Got to Heathrow Airport, had lunch. Neither of our phones worked off WiFi. Flew to Paris. Neither of our passports worked on the scanner in Paris. Had to bypass and go straight to the police who stamped our first country in our passports.

Had to troubleshoot with Verizon in the taxi. Taxi driver said he didn’t speak English but he gave us a flat rate and said he accepted credit cards. At the hotel, he switched and wanted cash which we didn’t have pounds yet. Dad pushed back. Turns out, he had a card reader. I bet he speaks English.

Hotel is a nice boutique hotel convenient to walking to places.

Got settled in and then headed out, realized I forgot to bring my sunglasses. Ugh. Went straight to the Eiffel Tower. Lots of people!! Can’t wait for the tour.

Walked some more and already started to get blisters. Luckily I packed foot pads. Stopped to get those on and they helped so much.

Went to the Arc de Triomphe. Didn’t have tickets but we thought we would check. Got in line and got tickets!! 283 stairs and most were spira but we made it. The city looks amazing up there. Gregg had so many extra stories to tell me.

Found a cute restaurant with outdoor dining looking at the Arc. Gregg didn’t like his steak but loved the original French onion soup. We both liked the upside down grilled cheese and baguettes. People smoke in restaurants in Paris.

Walked back to the hotel. Did some planning for tomorrow and even though it is 3:30 in Pittsburgh,we are going to bed!!

Found out that there was a change in operating hours and wouldn’t be opening until 11:15. Our tickets were at 11:00. The information person told us that no one with a ticket entrance before 11:30 could go in and we needed to ask for a refund. Bummer. So we walked around the grounds. Amazing!

Continued our walk through the Tuileries Garden. They have the Paris 2024 Olympic flame with the balloon it use to lift it.

Realized last night that I forgot to pack my sunglasses so I bought some. It’s a beautiful sunny day today!!

Sat at the Bassin Octagonal for little while while Gregg told stories of the Revolution and the be-headings. Saw pictures of the Olympic venues that were set up there. Road the train back successfully and had lunch at a bustling cafe. Dining has been my favorite part so far. I’ve learned that things that should be cold are warm and things that should be hot are also warm. I also learned to not leave almost finished items. They will get snatched by the waiter/waitress.

Headed back to the hotel for a quick rest of the feet and a nap.

Tonight is our boat cruise on the Seine. Needed to exchange money but trying to find an open bank or one that does it has been difficult. No Euros yet.

Got turned around getting to the Eiffel Tower and ended up walking an extra 30 minutes. My feet were not happy.

Also finding our tickets for the tours has been challenging. Boat and restaurant kept sending us to the wrong place. Finally a nice lady helped us out and then gave us priority entrance. We got the top row in the front!

Dinner was amazing. The things they do with bread!! After dinner, we strolled the Seine river walk. Saw some night clubs. Very interesting not knowing a single word hundreds of people were saying.

Sat at the base of the Eiffel Tower and people watched. Realized the Tower is lit when it gets dark, so we stayed for that. Except it gets dark after 10pm.

Then we realized that they make it sparkly every five minutes past the hour so we had to kill about an hour. Found a small restaurant and grabbed a quick beer then went back.

So, 11:15pm we headed back to our hotel. Ended up walking 8.75 miles today after 5.13 yesterday. I have blisters I am trying to control.

Our tour about Napoleon got canceled tomorrow because of a political demonstration at the place we were going and the tour company won’t do the tour. Got to figure out a new plan for tomorrow.

It’s 12:47am. I’m going to bed!

Before shopping, we stopped at a local restaurant, had lunch and people watched. This was a different feel and there were a lot of people speaking English. There were so many stores that we have but it was so cool to see them in their native country. Like Cartier, Dior and Eve Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton.

We only went into Louis Vuitton. We stood in line and a security guard let us in.

We were asked if we wanted a personal shopper to help us. Wow, the store was amazing.

We headed back to the hotel for a quick phone call to Verizon since Gregg’s phone won’t roam. Ugh. Still doesn’t work.

Walked to get our Eiffel Tower tickets and to a restaurant recommendations by co-pilot. Gloria’s. The food was so good and our waitress was cute. She was giddy because her mom was there. She gave us complimentary lemon shots! Finally got to tip. She was very excited to receive it.

