After months of planning, we finally arrived in London!! Before we left Heathrow Airport I picked up two Oyster cards* for us to get around in London, and we headed to our first tube station. This was going to be an adventure!

     We arrived on Thursday and the Rick Steves London tour didn't start until Sunday afternoon, so we had a few days to play with. It was two train rides to get us to within blocks of the Kensington Suites Hotel which was where we were staying the first three nights. After checking in we took a stroll through the neighborhood, absorbing everything around us, then ate supper at a Thai restaurant.

       Friday morning we headed to Portobello Market in Notting
 Hill. It is very well attended by tourists and locals and it's a huge
 market. After a day of shopping and navigating the buses, we
 went out for supper and the theater. We had a delicious meal at
 Paradiso E Inferno on The Strand in the theater district, which
 both mom and I would recommend! The restaurant was less than
 a block from the theater and both were only a couple of blocks
 from the tube station, so it was a relaxing evening. We couldn't
 resist taking pictures with the bright red telephone boxes.

        We saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
 at the Adelphi Theatre. From the fourth row, it was a great
 experience in a lovely theatre. Lee Mead, who played the title
 character, had been chosen through the reality talent show
 'Any Dream Will Do'. Many people shared this with us--they
 were very proud of 'their' Joseph. 

       Saturday we went to the National Archives in Kew. It was a nice walk through a neighborhood of
one and two story homes with walled front gardens.

       At the National Archives we spent time looking for our ancestors. Unfortunately we didn't have much luck; we found some information that may be related to our family but haven't confirmed it yet.

         The bus tour allowed us to see many sites as we drove back and
  forth over the Thames River and through the streets (see photos on right).
  It was interesting to see the beautiful old buildings with newer ones built
  right next to them. Where but England would you see the Charles Dickens
  Coffee House and The Sherlock Holmes Restaurant (both below)? We didn't
  realize it yet, but they don't have street signs on posts as we do in the
  U.S., they have street name plaques on the corner buildings, as seen in
  the picture below--the Charles Dickens Coffee House is on Wellington
  Street (see plaque by upper window).