Our last day in London was a full day of everything that we hadn’t done.  So, basically- all of the famous things people go to London to see.

Backing up, we first went to Green Park to head over to Buckingham Palace.  Since the changing of the guards was cancelled the day earlier, we still wanted to see the Royal Palace!

From Buckingham Palace, we walked through the park, until we saw Big Ben!  Who was actually much smaller than I imagined.  Little Ben.

Nonetheless, it was incredible to see the details in each of those buildings, something I had seen and learned about for many years.  I finally saw it in person!

We saw the incredible parliament buildings, as well as The London Eye.  I was amazed at how slowly it moves!  I imagined it would move the speed of any other ferris wheel.

After noon, the sun started to peak out, which was so nice!  We checked how far of a walk Soho was from there, and decided to head back over there and see it when it’s not raining.

We walked all the way to Piccadilly Circus and then over to Soho and oh my gosh, I think I fell in love.

The energy, the food, the people, the small streets, the cafes, the grand buildings.  Pure magic.

We walked all through Soho, taking in the sights and sounds and smells.  We found the cutest little street and right at the end of it, the best little coffee shop with homemade scones AND JAM WITH CLOTTED CREAM.  I can die happy.  It’s all I wanted…and now I want more 😉

I went to heaven then and there.  After that, we walked a bit more, stopping to listen to this incredible street performer.  So talented!

We jumped on the metro and rode a couple stops over to St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Holy moly, it was huge.  We didn’t go inside, but the outside was impressive enough.

We walked another 20 minutes over to the Tower of London where we sat in the sun and then walked around the property.

What a sight!  But to me, the cherry on top where these views of Tower Bridge!

We crossed the bridge, with the rest of the world, and walked along the water.  That sky!  That water!  The warmth of the sun!  Perfect.

They have this really cool area along the water, full of seats and tables for eating and drinking and meeting friends.  It actually reminded me of Philly.

We walked through London Bridge area, stopped for dinner, and headed back home.  We tried to rally and go get a drink, but it wasn’t happening.  Traveling does that to ya!  The next day, we had breakfast together and then Shannon was off to the airport and I took one final stroll (with my suitcase…) through Soho, into a coffee shop:

…and off to the bus station and the airport (where I had a 3 hour delay, which was lovely).  I got home EXHAUSTED at almost 3 am, but I have had some time to re-energize and now I am soooo looking forward to MALLORCA!