Went to the tour location. Had to wait so we went to a souvenir shop. Mom and son were fun to talk to and we bought our Eiffel Tower ornament. Metal one, not the 1 euro the street guys sell.

Got our tour guide, Sol, from Argentina. She was fun to listen to. Heard the full story of the Eiffel Tower.

Nothing like big pink stickers to mark you as a tourist!

The view on the Eiffel Tower is amazing. The tour took us to the second floor and ended. Said goodbye to the tour and went down to the first floor. There was a bar there so we got two drinks and enjoyed being in the middle of the Eiffel Tower.

I didn’t like the glass floor.

We decided to go down the stairs. Sol said it takes three minutes. So off we went. A little scary.

But we survived!!

Another long day, walking 8 miles. Tomorrow starts early with three tours.

We got off at Hotel de Ville, the city hall of Paris. It’s really stunning in person.

Enjoyed a chocolate eclair and a spectacular bakery something. Gregg learned that coffee in Paris is an expresso.

We headed to our Notre Dame tour.

Learned from our tour guide Amber, from South France, that the kings on the building were beheaded at one time. Yes, the sculptures of the kings on the building did not have heads. They founds some of them during restorations. And yes, this is a church! The French loved to behead people.

We toured the island first. I learned about the bird market. I thought they ate them. French were desperate for food back then so it was an honest question. Turns out they were for pets, thank goodness. Gregg at the first water fountain in Paris.

Notre Dame is beautiful inside.

You can’t speak in there. A recording tells you to “shhh”.

After Notre Dame tour, we left for Saint Chappell. It was the king’s royal chapel. The stain glass is beautiful. Again. No talking.

.Next, we went to the Conciergerie. It’s the former courthouse and prison in Paris. Gruesome stories about prisoners drowning on the first floor during “floats”, flooding. This is were Marie Antoinette’s prison cell was. Gregg was filling in history stories.

I learned that I don’t do spiral stairs well.

Time for lunch and a little rest.

Next, we went on a walking tour with the same guide, Amber. She walked us everywhere and each little section of towns were so different.

We need to look up Madison Faust to see if we are related. It’s in Marais and is \240the oldest house in Paris. It’s now a restaurant.

This is inside of a church and the words were written in something that cannot be erased. They don’t know exactly what that is.

We ended at Bastille and there was a Free Palestine demonstration going on.

Back to the hotel for some rest.

Finally turned on the TV. Shows are funny. Watched a little Tour de France. Had to!!

Had a very nice dinner at the Renaissance Hotel.

Stopped at a sidewalk cafe for drinks and an amazing dessert.

It was a really great day!

Sylvia sat with us on the train. She’s from California. She was fun on the tour.

Got off the train and it was cold and I had a jacket on. Had to buy a sweatshirt. Tourist! It was windy and rainy. Listened to Sylvia bargain with a street vendor. She won. Before we even got to the entrance, my feet were soaked. Not great for blisters.

The Palace of Versailles was really big. The picture does not capture how beautiful it is.

Our tour with the guide was in the gardens. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how we could spend two hours in the gardens in the wind and rain. But our guide and group were fun. Everywhere we turned in the rows of bushes was something. Fountains, waterfalls, ponds, mountain carvings. It was amazing.

Our tour ended end and we entered the palace. Sylvia had a knife, lol, so we said goodbye.

The king’s bedroom was so regal.

And Marie Antoinette’s

I appreciate the Castle Impossible show so much more know. So much fabric on the walls!

Had lunch in Versailles in the pouring rain but still outside. Big French hamburger that was called a hamburger even though it had cheese on it with “French” fries.

We left Versailles with lots of stories. It was fun! The train had some shady guy everyone was trying to stay away from. We decided to go to the Museum of Army’s and Napoleon’s tomb since our tour was canceled.

We walked to the train passed the Seat of Foreign Affairs in the Invalides. Lots of guards. Stopped for a beer on the river. Got trapped briefly in the bathroom, lol!

Headed back to the hotel on the train. Found out we have been pronouncing our station wrong. Ticket person thought we were crazy. Missed the right street exit again. You would think we would have figured that out already.

Cheese and crackers in the hotel room tonight. Not hungry and exhausted.

