Happy Mother's Day to the best mom around! Love you and wish you were here! Andy, Charlotte and I got up this morning for breakfast at the hotel (which consisted of cold cereal, toast and jam, tea and croissants) at 8:30. We went back to our room afterwards to get ready for the day and then set out at about 10:15 to meet our cousin Catherine. She arrived about 15 minutes later and though we haven't seen her in 8 years, it seems like no time has passed at all! We decided to go to Buckingham Palace and when we arrived, there was a huge crowd formed and police everywhere. The royal guard band marched in, but we did not stay to see what the actual occasion was about because the crowd was becoming a bit pushy. Instead we went to St. James Park and had some ice cream. We ate our early-afternoon snack on deck chairs in the sun. You're meant to pay to sit on these chairs, but when the man came to collect the £1.50 from each of us we said we were moving on, so we left. We then walked through the park and through the area in which Men's volleyball will be played in the Olympics and saw a couple HouseHold Cavalrymen.

We went to Trafalgar Square next, but unfortunately they were doing construction and we were unable to get our photos up on the statues of the lions. We took a brief tour of the National Gallery and then went on to Covent Garden Market to look around. We ate lunch at a little pizzeria nearby, where we shared a Hawaiian and a Gardeneria pizza. They were both very tasty! We came across Catherine Street and Drury Lane in the theatre district nearby and then made our way to Fleet Street. Andy thought it best to not get a haircut at the barber there. We left there by Middle Temple Lane that took us to the Embankment along the Thames. We crossed the Millennium Bridge and bought tickets for a river tour boat. The tour took us up past the Tower Bridge and then up to Greenwich in East London where the Old Royal Navy College is and also the Royal Observatory and Meridian Line. Andy and I had our photo taken on either side of the line, one of us in the Eastern Hemisphere, one of us in the Western Hemisphere! The overlook there of Greenwich Park and the skyline of London is AMAZING!

We had dinner at a really nice pub called the Gipsy Moth. It wasn't until we sat down that we realized we'd gotten a bit sunburnt. Who knew that would happen in London! For dinner I had salmon fishcakes with a chive creamsauce and arugula and beetroot salad. Catherine and Charlotte had a toasted couscous salad and Andy had a steak and chips. I also had a strawberry beer there that Catherine suggested which was very different and very tasty!

After our bellies were full, we decided to head back towards central London and Catherine back to Milton Keynes. It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to tour the city with both Catherine snd Charlotte. We're a bit run down from all the walking, but I'm proud that we've been able to see so much in the little time we've been here.

Here's to even more adventures tomorrow!

-Bree