Outside the Cavalry Museum by St. James Park














Texas Embassy Cantina

View from Trafalgar Square down White Hall Road







View from walkway over the Thames

Street performers by Jubilee Gardens (sure you can tell who he's supposed to be...)

Good advice from the bus

Outside the main entrance to the Penrhyn Road campus

John Galsworthy Building - where Travis' classes are located

Kingston upon Thames- outside our first Travelodge hotel.. we are now around the corner

Here are some pictures from our arrival finally! There are so many more but only 5 can be added at a time. We'll share more later.

Renee: So today the Time 2 Move people have told us the references still aren't completed. Hopefully they will be done tomorrow so we can move out of the hotel. I'm looking for jobs and have received a call and email from a couple of job locaters for social work. The problem is you have to be registered and to do that being from the US you need a degree in Social Work. One agency still sounded like they would be able to find a job with Social Work support. Some of the other jobs I'm interested in you need to have an address for the application so I have to wait. We also have to wait for an address to open up a bank account here.

Yesterday in Central London was really great! We road the SW trains into Waterloo Station. Walked over and saw the London Eye ferris wheel (largest in the world) and ate lunch in the Jubilee Gardens. We watched some street performers then went across the Thames. We then walked to the Trafalgar Square where there was a concert happening. The statues of lions were kind of blocked by fencing but it was still an impressive square. Travis remembers going there with lots of pigeons. The National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery are in the square and free so we will see that later. From the square you can see Big Ben. We walked up Cockspur and before going up Haymarket we found the Texas Embassy Cantina!! :) Next stop was the Piccadilly Circus. This is a square that marks the start of the entertainment district to the south (we walked through and saw several theatres). They also have the big Times Square like signs on a few buildings. We then made our way to The Mall (road to Buckingham Palace) and walked through St. James Park. My mom would love all the flower beds in the park! The picture of Travis on a barrier block is at the other end of St. James park from Buckingham Palace. The lake in St. James Park has over 40 breeds of waterfowl and it was fun to watch all of them get fed and swim. There were also lots of squirels being hand fed. The walkway through the park is called The Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Walk. We made it to Buckingham Palace next! It was really amazing with great statues and black and gold fencing. Apparently there aren't always the guards with funny hats out there... they have changing of the guard ceremonies either everyday or every other day depending on the season. Travis said he had seen this before and it was very long and drawn out. I still want to see the funny hats! We then went down Birdcage Walk towards Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminister Abby. All appeared to be in the middle of restoration on the outsides but were still great! It was getting dark so went and ate at the Texas Embassy and then back home to the hotel!! Oh and we road on a double decker bus and it was crazy!