The Fun and Simple things in life~: Reliving my United Kingdom part 1

I had the chance to jump on the first non-stop flight from Seattle, Washington to the London Heathrow airport in 1995. Round trip ticket cost??? 150.00 bucks! Now who wouldn't have jumped all over that?! It was a promotion from British airways and they only had a small amount of tickets available....I took two seconds to figure it all out and I made my purchase. The next thing was to get enough time off of work, ( I was married then and still worked two jobs) -(excuse me, make that two paying jobs and raising four sons, managing a household and tending to my husband, etc.) I always seem to down play the importance of the later~ Yet it is the most important job in the world!
Anyway, I scrambled to make extra money so it wouldn't come out of my families account to have the most fun I could in this amazing vacation opportunity. (before you start thinking-no my husband didn't have a desire to go and was encouraging me to hit the airways) Soooooooo-off I went.

Now please remember I had a ghetto type camera and by no means was I any sort of good photographer. The pictures were a little...well you will see. They are not perfect. If you want perfect, look online or better yet, go there and have yourself an adventure. This was a few parts of my adventure. Thanks to my friend Maria, who has an amazing blog herself, and is an amazing photographer to-boot...( thinking about kidnaping her for my next foreign trip.. wanting better photo memories :):):) ) I wanted to relive the fun I had. I wanted to reminisce.

It was the longest airplane ride I had ever been on!!! I am a "seat wiggler" so I was in the back Isle area standing and chatting up other passengers who apparently had the same issues- quite often.

I really didn't have much issue adjusting to the time zone difference and I never experienced jet lag. I was just in awe of even being in a new part of the world. I have ancestry in the UK including Scotland, Ireland and Wales. ( unfortunately I've yet to get to Ireland, but its on my list to explore in a couple of years-so look out....I'll be coming to your neck of the woods soon!! Can't wait)

Of course I had to be the proverbial 'tourist' and ride the double decker bus for the tour of London. It worked out great, because you can jump off anywhere you want then jump back on. So you get to wander around areas in person then get the $20.00 over the microphone tour. ( note to you all...London drivers are NUTS! Its every man, woman and child for themselves, God bless them....they are some of the most crazy drivers you will ever experience, not to mention they drive on the opposite side of the roads...lol "just being a little American". The picture above is of the House of Governor. The architecture in London is amazing. Many statues adorn their grey buildings with figures posing over our heads. Almost every structure is a work of art. Its like a living story...pictures we have all seen in our history books in school- now here in the hard mason flesh, my eyes are exploding in awe. And of course I said these words out loud in the worst english accent" Ello govnah" haha...Tell me you could resist doing that-right?!

This was taken after I watched the changing of the guards at the Palace. Its quite a to-do. Most interesting. This statue is on top of a monument that is in the center of the round-a-bout outside the Palace gates. It is cast in gold. The weather, as such in London is overcast quite often, and I caught the clouds opening up and shine down on the angel, This is also the place where I left my camera case...drats!!! Oh well.

The royal exchange...it was great sitting on the top of the double decker as it was fully open.

...and although this needs no description...contrary to my young childhood beliefs...London bridge did 'not' fall down...only we did, us fair ladies...This lady in the picture 'photo bombed' me lol. I have no idea who she is!!! hehe.

St. Pauls cathedral- prayer room ceiling. The amazing art work that goes into the churches and various buildings, well I could have stayed and gazed for hours soaking it all in.

I got to meet many different people not only from the UK, but from all over the world just visiting for themselves. Guess who I ran into one day??