8.3 miles! Not an easy day.

We walked so much my jeans bleed on my shoes!

Early bed tonight… well 10pm.

Had a great lunch, quiches. Gregg ordered a large beer. 100cl is a very large beer! People smoke everywhere here.

Waiting for the rain to subside for we venture to Montmarte in my new shoes.

We have the hang of the train finally except my pass didn’t work. Gregg went through but I was rejected and we were at an unmanned station. This lady saw me struggling and held the gate open for me. So nice!

We went early to check out the town before our tour. It’s a very quaint town. Very hilly. Lots of cobblestone streets. Not my favorite to walk on.

We found the wall of love, 250 different languages.

We tried a kissing picture and it took a few tries.

Turtle Gregg

Arm got in the way.

Person behind me makes it look like I’m wearing a veil.

Tada!!

We found the steps.

And the locks.

The city of Paris view.

The church.

And the most beautiful street!

Time for a cocktail across from Moulin Rouge before the tour.

Our tour guide, Catherine, and 5 others were taking the tour. It was a food tour.

Our first stop was a bakery for Marangie pastry cherry flavored.

Did the wall again.

Next was dinner. Amazing beef and potatoes with a cold glass of wine.

More beautiful views.

Saw Picasso’s house.

Found another fountain. Gregg told the story to the group.

Next was cheese. Apparently, the French end their meals with cheese, bread and butter.

Last stop was for a crepe. I got banana and Nutella. Interesting…

Ended the tour at the church and rode the tram down to the metro.

Came back to pack up.

Light walking day. Only 6.7 miles but my feet did better. On to London in the morning!!

Im amazed at how many Five Guys are in Paris.

Had to have our passports checked manually again. Apparently the passports issued in 2025 in the US don’t work.

Got in the Eurostar. Someone thought that we were in their seats. Turns out they were on the next train (Gregg figured that out for them).

The train ride was easy. It went super fast.

The rocking of the train put me to sleep. Gregg found the beer and chips.

Arrived in London!

Had to relearn a new subway system. Went to Visitor Center to speed up the process. She gave us instructions and off we went and found our hotel, club quarters in Trafalgar Square. It’s nice and the look I wanted.

We ate lunch at the hotel as we waited for our room to get ready. Had beers from Meantime in Greenwich.

And our food was traditional British, sheppard’s pie and sausage and mash.

We checked in and started meandering. The buildings are beautiful. We are in the political district and the police station, New Scotland Yard.

We walked to the river.

Saw Big Ben, the house of parliament, and the House of Commons.

Traffic here is crazy. You have to look both ways and be careful of the cyclists. They are everywhere and very fast on their bikes. We walked across the bridge that was built for Queen Elizabeth’s 75th jubilee.

Saw a bar on water so we decided to check it out. Very crowded with after work people.

Eavesdropping here is fun. Guy was offered a job working for the king as an advisor for 28k pounds! He turned it down because he didn’t think he had much to advise. He took a 40k pounds job instead.

Walked back to the hotel. The OWO, the original war office.

Whitehall Court

The Horse Gardens

We got back to the hotel and just stood outside. The cars look like clown cars and lots of double decker buses.

Gregg walked to walk so more but my feet are terrible so we went to the bar. Had two old fashions, Mac and cheese and Truffle ravioli. Yum. Had great conversation with the bartenders. Came up to crash. 5.71 miles today.

We saw a Bobbie. They were everywhere.

Walked past Westminster Abbey. I can’t wait for the tour. Made it to Big Ben and heard the bells at 11:00.

Took awhile to get on the cruise boat but it’s a beautiful day so we didn’t mind.

We didn’t leave until after 12:00 so we got to hear the bells again.

Here is the boat bar that we went to yesterday but a view from the boat.

Lots of views from the boat. The guy narrating our journey was funny.

St Paul’s Cathedral

London Bridge

London Bridge was actually falling down. They removed it piece by piece and it is now resurrected in Arizona.

HMS Belfast shot the first shots in WWII on Normandy.

Tower Bridge

London Bridge. It has a glass floor.

Butler’s Warehouse, world’s largest tea warehouse.

Had lunch in Greenwich at a traditional pub. Gregg got fish and his fries looked like potato squares. Lots of smokers here too.

