Euro Trip Part 2 of Many

London
While we primarily went to London to see the Olympics, we were also able to see some of what the city has to offer otherwise. We tried cutting down on all the pictures for this post, but we took so many! And there was so much to see! It was hard to narrow it down so... happy scrolling!

~~Side note: Troy posted a bunch of pictures on Facebook, so if you've seen his albums already, sorry for the overlap. There are some here that he didn't post though, so it's not all the same.~~

Just off the airplane, waiting in line for them to stamp our passports.

Very good advice.

Our hotel we found thanks to the Rick Steve's book the Pruett parents gave us. (Thanks!)

We got to the hotel 30 minutes before the official check in time. They told us we could check in early for an extra 5 pounds, which we weren't willing to fork up. So we sat here, on the corner of the street, taking pictures, looking around, till it was 3:00pm (excuse me, 15:00) and we could check in.

Our very tiny hotel room. No window. The cheapest for 2 people. And it was still over $100/night. (After tax was added.)

Our bed was surrounded by walls - no space to walk around. No space underneath to store luggage.

Our bathroom had just enough room for a shower, a sink, and...

A toilet. And Europe is really fond of those big button flushers. Most restrooms had some sort of button rather than a handle to flush the toilet.

Wellington Arch, near Hyde Park.

Creeper, trying to decide what sight to see next in the Rick Steve's book (again, thanks, Pruett parents!).

Piccadilly Circus.

Team Raptor and the Eros Statue.

Troy, pretending to talk on his cell phone, next to a phone booth.

Troy contemplating whether or not to finish the awful carbonated lemonade. What is with you, Europe? Why all the carbonation? Lemonade, orange juice and water are PERFECT without carbonation. When you add carbonation, it makes them NASTY. And some people prefer NO carbonation, so the choice would be nice. Don't assume everyone likes it, just because you do, Europe.

In honor of the Olympics, some trees near Piccadilly Circus were decorated with gold medals.

This was the closest tube/train station to our hotel. It was generally the first and last place we went every day.

Laura riding down the escalator to catch a train.

Laura had never heard of Paddington Bear till Troy talked about it at Paddington Station. And then we saw this!

Cool statue in Hyde Park that some dude walked in front of just as Laura snapped the picture.

Some modern art in Hyde Park.

I (Laura) really like these statues. It's kind of how I feel half the time... "Where's my brain?" "Who knows?" "Where's your brain?" "Who knows?"

Is it supposed to be a snail shell?

So happy to be in Hyde Park. The place is huge.

This is also part of Hyde Park. Plus, remember all those pictures we posted of the lake where they Olympic swimmers were? And of the BT London Live stuff? That was all Hyde Park, too. It's a huge park.

Pretty much sums up Los Angeles, I'd say.

Near Trafalgar Square was allegedly the Texas Embassy restaurant. We wandered around for about 20 minutes trying to find it, because we couldn't see it and Troy's phone's gps kept telling us we were 5 steps away from it. Then we saw the closed sign over the door, and looked in the window to see the remains of a once vibrant restaurant. If you can look past the glare and reflections, you can see the Texas Embassy sign.

Trafalgar Square.

A statue of some dolphins and a weird boy-merman (mer-boy?) throwing up water.

Some guard that everyone was pestering.

The flowers were so pretty! Another reason London got the Olympics again was because they promised to clean up the worst part of town - which they did by building the Olympic park, and planting a bunch of pretty gardens.

Troy, happy to be in London.

Pretty typical of London - a cool old building, next to a cool modern one.

Troy got excited when he saw a McLaren.

Big Ben and Troy.

Team Raptor and the London Eye!

And of course, video games. This was advertised just outside the London Eye. Troy, naturally, already had it. It was one of the games we played on his 3DS during our train rides.

In the London Eye.

So excited!

View of the Thames River from the London Eye.

Big Ben and the House of Parliament from the London Eye.

One way to tour the city. (We didn't take this tour, but we kept seeing these odd vehicles around town.)

