Day 2
We all had a decent night sleep last night and woke up ready to go this morning. We started with a hearty (and not terribly heart healthy) English breakfast at our hotel. Our first stop was Westminster Abbey. We took the Tube and made sure we "minded the gap." Westminster Abbey was quite impressive. The surprise was seeing the tombs of all the people that I did not realize were buried there. We saw the tombs of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, David Livingston ("Dr. Livingston, I presume?"), Handel (of the Messiah fame), and Charles Dickens. After the Abbey we ate lunch and then walked over to the Thames River and had some great views of Big Ben and Parliament ("Look kids! Big Ben, Parliament!" -says every father worth their salt). Using the Rick Steves guidebook, we walked up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. We stopped along the way to check out 10 Downing Street and the Banqueting House (with its Rubens on the ceiling and bean bag chairs on the floor). The day ended with a visit to the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221 Baker Street (Ellie's highlight so far). We ate dinner at Nandos, which Luke calls the Buffalo Wild Wings of England. I don't thank Nandos would appreciate that. More adventures tomorrow.