Climbed the hill to a beautiful view including the Queen’s House.

Getting into the Observatory was expensive so here it is from outside the gates.

Back in the boat with a different narrator. He was just as funny but he had different stories. We also had different views of the London Bridge.

And the London Tower. Sounds like a lot of bad things happened there.

The Shard, when built, was the tallest building in Europe.

We went back to the hotel for an hours rest and was supposed to go to Sherlock Holmes Pub for dinner. But there was an alley next to it so we went wandering. Found all kinds of shops and restaurants.

Found Benjamin Franklin’s House.

Princess of Wales restaurant.

And then we found a beautiful park. Lots of people hanging out, eating on benches and in the grass.

The trees were enormous.

We found a fun bistro and stopped. We got a charcuterie board and some cocktails. It was a lovely dinner.

We finally walked to Trafalgar Square. Its bigger than I thought. Lots going on there.

The Cabinet Offices.

This is as close as we could get to 10 Downing Street. Lots of security since Macron is here meeting with King Charles and Prime Minister Starmer.

Cute lamp post. I looked it up and it is a cenotaph, which means empty tomb.

Got back to the hotel to prepare for a very early morning tour at 7:55AM.

Since we were on the boat most of today, only 4.3 miles and a few new blisters. I’m almost out of feet pads, ugh.

We jumped on the Circle Line to the Tower of London.

We were early so we went to the park. They had a sun dial clock with a London timeline.

We found a plaque about William Penn who was born in the area.

We met Leon for our Tower of London tour. We had a cute family with us and the mom was trying to hunt down their luggage. The younger girl was not happy with her new outfit. We started the tour outside of the Tower with him describing the surrounding buildings. There was a security delay so we had to wait to get in.

Once in, Leon gave us some background on what jewels are in the tower. While he spoke, there was a changing of the guards.

In the Jewel House, you can’t take pictures so I looked up images of what is in there that I was interested in.

King Charles

Queen Camilla

The main part of the Tower of London is White Tower. That’s Leo in the picture. It was a palace, a fortress, a prison, and a treasury.

This is the Fusilier which was for the officers to guard the guns at the tower.

The officers, called Yeoman, have to have served for at least 22 years and apply. They and their families live here. They have to pass a speech test to speak to the public.

I thought they were funny.

They have scary ravens that must be there. Have to have 6 at all times. They are large.

We saw the torture exhibit. I took Zero pictures. People were awful back then.

We had a quick lunch outside of the tower.

Next, a tour of Westminster Abbey. We were early and sat in the parliament park. Lots of school groups here. We met up with our tour guide, Natasha, from Russia. She was very energetic and demanding of people in our group.

We answered her trivia question right, Big Ben is only the bell. The tower is called Queen Elizabeth Tower. We received a hug. On to the Abbey.

We went in around the back.

Inside the Abbey. You could take pictures of anything.

Natasha is the one with the blue lanyard. She insisted that we sit down because we were not paying attention.

It’s hard to tell, but this is the ceiling.

These are King Charles and Prince William’s flags.

I didn’t take any pictures of the gravestones, but the Abbey is full of people buried there. They are either royal, famous or rich. It’s basically a mausoleum. Not what I expected.

Lady Diana did not want to get married here so they wed in St Patrick’s Cathedral. St Patrick’s is apparently cursed. Interesting…

We left the Abbey for a two hour walking tour. This is an old building The government decided to tax people on the number of windows that they had, so people bricked closed their windows.

We walked through St James Park. It basically went from close to our hotel to Buckingham Palace. The park is enormous with lots of people. You could see the London Eye on one side.

And Buckingham Palace on the other.

This is called The Mall. It’s the road leading up to Buckingham Palace. We were excited to be there.

Natasha took everyone’s picture.

We sat in the grass and Natasha talked about Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and St James Palace. Clarence House is where King Charles and Queen Camilla live. This is St James Palace.

We then walked the street. Lots of high end shopping. This is where Queen Elizabeth got her favorite tea.

The tour ended. Time for some good fish and chips!!

Very long day. My feet are a “hot” mess. I’m running out of foot tape and bandages.

5.6 miles today.

We watched some of Wilmbleton, because it’s London.

