London

Since our flight was in and out of London and since we had an early departure on our last day, we always knew we'd end up back in London. Rather than just stay in an airport hotel for one night, we decided to split our trip between London and Paris, and stay in the city and see some things.

We took the Eurostar train between the two cities. We thought it would be a good extension of our Japanese train experience. It was. I mean, it was fine. Not blog-worthy. Moving right along.

To London!

We were lucky enough to hook up with our very good friends from Seattle. In a happy accident, they just happened to be there at the same time.

Our friends are real London experts - which was a relief to us! After a few days of calling upon my memory of things in Paris or looking them up in guidebooks, we were happy to let our friends take the lead. And they did not disappoint! Minutes after arriving at our hotel, they were skillfully guiding us to a yummy vegetarian lunch. We then did a little shopping, but Mike wouldn't let me bring this 32,000 piece(!) puzzle home. Oh, the injustice!

Then we hit Hyde Park:

Then it was time for tea! (of course!)

The next day, the three of us headed to Hampton Court Palace.

It was a good way for us to see how the locals lived. Note the clock with the sun rotating around the earth.

The palace is actually really beautiful and interesting and has some amazing art.

And the gardens, oh, the gardens . . . I miss the color green!

A special statue for all the mothers:

And more gardens (because I never tire, and because this is my blog):

We even toured the maze. It was actually harder than I thought it would be. We found our way out, but we never found the center.

That evening, we went dinner with my British cousins.

We all share the same great-grandparents:

The next day, we hit the British Museum. I try very hard not to be one of those obnoxious people taking pictures in museums. I, however, have no such shame about the views from bridges.

Why did the Texans cross the bridge? To get to the Fish and Chips, of course!

(No, we didn't finish it all. Yes, it was really, really, really good.)

That evening, we joined our friend for Thai food (at the London location of the place we went to cooking class when we were in Thailand. How cool is that?). Out friend ordered tea, and got a pretty awesome teapot.

The next morning, it was off to the airport very early. We had a quick breakfast in the airport - Mike was in heaven with all the sauce options!

(heaven is apparently a very contemplative place). 

Anyway, we didn't eat this for breakfast, but I found it amusing all the same....

After that, it was home to see our girl. We were ready! Mike and I both agreed that while the flight was long (8 hours), it definitely felt no longer than a 3 hour flight where constant amusement and game-playing is required. So, well, that's something! 

Next up: the rest of Detroit!