo Ohno's speed skates. I loved seeing Elphaba's dress from Broadway's musical Wicked and the Ether inhaler! They also had the original sunstone from the LDS Nauvoo Temple on display so that was really neat!

Next we went to the Food exhibit which showcased how the American diet has changed over the last 50 years. It was really interesting, or maybe I just got into it since I want to be a nutrition major... I'm not quite sure. The boys lost interest pretty quickly though so while I read up on food they explored the transportation exhibit! There were a bunch of old trains, boats, and cars that they really liked.

We finally made it to the first floor and saw the Civil War and Civil Rights exhibit. In the Civil War part we saw the hat President Lincoln wore the night he was assassinated and the suit he wore every day. Harriet Tubman's lace collar and handkerchief were also on display.

All in all we had a great day exploring  some of the Smithsonian Museums and seeing DC one last time! Leaving is bittersweet, but we're off to New York City in the morning and we can't wait!

Today we drove into DC for the last time! We started at the Natural History Museum and enjoyed seeing dinosaur bones, stuffed animals, precious gems, cool rocks, creepy crawlies , colorful butterflies, old mummies, and much more!
Some of the highlights were the T-Rex skeleton, stuffed mammoth, the Marie Antiuonitte earrings, the Hope Diamond, and the glow in the dark rocks.