The Benner's Spot

Our 5 year anniversary is coming up at the end of June and we decided we wanted to do a big trip this year to celebrate. We decided it was time to go to Europe. This would be a sight seeing tourist vacation which is definitely different then most of our previous beach or hiking vacations but we were both really excited to go. It was a blast and completely worth it! I loved exploring the city, the sites and the country. London has an extremely extensive Tube (subway) and train system and we were able to get around the city and country all on public transportation. It was really an easy system to figure out after the first day, but it is amazing how fast pace everyone there is. I always thought we walked fast but Londeners seem to always be running by us. We stayed right by Paddington Station which was great because it was a major hub and everywhere we needed to go we could get to from Paddington. We did a lot, and I’m not exaggerating, most days by the time we got back to the hotel we were completely exhausted and I’m pretty sure my feet hurt for an entire week after we got back. We took over 400 pictures (don’t freak out no way I’m putting near that many on here). I can’t put all the pictures I want up here cause that would take forever but I’m going to go over the highlights of our trip.

We visited the Shakespeare Globe Theatre (this isn’t the original which burned down when they decided to fire a canyon as an effect during a show and a spark caught the thatch roof on fire) but this is a replica of the original. They still perform plays here ever night. The crazy thing our guide told us is that during Shakespeare's time they would fit over 1,000 people in the standing area only, it was tiny! Even today with the stage extension they will pack over 700 people in there. NUTS! The Globe sits right on the river edge and the HMS Belfast warship is permanently docked here. It is a beautiful ship. Right down the water from the Belfast is London Bridge and then the Tower Bridge which is pictured here, this bridge is usually mistaken for the London Bridge, but the London Bridge has been re-built many times through the years and is much more modern than this bridge. The Tower Bridge was built to mirror the architecture of the Tower of London. The Tower of London was first constructed in 1066. It has had many additions over the years and still is used today to house the Crown Jewels. The vault for the Crown Jewels was crazy, the Crowns of the royal family are housed there and the security was nuts, and obviously no pictures where allowed to be taken inside the vault but it was spectacular! The cool thing about the Tower of London was once you were in the gates it was it’s own city. It was filled with different buildings and houses used to protect the people over the years. It also housed a huge armory displaying the different styles used throughout the years and different gifts of armor given to the Royal family throughout the years. One of the crazy things about the Globe, Tower Bridge and Tower of London is they sit smack dab in the city center, so you have all these modern buildings right beside these ancient buildings. This is City Hall which sits right across the river from the Tower of London. On Wednesday we did a tour outside the city. The tour took us to Windsor Castle, the Roman City of Bath, and Stonehenge. Our tour guide, Tony, was hilarious. He definitely made the tour worth it and he was so proud of his tour license (apparently they are really hard to get in London and it is a big deal to be an actual licensed tour guide there). Windsor Castle is still used today by the Queen of England and the Royal Family. The Castle itself is basically it’s own city with many additions throughout the centuries. The Roman city of Bath is one of the oldest cities in England. The city itself is centered around the Roman ruins and have mandatory laws in place that all buildings have to be made out of the same type of stone as the Roman buildings and no buildings are allowed to put up neon signs or anything like that to destroy the ancient décor of the city. It was a really neat place to see. The Bath Abbey was gorgeous, it was fun to see the Gothic influence in the architecture. The last stop on our tour was Stonehenge. I have really been looking forward to going here. It really was a cool place to visit. It is way out in the country and we actually had to pass through some military training grounds, we were really disappointed that we missed the picture of the Tank Crossing signs, hilarious! Stonehenge really was cool though, it was so secluded and the site itself was really neat to think that it was built almost 4,000 years ago. If you ever go to London I definitely recommend this tour, well worth it. We went down to the House of Parliament and the Bell Tower for Big Ben (Big Ben is actually the Bell inside the tower, not the tower itself, I know I thought the Tower was Big Ben…good to know). While we were down there we decided to go for a ride on the London Eye Ferris Wheel. The views from 200 feet up in the Ferris Wheel were really cool. You could so for over 40 miles from the top. We went and took the tour of Westminster Abbey. Pictures aren’t allowed inside the Abbey but it was really gorgeous. We went over to St. Paul’s Cathedral which was MUCH bigger than I was expecting. Again pictures aren’t allow inside the church. We did the climb to the top of the dome, over 700 stairs to the very top! Here’s a picture of the view from one side of the dome. It was really neat. One of the other things I was really excited for was to go see a London Broadway show. We decided to go see “Love Never Dies” which is Andrew Lloyd Weber’s new sequel to Phantom of the Opera. The show was good (not as good as Phantom but that was to be expected) but the man who played the Phantom was amazing, his voice was spectacular! Saturday we took the train out of town to Wimbledon to see the where the tennis tournament is played and to take a tour of the grounds. It was interesting to see the courts, it is crazy they can play on grass like that. The tour guide told us that all courts are measured weekly to make sure it is never longer than 8 inches of grass. While we were out of the city we went out to Hampton Court Palace which was the summer palace of Henry VIII. The palace was really cool but the amazing thing was over 60 acres of beautiful gardens! We could have wandered around those all day. I’m having a really hard time picking one picture of the gardens, but this is one of my favorites so it will have to do. We also took our chance at the garden maze. It was fun, though by the time we got to the center and back it was way too crowded. Oh and I want a room like this! At the Tower of London and again at the Hampton Court Palace the King has a HUGE room decorated as his armory showcase, this was just one of the many wall decorations, all real guns and swords. We did a lot more, British Air Force Museum, London Bridge Tour Experience and Haunted Crypts, River boat cruise, etc., but I’m written far more than I planned and bombarded you with pictures so enjoy!  (Oh and if you noticed all my hats, ponytails, and braids in all my pictures it because Europe like a lot of countries have a different power system then the U.S. We bought an adapter and converter for our appliances but my straightener apparently couldn’t handle it, we blew the fuse to all the outlets and my straightener started smoking, it is officially dead, I’m pretty sure the hotel staff just laughed at the stupid Americans, haha). One last picture, this is the cool hallway in our hotel, the Hotel Indigo-Paddington, it was a fun place to stay. We loved our vacation! Hope you enjoy all our pictures!