Sunday--our last day in London and Rilie's birthday. We had big plans and had even decided we were going to tackle the London Eye. But alas, the weather wasn't exactly cooperative. But it didn't stop us.
Our priorities are right and we started the day off at the Hyde Park church. We really hoped to hear the gospel with a British accent, but as luck would have it, the Mission President and his wife from Utah were speaking. Kind of a let down, but the talks were good. We also saw Emily's brother Collin and his family.
Not far from the chapel is Harrods. Can you believe it doesn't open until 11:30? There was a big line.
We weren't really interested in shopping because we had a lot on our schedule so we settled for this picture in front. Then we broke down and bought ourselves some classy tourist umbrellas. It was pouring rain-with no end in sight.
The Hyde Park area is where I lived when I was in London for study abroad. It was fun to see it again. We fought the wind and rain until we finally caught a double decker bus. I thought I had a picture but I guess not. Everyone needs to ride one while in London. We didn't ride it far, just to Kensington Gardens.
Back in the day we would cut across the gardens to get to Kensington High Street and the BYU London Center. At the time, Princess Diana was still alive and I always hoped I would run into her. You would know if that ever happened because that would probably be my best story ever that I would tell to everyone. See the neat trick our cheap umbrellas perform when it's windy. (At this point, Rilie was on her second umbrella).
You can take a tour of the palace. We didn't, but we did use it as a refuge from the rain and an opportunity to take a few more pictures by a gate.
We checked the double decker bus off our list and needed to check "eat fish and chips" of our list too. This restaurant threw in a side of mushy peas. I love peas but I prefer them round and not mushy. It shouldn't matter but it does--it really does.
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By now it was obvious that it was going to rain the entire day so we scrapped any hopes of making it to 221 B Baker Street or Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station. The Eye was out too with the sky overcast. Our best option was to spend the rest of the day at the National Gallery. We put on some headphones and listened to information about a whole bunch of paintings. It was nice and we were super tired so it worked out just fine.
Some souvenir shopping and one last ride on the tube and that was it for London.
*Note: Rilie's looking pretty hot for an old lady!
