LONDON, DAY 1

We've only got a couple more months here in Europe and what's the best way to end this experience?  With an incredible 9 day trip to London, of course!  We found cheap tickets out of Palermo direct to London Stansted.  The flight was only 2 1/2 hours, but it took over 8 hours including all the drive time.

When we stepped off the plane in London we were immediately hit with cool, brisk air that put smiles on our faces.  The temperatures there stayed in the mid 60s to low 70s during the day and it never rained.  The weather was perfect!  We stayed in a nice comfy hotel in Harrow.  It was very affordable and the staff was fantastic.  The only downside was that it was about 45 minutes by train to city center.  We had to get up early to get out in the morning, but it worked out fine!

The first day I had planned to go on a basic walking tour of London to get us familiar with the city.  We headed out early on the tube.  Dexter was excited to ride the choo choo!

We met up with the tour at Piccadilly Circus, the times square of London!  It's the coolest square with lots of people, shops and restaurants.

Our guide was great!  She's super smart, but hyper and silly!  Lots of fun!  We walked through Trafalgar Square:

Dexter got to pet one of the guards horses.

Here we are at Downing Street, where the prime minister lives!

War memorial tribute to "The Glorious Dead."

Here we are at the Houses of Parliament!

Dexter loves Big Ben!  He enjoyed pointing it out whenever we went by or saw an image on souvenirs.  Right now he's standing by me shrieking, "There's Big Ben!!!"

We saw Westminster Abbey.

And we walked through St. James Park on the way to Buckingham Palace.  This was Dexter's favorite park in London because there is lots of wildlife.  We saw so many squirrels, ducks, geese, swans, seagulls and pigeons!

Here's Buckingham Palace!

I missed Lily.  I wish I could have shown here where real royalty lives!

After the tour, we cut through Green Park and looked for a place for lunch.  No pigeon was safe in Green Park, or anywhere else in London while Dexter Andrews was in town!

We had lunch at Planet Hollywood near Piccadilly Circus.  I was excited to see R2D2:

Peter Sellers memorabilia from the Pink Panther movies:

And Han Solo frozen in carbonite!

We spent most of the rest of the day shopping.

Our tour guide told us about this great 5 story toy store nearby so we went searching for it.  Dexter was in heaven!

Until it was time to leave.

My favorite part of the store was the life sized Lego royal family.

Especially the Lego queen!

By this time we were all so tired.  But we didn't want to stop walking around, there was so much to see!  Carnaby Street ended up being one of my favorites.

This is made out of M&Ms.

We had dinner at Covent Garden, another amazing place full of street performers and market style booths.  We ate at Punch & Judy Pub, an old classic.  We had our first Steak & Ale pies!

It was a wonderful first day, but we were pooped.  We headed back to the hotel.

Dexter is gorgeous.