European Vacation Part 1

 We recently returned from an amazing vacation.  18 days in 4 countries (1 bonus country) in Europe.  I have to give Troy creidt for basically planning the whole thing.  It was a wonderful trip with only a few hiccups here and there.  I could post so many photos and go on and on, but I will try to be a bit concise.

We drove to Chicago for a direct flight to Paris.  We took off around 7:30 and arrived the next morning in Paris.  That first day was a long one!  Because customs took so long, we missed our train to London.  Luckily (after a long wait) we were able to secure tickets for a later train.  We arrived in London and walked to our hotel.  A lovely place, but a bit hot for our travel weary family.  All we did the first night was find some food at Rockets and relax.  And in my attempt to cool down the kids I managed to ruin the little fan of Timothy's that we had packed. (Not every outlet converter converts the electricity!) Opps!

Relaxing in the room and Rocket's Diner.

Breakfasts were a plus on this trip--pastries, eggs, yogurt, veggies, etc.  So they next morning we were somewhat rested and filled up with yummy food. The plan for the first day in London was a sightseeing bus.  We had to Uber to a more central location, as the bus never showed up to the outskirts.  We got some seats on the top and got to see the city.  It was warm, but not too bad driving around.  We stayed on until Picadilly Circus where we hopped off for some lunch.  This is where Teresa fell in love with Pret Manger!  It was a prepared food store with sandwhiches, salads and yogurt parfaits.  We ate their several times!

Bus tour.

Foods from our favortie Pret Manger.

We browsed in some shops.  Here began Timothy's quest to find all the different Monster drinks he could on vacation.  London and Oslo had the best variety.  (He actually brought home two empty cans!) Our next stop of the day was the London Eye.  It was fun to ride and see some great views of the city.

The London eye

View from the London Eye

London Day 2 we headed to the Bristish Museum.  Troy really wanted to visit and Teresa wanted to see the Easter Island "Big Heads." We didn't have tickets, but were happy that we were still able to get in.  Troy looked at a lot of stuff from Biblical times.  It was pretty cool to see, but also overwhelming.  There is so much to see and learn.  We did see the Rosetta stone too.

The Easter Island Head and Gates from biblical times.

In the afternoon we went to Madame Tussaud's wax museum.  We had a little trouble with the bus, but then realized we all needed to buy tickets separately on separate cards.  The wax museum was a surprising highlight.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  Teresa picked this one.  But it ended up being pretty neat.  There were lots of figures, some I did not recognize, but many I did.  I had my picture taken with Taylor Swift and the late Queen of England!  And just when we thought it was done, there was a Star Wars area, and then a 4 d movie, and then a Marvel area.  We all enjoyed it!

Teresa and the Roayl Corgi & Taylor Swift

In the evening we went to See Mama Mia.  We had great seats and the show was amazing.  I enjoyed the British accent throughout the show.  The kids enjoyed an ice cream treat at intermission. And we were able to navigate to and fro on the bus--Thanks Troy!

Our last full day in London had some ups and downs.  We tried to get into Westminster Abbey, but all the tickets were gone.  So we walked to Picadilly Circus and had some fun in tourist shops, and the Lego and M&M store.  We got some lunch to go and had a little picnic in the park.

Park Lunch and Paddington Bear.

Our afternoon activities were the Aquarium and the London Dungeon.  Timothy was interested in both of these.  We arrived a little early for the aquarium, so we had an afternoon pit stop at Snog--a frozen yogurt place.  We ate our treats overlooking the Thames.

Frozen Yogurt treat.

The aquarium and the London Dungeon were both enjoyed.  The aquarium had some neat fish, sharks and even penguins! The Dungeon was an sort of interactive storytelling experience that explained some of London's darker times.  We learned about the plague, Jack the Ripper and other things like that.  And there were some moments were they attempt to jump scare you.  Timothy thought it was great!

Leaving these activities, and as the night wore on, it became apparent that we had no data for our phones.  It turns out there was an international outage for travelers on US carriers.  Troy was on the phone with Verizon for a while that night.  We enjoyed a final dinner at Rockets again.  Then it was back to the hotel to pack up for an early departure.  We had to leave at 6am to catch a flight to Norway.