First Stop: London (May 18th to May 20th)

May 18. Arrived at the London Heathrow airport. Booked a room at the Sanctuary House Hotel. Took the tube to Victoria Station. We walked to blocks to our Hotel, where we were delightfully surprised by how cozy and neat our room was. We also found our hotel was conveniently located steps away from Westminster Abbey, the Big Ben and Houses of Parliament, and the London Eye. So, wasting no time, we went out to explore these sites. The London Eye offers an impressive view of the whole city and its main attractions. At night, we took the tube to Covent Garden, where we dined at Papageno, a fascinating restaurant with delicious sea food.

On the following day, we rode the “Original London Tour” double-decker bus to visit more sites. We stepped down in St. James Park and walked across the park and woods to Buckingham Palace, where we watched the Changing of the Guard. Then, we rode the bus again to St. Paul’s Cathedral, one of Gerardo’s favorite sites in London. We toured the Cathedral inside, including going up the steps to the highest point in the dome, where we got a pretty view of the city. We then spent the afternoon visiting the Tower of London, where we saw the crown jewels. That night we went to watch “hairspray.”

The weather in London was so nice we even had sunshine on the third day. We took a boat that took us to different places along the Thames river. Later that day, we took a train to Paris...