England

I was lucky enough to go to a conference in Bristol, England.  I was able to go and meet with other organizations who provide wheelchairs around the world and discuss best practices and training opportunities as well as how to further collaborate.

I stayed in the tiny town of Axbridge in a charming Inn that was built in 1450!  1450!  America wasn't even discovered yet!  There was a beautiful church right outside the Inn and the bells would chime every 15 minutes,it was quite lovely, except for the night when jet lag caught up with me and I woke up wide awake at 1:30 am and never got back to sleep.  Laying in bed for 5.5 hours listening to bells chime every 15 minutes will drive you crazy, because you know exactly how much sleep you're losing.

This is the city center of Axbridge, such a charming very English place

St. John the Baptist Church, where the bells would toll.

The conference went from Monday - Wednesday, but I had gone all the way to England, I figured I had to take a couple days off work to see more than just the inside of a conference room in Bristol.

So I took a train from Bristol back to London on Wednesday night and had 4 nights and 3 wonderful days in London.  And because Adam flew so much for work last year and stayed so many nights in Hyatt hotels, we decided he should come and join me.

It was such a fun little trip. You can't do London much cheaper than we did it, considering Adam's flight and our hotel (a 5 star hotel mind you), were totally free.  But let me tell you London is soooo expensive!  Entrance tickets to the major sites, food and transportation really add up when your dollar is only worth $.60.   But it was so worth it.

Adam and I decided to spend our first night in London out on the Jubilee Walk along the Thames River.  It was chilly out, but we bundled up and enjoyed seeing this beautiful city all lit up!

Big Ben right outside the Tube Station

The London Eye all lit up at night

View of St. Paul's Cathedral from the Millennium Bridge

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

The Tower Bridge

Walking across the Tower Bridge at night, felt like I was in Disneyland, but it was the real thing!

Adam's a Diamond member, which means free night for us!

On our first full day in the City we saw a lot.  We definitely used our Oyster Cards on the Underground and got all around the town.  Our first stop was the Tower of London, which was just spectacular.  So much history, so many things you see replayed in movies and in books, all happened right here!  It was so fun to be a part of it.

The White Tower

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The crown jewels have been housed here since King Henry the III

World's smallest suite of Armor

Inside the White Tower

See that pretty green grass behind me, yeah, that's where they beheaded a lot of people including Ann Boleyn

Great Views

Loved this place - Oh and it was Valentine's Day - Best Valentine's Day yet!

After our morning at the Tower of London we headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral.  Another place rich with history, where monumental events have occurred (the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana) , people been buried (Winston Churchill) and war and fire have worked hard to destroy it's holy structure.  You aren't supposed to take pictures inside, but I snapped a few anyway...

The beautiful dome

We ended the day with a visit to The Tate Modern Museum.  Lots of great art and it was free!

View of St. Paul's from the Museum

And that's how we spent our first day in London!  We took a nap before finding some grub, but it was a great day.  Such a fast paced fun city with so much history.... Stay tuned for day two.