Every big city has a public urination problem, so London is trying to encourage men to pee in these rather than on buildings. Maybe if Europe didn't charge (anywhere between 30 cents to 70 cents) to use public restrooms, there wouldn't be such a big problem. Just a thought, Europe.

Some instructions on how to use a port-o-potty. Thankfully these were free to use, if stinky. And they also had hand sanitizer dispensers inside them, which was nice.

From the top deck of a double decker bus.

Gotta watch out for those moving farts on the double decker buses.

Part of our walk across the Waterloo bridge.

The Thames at sunset.

Shakespeare Globe!

The theatre from inside.

What our seating area looked like.

Our view. =/  The seats were cheaper because of the obstruction, and we were able to peer around the pole and see most of the action anyway.

Very close quarters - they crammed as many people as would fit on the benches. Some people rented pillows to cushion their seat.

The cheapest "seats" were in the standing room area. According to the website, they also have the best view of the play... but you have to stand for 3 hours, minus the intermission.

The Thames at night.

A beach! Kind of...

Back on the London Eye. We got a special deal (that was going on only during the Olympics) to get on the London Eye twice - once during the day and once at night - for about the price of a regular ticket. Wootz!

London at night.

There was also a contraption connected to the London Eye that allowed people to light up the circle. It was cool to watch - whoever was connected to the thing would swing their arms around, and the Eye would light up (in pink) in the direction(s) their arms were going.

Last view of the London Eye on our way back the hotel.

Triggles in front of Buckingham Palace. There was also a course set up behind him that went in front of the Palace for a few Olympic events.

We decided to tour Buckingham Palace the next day. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside (they talked us into buying a Buckingham Palace souvenir guide so if you want to see the inside without actually going, come over!), and we weren't allowed to take our backpacks in, either. This is Troy once we were done with the tour.

Laura, after the Buckingham Palace tour, trying to blend in with the grounds. Chameleon!

Because the Queen is above saying such rude things as "toilets" and "changing station" it was the "lavatories" and "baby care".

Buckingham Palace on our way out. Note the man in the corner with the Texas Longhorns hat. Troy, a Longhorns fan himself, naturally stopped to talk with him. Apparently he had just returned from a tour in Afghanistan, and was vacationing in London. Thank you for your service to our country, Texas man!

Look at how green everything is!

Another typical London street. Very old looking, with all the buildings connected.

We visited the American Embassy.

Laura got a picture of the California flag. Apparently Troy asked her to get a picture of the Texas flag. But all she heard him ask is if she got shots of the CA flag, when in reality he "couldn't give a good-gosh-darn about California and its bear flag". She assumed he got the TX flag shots. Apparently not! Whoops... Oh well, just another reason to go back.

In front of the American Embassy.

 Another American President.

Also at the American Embassy.

So many statues of American presidents! I doubt the British Embassy in D.C. has any statues of any of their leaders.

Laura was confused enough as it was trying to figure out which way to look when trying to cross the streets. People parking like this did not help. Apparently it's ok to park whichever way you feel like, despite what direction the road is going.

Tower of London. And some lion statues. I don't understand why so many European countries use the lion(s) as their symbol (England, Scotland, Spain, etc.), when lions are nowhere near Europe. (Unless imported for zoos.)

Another view of the Tower of London. Note the tiny cross-looking slits in the sides of the wall - those were used for defensive purposes back in the day. They were handy to shoot arrows from without being shot at.

An Aston Martin just casually parked on the street.

This piano says, "Play me I'm yours". We saw it on our way to catch the train to Belgium. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stop for Laura to play =(

And some of the British currency we used. So many coins! They use coins (instead of bills) for 1 and 2 pounds. And then there are coins for 1 pence, 2 pence, 5 pence, 10 pence, 20 pence and 50 pence. That's 8 different kinds of coins to learn! We were pretty slow in counting out change.

London was so fun! Even though both of us developed coughs and congestion in response to all the pollution and/or people smoking, it was good times. 

Next post, day trips! (All the countries we visited for one day at a time.)