The plane ride was bumpy but ok. As soon as we landed I couldn't believe we were actually here. I stepped off the plane shivering because it was a lot colder here than where I come from, and then the sun was blaring in my eyes. 

We walked through the airport following the signs that led us to customs. We stood in line waiting and finally got called up to the little desk area where a woman started checking our passports. I loved hearing her British accent. She stamped my passport last and when I walked through she said, "Welcome to London"!

We caught a bus and then trudged to the hotel feeling really jet lagged but I mean what can you expect? We all just had been on a plane for 8 hours. My oldest sisters, Dori and Corinne looked the nicest because they were brushing their hair right when we got to the hotel. My older brother Zak and younger brother Sam were horsing around trying not to break anything in the lobby. My parents and grandparents were trying to talk to someone at the front desk and my little sister was sleeping in the stroller we pushed down the street. I was sitting here trying to take it all in that we were actually here in the city of London. 

"Get up!" 

"What" Dori said. I glanced at the alarm clock, 6:30am. 

"Uggghh" I groaned and rolled over. By now my mom was already opening the curtains and the sun was shining through. Today we were taking a tour of the city. My mom booked a tour guide that would show us around and tell us history about London, but right now I was too tired to care and I just wanted to sleep. 

We went down stairs and ate breakfast. Our tour guide named Johnathan met us outside followed by a bus. We climbed on the bus, I would call it. When we got on I noticed that Johnathan was looking at us like we were zombies, well we probably did look like zombies, we got barely any sleep last night because of the time differences. He greeted us and stated talking to my parents about what we were doing, I started looking out the window when suddenly, a loud burst of sound came from up front. Johnathan was holding a microphone and started talking about all the buildings we were passing. Still, I was too tired to notice and once again I drifted off into space, and before I knew it, I was asleep. 

I woke up, my neck was hurting, but then I looked up and that’s when I saw it. I stood up. My eyes glued on the window. I didn't even hear what Johnathan was saying because everything just shut out. It was tall and all the detail on it was magnificent. It was Big Ben! 

We walked around all sides of Big Ben. It was more beautiful then I imagined. Every little detail seemed to be put on the right place. We all gathered around taking pictures and admiring it. I learned that the bell inside was actually called big ben and that it was made in the same factory at the Liberty Bell. Also, I thought it was really cool, the bell was first chimed on the 11th of July 1859. The bell itself is 7 feet and 6 inches tall.  But what was really amazing was actually being right there to see it.

The rest of the day we walked around exploring. We saw little shops on the side of the street that sold everything of all sorts. Then everyone was pretty tired and hungry so we got dinner at a really great Greek place then headed back to the hotel. 

The next morning, I woke up with a smile on my face I was so excited! Today we were going to the London Eye and see the crown jewels! I couldn’t wait to get out in the city again and see everything. 

Everyone had a better morning today because we have been here for a couple days and got used to the time difference. We took a boat over because we had to cross the river Thames. We saw the London bridge, and then we finally docked. Everyone got off and we started heading towards the building with the jewels. We couldn’t take pictures but wow, everything was so beautiful. We saw the crowns that belonged to the queen and once she died it would go on to her son. We also saw the gold and silver plates that the royal family would use when they were having a fancy party or banquet and the bowl that all of the royal children are baptized with.   After we saw the jewels we saw a castle that hundreds of years ago people would use for protection. Then we hopped on to a double decker bus and headed back to the center of London to ride the London Eye.

At first when I saw it I was so excited to get on, but when we got in line and people started talking out how tall it was and how it’s the biggest Ferris wheel in the world I started to get nervous. What if something happened?  It took a half an hour for the whole thing to go around. But when I got on and we started getting higher and higher, you could see everything!  We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Saint Paul's Cathedral. Everything was just so beautiful. And right as we reached the top the sun was setting on the city and that very moment looking out into the world made me just want to stay in that moment forever.

I couldn't believe it's our last day here, it feels like we only got here yesterday but our trip was ending and tomorrow we would be going home. 

We packed up a little then went down to breakfast and then met Johnathan for our last tour. Today we will be going to Stonehedge and King Henery's the 8ths palace. I was very excited because we would be able to actually go inside and see some of the different rooms of his palace. 

Stonehedge was a long drive but it was worth it. Seeing those big rocks piled high on top of each other made you wonder how people did that 5000 years ago?  The tallest rock was 22 feet tall and was actually in the ground to give it more support. Some of the stones weigh 25 tons which equals about 12 elephants!  We stood there listing to Johnathan describing the history and walked around all the sides. It's still a mystery how people got those stones there.

We left Stonehedge and drove a little while to the palace. When we got there, it was a little crowded but we all stood for 10 minutes admiring the outside.  Everyone walked inside and it was so big it was like 2 palaces put together. We saw the kitchen that had 4 big fire places, and we saw the bedrooms that were big and had gigantic beds. But my favorite part was the gardens. It was so gorgeous. It had all different color flowers and plants of all sorts, and it was so big. If I had a garden like that I would spend hours staring at everything and admiring it because that’s how beautiful it was. Gardeners still tended the gardens and kept it nice and neat. We stood there gaping at all the flowers and taking pictures till it was time to go, we still had to drive for another hour back to the hotel and pack and take one last look at the city. 

I stared out the window watching as everything flew by and I was sad we were leaving tomorrow because I had fallen in love with the city of London and I had only been here a week. 

We got dropped off at Trifolgos Square, the center of London and I took one last look at the lion statues that were there as battle trophies and the big water fountain in the center. I said goodbye to all the little shops and the street that had inspired JK Rolling while writing Harry Potter, then we headed back to the hotel.

Everyone packed everything up, my tea set I got, all the souvenirs we bought for people, the shirts we got, till everything was gone except the clothes we were wearing tomorrow. It was sad to think that I probably won't be back till I was older and I would probably would have forgotten everything except the memories that were made.

I woke up before anyone else and got dressed and got all my stuff together. A little while later we left for the airport. When we got to the airport my parents got all our bags checked and we all went through security. After everything was checked, we all walked slowly on to the airplane because no one really wanted to leave, but everyone knew the trip was going to end and we would have to leave. 

I sat down next to the window and looked out, the plane started moving and then it was up in the air. I gazed out and saw everything we did, and thought to myself altogether this was an amazing trip and one day I'll come back because after all there's no place like London.