Wimbledon, Austin Powers, & Tea Parties

Our first picture for the trip...getting ready to board the plane to London...notice the 15 lb. bags on our backs!
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It's Tuesday, July 1, and this is the first opportunity we've had to hit up an internet cafe.  Unfortunately, of course, I've forgotten the sd card reader in the room, so no pictures yet. Yesterday, our plane arrived in Gatwick around 8:30am, and with check-in not being until 2pm, we had plenty of time to figure out the trains, find the area we were staying in (Westminster), and then wander around Buckingham Palace and St. James Park.  We looked for the queen but to no avail...and her flag wasn't flying on the palace, which told us that she wasn't home.  The park was beautiful, but Lauren and I were so tired that when we found an area full of beach chairs we quickly chose two and passed out in the sun.  We woke up to a guy telling us that the chairs were £1.50 ($3.00) to rent, so we politely said no thank you and left.  Good nap though!  Later we saw Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, figured out how to use a phone booth, and ate 'positive' ramen and rice bowls at Wagamama.  Today, we went woke to a fire alarm and it reminded us of the dorm days.  Eventually we made it out to go site seeing around lunchtime, and went to Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, and Covent Gardens.  For some reason they were celetbrating Cananda Day on the square...we'll have to look into that one.  Our goal tonight is to hit up some local pubs!  We've taken so many great pictures so far and can't wait to share them.  By the way, keyboards in other countries are quite challenging to type on...and there are no quotation marks!  Our rented time is almost up, so we'll check back in soon.  Love, Kathy and Lauren