London to Munich - May 10, 2015

May 10, 2015
Today we left London and flew to Munich. We had a 7:40am flight so I arranged a car to pick us up from the hotel to take us to the airport at 5:00am! The driver arrived a bit early and it was an hour drive so it worked out well.

When we arrived in Munich we picked up our car - a brand new Volvo station wagon. We didn't have a map and our iPad didn't work, but roads were very well marked and we found our way to Salzburg and the Crowne Plaza where we would be staying for the next 2 nights.

After checking into our hotel we walked over to Mirabelle Gardens and Old Town. We did some shopping and saw the Sound of Music sights. Many stores are closed on Sundays so they crowds were thin which was really nice. We ate dinner in Old Town at the Old Spaghetti Factory (very good food).

Mirabell Gardens

Mirabell Gardens - this is where Maria and the children ran through in the Sound of Music

walking across the bridge to Old Town Salzburg

Old Town Salzburg

St. Peters

Salzburg Cemetary

Cemetary where Maria and the children hid from the Nazis

Old Spaghetti Factory

London - May 9, 2015

May 9, 2015
Today we walked up to Covent Garden and then took the tube up to Camden Locks. They have a very big market full of all kinds of things. It's a great place to find souvenirs. We bought a bunch of british things including some very cheap phone cases. We also each had a doughnut (yummy!) and some lunch (the girls had pizza and Brad and I shared some lemon chicken - not so good).

We took the tube over to Kensington Palace walked through the garden and met a couple who live in Kensington walking their 2 bulldogs. We toured Kensington Palace and enjoyed the sunshine.

Kensington Palace

Kensington Garden

We stopped at Fish and Chippers for dinner (great fish and chips) and then walked through Piccadilly Circus.

our hotel

Piccadilly Circus

London - May 8, 2015

May 8, 2015

We slept until almost 9am. We walked over to our new hotel (Radisson Blu Edwardian Hampshire). This hotel is in Leicester Square and central to everything. It was a great old hotel with cool rooms, but still very modern.

Radisson Blu Edwardian Hampshire hotel

We walked over to the National Portrait Gallery and did some shopping in the gift shop. Found some great stuff. 

Then we walked into Trafalgar Square. There was alot going on - many mimes and people dressed up in costumes. We saw a witch, a couple of Star Wars characters and a guy playing bagpipes.

We walked over to Buckinham Palace and saw a band and some soldiers walking out. We also watched as the Prime Minister (David Cameron) drove in to see the Queen. It was voting day the day before and the new government was determined.

We walked over to Westminster Abbey and stopped for sandwiches at EAT on the way. We ate them outside across the street from Westminster. Beautiful day to be outside.

Eating lunch

We spent a couple hours at Westminster. Very interesting.

On the way back to the hotel we saw Big Ben and stopped for an ice cream cone.

We ate dinner at Al Padrino just down from our hotel.

We went back to the hotel and got ready to go see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theater. It was a great show.

London - May 7, 2015

May 6, 2015
Today is the day we head to Europe for our trip to London; Salzburg, Austria and Munich, Germany.

We had a couple hour layover in Dallas and I had some passes to a lounge, so we enjoyed a few snacks and a couple of drinks. It was a nice way to start vacation.

May 7, 2015

We arrived at London Heathrow a few minutes early. We had to wait for our driver. I'm not sure if he was new to London, but it should have taken about an hour to get to our hotel and it took him almost 2! Thank goodness we were paying for the service all inclusive and not by the time. Our rooms at the Crowne Plaza London The City weren't quite ready so we dropped off our bags and headed back out. 

 Crowne Plaza - London The City

We took the tube to Tower of London. The sun came out and it was a beautiful day. Before heading in we had sandwiches and some fries (the ones in Europe are big and fat). The best part of the Tower of London was closed (the area where you can see where prisoners were held), but it was still interesting. 

We then walked over to Shakespeare's Globe and across the millenial bridge. 

Shakespeare's Globe

We saw the Tower Bridge and walked through Borough Market (mostly food items here)

Tower Bridge

Borough Market

We then headed back to the hotel, got settled in our rooms and checked out the lounge area. They had free drinks and some snacks.

We walked across the street to Blackfriars Pub for dinner and had a real English dinner (fish and chips and English pie). 

We were all pooped so we headed back to the hotel for bed.