....so up to Trfalgar Square and a quick peek using the RS guidebook at the National Gallery. Then over to St. Martin's in the field for dinner in the crypt. My sister needed an easier and earlier to bed day and this was it.
Day 15 - Today we went to Kensington Palace to take a peek at the Victoria exhibit and since we were members of the Royal Palaces and got right in to the Diana fashion exhibit. I'm not much for fashion but it was interesting to see since I grew up with her being one of the great female icons of the world. We then headed to St. Paul's Cathedral and used the audio guide to learn about the building. I wanted to climb the dome as I had in college. It took a little while but the views were amazing. Not for the faint of heart though. After a nice dinner at a nearby bistro we met up with Peter for another London Walks walk. This time the Ancient City at night. So this one was the City, meaning the actual city of London. We learned a lot about the Great Fire of 1666, the financial district, and the modern architecture that is going up with bits of the old still around.
Day 16 - Today we started out at the British Library. I just love old books and documents so this was right up my alley. The illuminated manuscripts are so beautiful I could have looked at them for hours. Then it was over to the British Museum where we each grabbed a map and headed off to what we wanted to see most agreeing to meet back up for dinner in the main rotunda. Jess headed for Egypt and I headed for Britian, mainly the Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Sutton-Hoo areas. Then after dinner we headed to the Apollo Victoria Theatre for a showing of Wicked. It was fantastic!
Day 17 - Our last day in London and England for that matter. We headed to Windsor Castle for the morning and viewed the State Apts, the chapel, and saw the changing of the guard. After lunch it was back to London and a 14:00 London Walks again with Peter of the Marylebone area. Very interesting architecture and history and learned about an art exhibit that I will have to visit next time I'm in London. Then it was back to our hotel to pack for our departure tomorrow. We had a wonderful dinner very near our hotel at a Brazilian grill and then final bits of packing and off to bed.
Day 18 to home - we met our taxi outside the hotel which we arranged with the front desk. He got us to Heathrow in no time and we breezed through security. They were much more organized than what we have in the states. And patiently waited for our flight. It was on time and went well until we were over Canada and we had a medical emergency on board. We landed in Montreal so the girl and her family could head to the hospital. They got safely them off and their luggage off, got a new flight plan in place, fueled up and we were back in the air. They actually did a good job of it. I hope she was ok. It cost the people on our flight about 2.5 hours which was fine for us as we were only catching a bus back to Madison, but I know others weren't going to be able to travel on to their final destination until the next morning. Got back home and went in to my sleeping kids to hug them. We had a great trip but it was good to be home.
We took only carry-ons and washed clothes in the sink every 2-3 days and I find myself saying I still could have taken less. What really helped with this was my fast dry pants that you can roll the bottoms up to capri length if desired. They dry overnight and are from Duluth Trading Co. should anybody want that info. I also had a couple of thin short sleeved shirts from Target that would dry overnight. And I used the packing cubes from RS store that I had bought for a trip to Greece in 2014 for organization purposes. If anybody has any questions or wants more detail about anything let me know.