Slept in until 7am this morning. Decided to see what a full English breakfast is. The hotel has then but it was 29 pounds each. So we went walking. Found a restaurant that had them for 34 pounds for the two of us. A full English breakfast is a lot. 2 eggs, some sort of sausage (yuck), mushrooms, hash browns, bacon, baked beans, a fried tomato, and a piece of toast with butter and strawberry jelly. I did say a lot, right?

We have a tour today at Windsor Castle. It’s an hour and a half bus ride. We left from Victoria. They had a cute clock but didn’t seem like a good area.

On the bus, my hair here is wild and it’s going to be 90 degrees today.

Windsor Castle

We started at St George’s Chapel where Harry and Meghan were married. You can’t take pictures but I snuck in two.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip are buried in the chapel. They are in the same grave along with Princess Margaret’s ashes. They are also buried with her mom and dad. I looked up a picture since I couldn’t take one. It looks exactly like this.

This is the outside of the chapel.

You can’t take any pictures in there either and I followed the rules. There were workers everywhere.

Windsor Castle felt like a smaller version of the inside of the Palace of Versailles. We walked through pretty quickly. It was really fun to be in the same room that the dinner was on Tuesday with Macron. No pictures so here is that from online.

This is the outdoor courtyard as we left.

As we left Windsor Castle, I realized that without a tour, the Castle just has stuff. We had the audio tour but it’s not the same.

We stopped for a beer. Mine was not cold. I had to ask for ice but it ruined the beer.

Another hour and a half bus ride. The driver was driving through neighborhoods with very little room at one point he reached over and closed a car mirror.

We returned super sweaty. It was hot! But it was late so we came back to the hotel for about 30 minutes and went to a true English Pub

The floor was beautiful!

Sent a cheers Happy Birthday to my brother.

My feet were troopers. Only 4.7 miles today so it was either less walking, more sitting, I’m learning to wrap my feet better, or my feet are finally getting used to the amount of walking.

And, Oh yeah, we remembered that this trip is for our birthdays. Happy 60th birthday to us!

We decided to circle the whole palace. It was quite a walk around, meaning far and lots of steps. The walk went to the Barracks side and where they have the Mews (transportation museum). We didn’t go in but it sounded cool.

This is the Wellington Arch, an entrance to Buckingham Palace.

We met up with our group and tour guide, Angela. Tour guides are awesome and quirky at the same time. Got some new insights from her.

This is the other side of Clarence House.

This is the other side of St James’s palace. This is princess Anne’s current London home. William and Harry have also stayed here.

This is where the proclamations take place. also, there is no doors so they have to crawl out the window.

This is Queen Elizabeth 1.

We walked back through the park over to Wellington Barracks. This is where the changing of the guard starts.

You can’t take pictures in Buckingham Palace. This is us after the tour in the garden.

We stopped for a beer on our way back to the hotel. Why aren’t any beers here cold? I had to ask for ice again.

We went back to the hotel for a break and decided to try the Southbank and the Anchor for dinner. This was a reconnection from the boat cruise. Apparently, Shakespeare came here. His theatre is done the street. We had more fish and chips. I liked mine. Gregg liked the prior fish better.

We walked the banks of the river home.

The end of day 12. We knew it would be a big walking day. 8.7 miles. But, a good day with my feet. I’m a pro at wrapping them by now!

But there are people everywhere.

Another day at Buckingham Palace.

We were in the mob to watch the changing of the guards. It was overwhelming.

Two very tall people blocked my view.

Good thing Gregg is tall!

I had to watch Gregg’s videos to see what actually happened. But I did get one photo.

We left the ceremony and I couldn’t wait to get out of the crowd. There is just so many people!!

We got on the underground and headed to Kensington. It’s a completely different area, super quiet, looks a lot more modern.

Here is the street view of Kensington Palace.

We walked around trying to find the Orangery. It’s actually in the Kensington Gardens.

We saw the lady Diana memorial on the way. I think it didn’t look like her.

We found the Orangery and we didn’t have reservations but they would seat us if we were willing to sit at the tables in the sun. Yes! We were warm. Got my fan out. But the restaurant was beautiful and we got to have afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea is small finger food and desserts. We added beers since we were so hot. It was the fastest beer I have ever had.

