Dragon fly

 

 

 

Not sure who got the photos.  There were so many dragon flies on the Dordogne River.  They were so beautiful! When we canoed, some landed on us!

A building in London

Near our first hotel in London on June 27th

Buckingham Palace

On Tuesday July 7th, we walked over to see Buckingham Palace. We timed it perfectly to see the changing of the guards.

 
 

The coolest part was when the band played "Uptown Funk."

 

The girls and the boy.

 

The Tower of London

We visited the Tower of London on July 6.

Founded in 1066, the Tower has been a royal residence, a prison, an armory, a zoo, and is currently home to the Crown Jewels and a tourist attraction. (See the entry in the Wikipedia for more.)

The Beefeater guarding the Crown Jewels

I read a book about Edward the IV so it was interesting to see the Tower where he and his wife were imprisoned.  The Bloody Tower is where their two sons were taken, held, and most likely killed. 

London eye (by Judi and Nick)

Selfie

View

From Nick's camera:

London with friends

 

In the British Museum!  (Sunday, July 5)

Highlights include, the Rosetta Stone, Mummy cats and Mummies.

 

The Rosetta Stone

And look! The Rosetta Stone tells us about the importance of cats!

French Beetle

 

Pretty fancy

Don't forget

To read Natalie's blog! She just wrote about London. Click this (really long) link to get to her post.

Or be a monkey

(Just found these from Nick's camera)  More monkeying around in the Eiffel tower.  It all started when the girls saw some other folks doing gymnastics in the tower.

Eiffel Tower

 

 
These were taken July 4th when we came back to Paris. And this ends the installment on the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower framed

Or levitate in the tower?

Or calisthentics?

Would you like to do pull ups?

 

Or just stand there?

 

 

Another view from the Eiffel Tower

In the Eiffel Tower, of course

Haven't you always wanted to climb the Eiffel Tower and then do this?

 

 

 

 

Climbing the stairs in the Eiffel Tower

Our itinery with some details

Our flight left at approximately 7 pm Pacific Thursday and arrived at noon GMT Friday. The first day involved lunch, riding the Tube from Heathrow to our hotel, checking in to the hotel, going to the London Eye, a short visit to a park, finding some dinner, and then going to bed (pictures soon).

On our second day, we got up at 4:30 am (jet lag is real!), got breakfast, packed up ('cause later in the day we went to Paris!), walked to the Museum of London, enjoyed it, had lunch, and took the Tube to the Train station to go on the Chunnel to Paris.  (We also got to see Platform 9 and 3/4s.) When we got to Paris, we met up with Brett, Geraldine, and Olivia. We eat our first french fries in France.  (Pictures soon.)


Day 3 Paris, walking around, resting (a teeny bit), a boat tour, and a bus tour. In France, we ate lots of bread and sorbet! 

Day 4 Paris, brunch, walking around, catching the train to Brive to stay in Dordogne. In Dordogne, we cooked dinner each night (we stayed in a farm house) and had wonderful food.

Day 5 Dordogne Region http://thekcompanyblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/fancy-french-mud-treatment.html (and a beautiful village)!

Day 6 Dordogne Region Sarlat (pictures soon) and the Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.

Day 7 Canoeing and swimming in the Dordogne river (pictures soon).

Day 8 Lascaux and a village (soon)

Day 9 Brive back to Paris and touring the Eiffel Tower (pictures soon)

Day 10 Paris to London to hang with our friends, the British Museum, a little Hyde Park (pictures soon)

Day 11 Hanging with our friends, the Tower of London, Harry Potter at Watford. (pictures soon)

Day 12 Changing of the guards, walking around London and getting to Greenwich (pictures soon)

Day 13 Greenwich park, Prime Merdian Museum, and lots of Hummus (pictures soon)

Day 14 Tube Strike and heading to Heathrow then back home. (Not sure I took pictures of this.)

It was an amazing and exhausting trip. Super great memories!

Other random notes:
We ate lots of french fries in Paris... We learned they put cheese in hummus in France. We loved cooking in the farmhouse and all the wonderful food.  (We put together fabulous dinners in one-hour or less... Amazing!) We loved the Prets in London! Thankfully, vegans didn't starve on the trip.  

Late at night in Paris

 

A shot from our Parisian tour at night. The Moulin Rouge on June 28th, our second night in Paris, third night of the trip.

In all her glory

 

 

 
More Eiffel Tower Pictures when we visit on July 4th and walk up the stairs, soon.  (We left Paris on June 29th, visit Dordogne, and then go back to Paris on the 4th.)

Keep scrolling down for all the pictures of the Eiffel Tower from afar.

These pictures were taken by Kira.