Bali Bound

This is finally the last of the pictures.  Hope that you have enjoyed the journey along with me.  I've now adjusted to being home and getting back in the routine of things again.  And now to plan the next vacation!! Razor wire around Buckingham palace to keep out the commoners Very interesting pub, sadly the location of the phone theft The view from our hotel door, look it really is Big Ben!! View from the London Eye, this is a new park and I really liked this building Houses of Parliament and Big Ben from the London Eye Shot of the Thames river from above The London Eye, yeah, it's really high up Westminster Abbey, now that William and Kate were married there the lineups are insane Monument along the Thames river Cleopatra's Needle, only they placed the sphinxs the wrong directions and never changed them.  I guess they are supposed to face out to watch for danger The olympic countdown clock in Trafalgar square ...

Now that I'm home again vacation is starting to just feel like a wonderful memory.  It's a little sad how fast it can end.  But the trip didn't really feel like it flew along at a crazy pace.  And now it's back to real life! Our last day in London we had extra time in the morning to wander around but we still had to have our bags out at a specific time and that threw the schedule a little bit.  But I was up early and walked down to Trafalgar square.  I'm still a little awed at the sheer size of London but how incredibly walkable the city is.  Also it was really nice to get there before the tourists and take pictures when it was just me!  And of course I fit in one last waffle.  That's a delight I will miss. We did survive the plane ride.  Air Canada had a far better crew on the way back home than on the way there, I might consider traveling with them again for an international flight.  The one thing I did find amusing is Heathrow air...

In less than 24 hours I shall be leaving on a plane to come back to real life.  Oh swanky vacation I will miss you.  We've all been missing our tour guide, Mama Lia, who kept us all in order.  But now we have to do things by ourselves.  Imagine that.  We've been spoilt with not having to do anything with our luggage aside from drag it in or out from the hotel room door.  What a wonderful perk.  I did think that the trip was a little pricey but all the tipping and such for dealing with the bags is even included.  And you know, now when I go home I'll have to carry my own bags around.  Life is so hard! But we did have an adventurous day in London.  Our morning was spent with a city tour.  Now of all the city tours we've done this was the best.  Our local guide was funny and informative. But not droning on and on and on like some of them.  Or at least not as much.  We rode the bus around and toured St. Paul's cath...

We've arrived in lovely London.  The weather isn't too bad, it's been a little misty but that is to be expected.  We did take the high speed train (only business class, not first class) to London from Paris and we went through the chunnel.  That was an experience.  All of a sudden our ears popped and things stayed dark for awhile.  We tried not to dwell on the fact of where we actually were. But we made it out.  Our hotel is incredibly huge and impressive only there are no real windows in the rooms.  The pictures boasted big promises of location and they were delivered.  We are a two minute walk to the London Eye and the Thames which is fabulous.  Also from the front entrance you can see Big Ben.  I was impressed. After we settled in we walked down and took a ride on the London Eye.  You can see an impressive distance.  It was a nice start to get us a little bit orientated on where things are.  We did walk down...