As we finished, I realized that my phone died and I was the only one with the tickets. Spent some time trying to get our voucher from Get Your Guide. We got our voucher. I was very happy.

While all that was happening, Gregg was talking to the manager. Our waiter accidentally gave us the wrong check and we paid someone else’s bill. They gave us pounds as the refund.

Kensington Palace inside looks like a big house. This is the first palace I could see living in.

Here is a view of the gardens.

They wore crazy clothes and Handle played music here.

The king’s bed.

Lady Diana

Crowns!

Kensington Gardens

We left Kensington Palace and where the underground was, there was this.

We got side tracked going to our hotel. This is Gordon’s Wine Bar. There was always a line to get in and so we thought we would try it.

It was really good and nice to just sit outside.

We went back to the hotel to regroup and charge my phone. Headed out for our evening walk.

When we got to the Westminster Bridge, it got a lot shady. First time I’ve seen it here. Got very uncomfortable and we went back to the hotel…bar.

Gregg found Basil Hayden. I had a Kracken and coke. The coke bottle was super cute!!

Although the day started not great, getting blocked from viewing the change of the guards and my phone dying, it ended fantastic! 7 miles today.

Everywhere is a Five Guys…

We tried to go to a donut shop but they were closed for five minutes, right when we got there. They looked incredibly sweet so we passed. We were in a hurry so we stopped at McDonalds, lol.

Ate breakfast with the lion at Trafalgar Square.

We headed in to see the horses. The outside guards were there but no horse changing of the guards.

Instead there was a band rehearsing for a show next week. It was really nice so we stayed for about fifteen minutes.

We headed next to walk the Tower Bridge. I got the ibeejeebies walking across it.nice views from it.

The London Tower.

The Tower Bridge.

Looking at the Londond Bridge.

We then headed to find Borough Market. We walked for a bit until we found it.

The market was amazing. Lots of shops and restaurants. We stopped at Burgers and Beyond for one of the best burgers we have ever had. Their beer was also good so I had two, which is a lot for me.

This has been Gregg almost the whole trip, trying to figure out where we were and where we were going.

Walking under the London Bridge.

We walked across the London Bridge.

For some amazing views of the Tower Bridge.

This was created in honor of the great fire in London.

Our most used underground station.

We decided to walk around the parliament building. It’s really beautiful.

This is the back of the Abbey.

The inside of a gate at parliament.

We went back to the hotel to rest, check in for our flight, and plan for the evening. We walked over to Trafalgar Square for a bar and some live music.

We decided to wonder and try and find Covent Garden Market. We found it and boy was it amazing. There were street performers and markets and shops and restaurants.

Everywhere we turned there was more.

We walked around for awhile, weaving through bustling streets. A ton of people. We ended up in the theater district and stopped at an Italian restaurant. We bought a bottle of wine and people watched. It was a little chilly so we were inside.

Of course there was a Five Guys. I actually googled and found there are 28 of them in the UK and the first one happened to be the one we were looking at.

We had a great waiter. He actually moved us to the window seat. We had our pizza and a salad and then out of nowhere, he gave us complimentary limoncellos. Second time this happened.

We finished the meal with a brownie with gelato and headed back to the hotel to pack. 7.2 miles today. Gregg thinks we will hit 90 before we get home. Not so sure.

I was in shock when they gave me a glass of ice! And the orange juice was already cold so I was confused.

Gregg had another full English Breakfast.

We used our cash to get rid of the pounds. That sounds funny. I wish getting rid of pounds just took cash.

We headed back to the hotel to finish packing and check out. Gregg was anxious so we left really early. Had to navigate the underground and overground to get to Heathrow.

We got there fine. Checking passports was easy but we had to ask where to go. Security tags my suitcase for have nail clippers and tweezers. I was hoping that I could rezip my suitcase. The security guard got a kick out of my red lady tweezers.

We walked around since we had 2 and a half hours before we even knew what our gate was. Found a bar. Not sure about eating so we didn’t. Interesting though that TripIt knew our gate before they posted it in the airport.

Walked around again and decided that eating was a good idea. Gregg of course got fish and chips. I had tacos.

It was time to board.

Had to take many elevators and escalators to get to our gate. I was glad to get on.

Bye London! It was so much fun!!