"Oi, there, you have your tick-ets?"

First of all, in utter heartbreak we had to cancel our trip to Paris where a beautifullllll hotel room awaited us. Due to the ash clouds, travel through the Eurostar has become more and more important, and, thus, expensive. The buses are all booked up. Although at first we were pretty upset, we have come to realize that this leaves us a greater amount of time to enjoy London and all that it offers. We tried everything we possibly could...but as a believer in 'signs', I just felt all the roadblocks were too big to ignore. I do truly believe that God as a reason for everything and there must be a reason why we could not continue our journey to Paris. Although it really does hurt my soul that my birthday trip to Paris is not going to happen on this trip.......we are planning on going this December!!!! Paris, anyone? (hrrumph, Sarah).

However, on the lighter side of things...
Yesterday we found a delightful tour bus company (one of those great, red, double-decker buses) - Big Bus Tours (which we fully recommend). It is a hop on- hop off and that is exactly what we have been doing for the last two days.

Yesterday we rode the bus for the full round (2 1/2 hrs.) and toured the Tower of London. The whole day was quite fantastic!

Today, my birthday, we hopped back on the bus and went for a ride to Buckingham palace where we joined a freee tourrr (thanks to our AWESOME bus company) and watched the precedings of changing of the guard. From our AMAZING tour guide (an adorable, older English gentleman) we learned TWO BIG THINGS - First, it has been announced in smaller English circle - not yet to American Media- that Prince William and Kate Middleton are announcing their OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENT, NEXT MONTH! Also, the opening of Parliment is next Tuesday - where the Queen rides in her royal carriage through the streets leading to the Palace, which meansss, we are going to see the Queen!!!!!

After this exciting news, we hopped back on the bus to Westminster Abbey (which is too lovely for words, and unfortunately, pictures as well- as they are not allowed.) It was truly a spiritual trip for us, as at the end of the tour we lit a candle in prayer. We saw the tombs of royalty (Queen Elizabeth 1, Bloody Mary, Mary Queen of Scots), actors (Lawrence Olivier), scientists ( Isaac Newton and Darwin) , and authors (Charles Dickens and Robert Browning, just to name a few).

After a quick hot dog, we hopped back on the bus for a ride back home to this adorable little internet cafe that resides just across the street from our hotel. And it's only 4 o'clock. We have many amazing plans for my birthday, so we are going to get to those. We love and miss you guys, sincerely!