Days 9 & 10: London & HOME

Day 9

Our last day in London was dedicated to everything we had not had a chance to see & was on our "MUST SEE" list. We started out with St. Paul's Cathedral being our priority because we knew it may take a while...

The exterior was massive and beautiful

We did the personal audio guides that were included with our entry fee & they took us around the entire cathedral, explaining everything. Pairing that with my Rick Steve's book, we felt like we learned it all. No pictures were allowed inside, but there was an area they were allowed... you could walk up 530 stairs to the TOP of the dome and look out over the city skyline. Well, I had heard about this "climb" before our trip & was really excited about doing it, getting exercise, and the photography opportunities at the top. 

 Then it was time to actually do it and we ran into a few problems: (1) Ben's fear of heights... so he walked the first 259 stairs with me before going back down & leaving me alone w/ my camera and (2) 530 stairs is A LOT... think "Biggest Loser" style challenges but in the skinniest stairwell that winds in a tight circle... that's TOUGH and I was worried I would pass out and never make it back to Ben at the bottom.

Making it to the top was worth it though!

It was very foggy that morning & most but not all of it had burnt off by the time I got up so high...

Looking back down to the massive building

We walked across this pedestrian bridge after we left St. Paul's

After my climb, we both went down into the crypt and then were on our way...

You can see the people on the circular walkway at the very top of the dome... that's where I was

Over the pedestrian walkway I photographed, we saw Shakespeare's Globe Theater

Then we headed back over near our hotel for some lunch & the rest of our afternoon... during lunch this day was when we found out/it was announced that Prince William & Kate Middleton were engaged... all of London were excited!

Admiralty Arch (the road going through it is "The Mall" which leads to Buckingham Palace)

We were very picture happy this afternoon as we leisurely walked around the streets & enjoyed our last day

Next we went to Winston Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms, where Britain's government was headquartered underground during World War 2

Ben LOVES history & was very interested in this stuff (I enjoyed it too, but can't claim to be a history buff)

Because of the day's royal engagement announcement, and because we hadn't seen it at night, we decided to walk by Buckingham Palace

There were news stations, satellite vans, cameras, & all kinds of media outlets all lined up in front of the Palace "reporting live" on the engagement news. Ben & I sat on a ledge right there in front of all the cameras for a little while :)

Finally, for our last night in London, we saw the play WICKED!!! I had already seen it (back when I went to New York with my sisters) and absolutely loved it, so Ben wanted to know what all the hype was about.... and now he's in the Wicked fan club too

Day 10

This day, Wednesday November 17th, actually started at midnight.... the clock struck 12:01 am and Ben & I opened the bottle of champagne my parents had sent us and toasted to our 3 year wedding anniversary! We were still up and packing our bags to leave and head to the airport that morning, so it was fun to start the recognition of our ACTUAL anniversary then, even though we had been "celebrating" the whole week.

After getting some sleep, it was truly time to leave our wonderful hotel and London as a whole and head back home. Here's one last look at our cool hotel, The Haymarket Hotel

lobby

and one of the coolest parts: the POOL (in the basement)... there was a wedding party down here the first night we stayed at the hotel)

The flight back home was quite long (about 9 hours to Atlanta) so we watched a lot of movies and only napped a little bit. But all in all, it was the best vacation and best anniversary I have ever had. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband/my best friend and can't wait to spend so many more years with him making who knows what other fun memories (and obviously I will document it with many many pictures, whatever it is... hope you enjoyed!)! :)