We arrived in London late Sunday afternoon. We thought that driving in England was crazy because everything is on the opposite side of the road. Driving in London is insane because there is a lot more traffic. After arriving at the hotel, we decided to go to Westminster Abbey to hear an organ recital. The acoustics in the Abbey are excellent! By the way, this is the church where the funeral service was held for Princess Diana. Then we walked through Victoria Gardens in the dark and admired the lights along the Thames River near the Parliament buildings and, of course, Big Ben.

Since our hotel was across the river from the Tate Gallery, we visited this museum the next day. It is filled with paintings by English painters such as Gainsborgh, Constable, Rossetti, Hunt, and other Pre-Raphaelite artists. There is also an entire section devoted to Turner's paintings. We were able to see the development of his work from his early career to his later works. I especially liked his work from his time in Venice.

Erika learned how to look for an artist's name on the painting title plate. When we entered a new room, Erika asked me for an artist's name. She then walked around the room looking for paintings by that artist. It was a great activity and learning process for her and it gave me some time to contemplate the composition or color combinations or techniques used by each artist. Erika also enjoyed a short gallery talk aimed toward primary school students. The guide asked questions about the painting and helped the students how to look for the answers. Little by little, we are learning how to teach Erika about art and art history and how to acquire information from museums.

One of the must-do tourist attractions is a double-decker bus tour. We toured the major sights and areas of London on "The Original London Sightseeing Tour". We saw Parliament buildings (again), Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Tower of London, London Tower Bridge, and the Mayfair area. (This is the area where the embassies are located and the setting for Mary Poppins.)

Erika learned that following a tour guide around the Tower of London can be a lot of fun. Of course, the tour guides at the Tower are Beefeater guards. Our Beefeater guide was a friendly English gentleman who has a love for children. He was very entertaining for the children and personable to them as well. All the children were chasing after him as he moved from one spot to another.

We learned about the Ravens who live at the Tower of London. According to legend, as long as raven lives at the Tower, the kingdom will not crumble or fall. So, the Beefeater guards maintain a stable of ravens at the Tower. Some of the raven's wings are clipped, so they will not be able to fly away.

Of course, we also saw the British Crown Jewels. They are very impressive, just studded with incredible jewels. It was an excellent time to visit because it was not at all crowded. By showing videos about the Crown Jewels and showing pictures of the Royal Family, the British have learned from Disney how to manage great crowds of people waiting in line. However, the crowds did not need to managed that day, so we breezed by the videos and got into a short queue in see the Crown Jewels.

Our plan for the next day was to meet some friends from our Kaiserslautern church at Buckingham Palace. Instead we met them as were crossing Westminster Bridge. It was a much better place because we enjoyed taking pictures of Big Ben and walking along the street to Buckingham Palace with them. Also, it was much too crowded at Buckingham Palace to meet them there. Meeting them at Westminster Bridge was an answer to prayer.

We arrived too late at Buckingham Palace to find a good place for viewing the changing of the guard but we did get to see some of the preparations behind the scenes. We saw the horse guards and the military band march up to the Palace. Because we did not have a good place for viewing the changing of the guard, we did not stay very long. Instead we walked up "The Mall" with our friends from Germany until we arrived at Trafalgar Square.

After resting a little at Trafalgar Square for a quick lunch break, we walked to Hamleys Toy Store. This is the largest toy store in the world. There are 6 floors of toys!. What a child's paradise! After inspecting the various departments, we pulled Erika away, so we could see yet another museum - the British Museum.