London was cool and cloudy on Sunday. It was Brennin's 15th birthday. We visited the National Gallery, looking for paintings by Monet, Turner, Van Gough and Rembrandt. To make sure the kids didn't get overloaded we looked for certain artists, and left once we found them. We liked this gallery much more than Tate Modern. Many of the paintings were lifelike. Mariah found a painting where the water appeared perfectly real. The building itself was beautiful, and again the vast space is indescribable.

A tube ride and short walk through "camo"trees (I call them camo trees because their bark looks like army camouflage) brought us to Buckingham Palace. Tim checked google maps and realized that what we see through the gates is only the beginning. It's really a building before the actual palace that the Queen lives in. We watched an army vehicle leave the palace, a barrier came out of the ground behind it incase another tried to enter - amazing security!

We spent some time around the fountains infront of the palace, and then went for hotdogs in the park. The fountain that we picnicked by was a Canada memorial. The gates next to us had Canada on them as well.

Next we did some shopping in Piccadilly Circus.

On our walk home from the tube we picked up some apple pie and ice cream to have for Brennin's birthday. In our flat we watched the movie Johnny English, it was halarious!

Tomorrow we leave for Paris.