Whirlwind Week

The week that Mom and Dad visited is a bit of a blur, as we rushed from one end of London to the other, taking in sights that I had yet to see as I had been saving them for their visit. The day after we returned from Disneyland Paris, we went to Hampton Court Palace on the edge of London, a favorite residence of King Henry VIII. Sadly, no photographs were allowed inside, but I got some nice pictures of the outside. The admission included access to the gardens, including the hedge maze, which provided an amusing seven minutes of fun as my dad and I tried to get through with as few mistakes as possible.

The Rose Garden:


Friday we spent the morning at St. Paul's, from the crypt--where we paid our respects to the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo--to the top dome, where I took some photos of the city. We then went up to Windsor Castle, where we toured the magnificent rooms (especially amazing since the castle suffered a huge fire in the early '90s). We then stayed to watch the Windsor Tattoo, an annual show put on by Britain's military, featuring horsemen, marching bands, tanks, and more. It was a wonderful performance; for an added bonus, the Earl of Wessex--son of Queen Elizabeth II and a Prince of England--was present to accept on behalf of the Queen the salutes from the different groups of the military.

View from St. Paul's:

Windsor Castle:

Horsemen galloping across the show grounds. They were so fast it was difficult to get a good picture!

Saturday, we made a trip to Blenheim Palace, a residence of Queen Victoria and birthplace of Winston Churchill. Somewhere on the grounds they were also filming Guillver's Travels, starring Jack Black and Emily Blunt. Though there were signs everywhere of the film crew's presence, we were unable to locate them, so sadly, there were no celebrity sightings.

Just a few more posts left before I wrap up this blog! For now, entertain yourselves with photos from the adventures described above.