No tea with the Queen

On our way back to the US, to break up the very long flights, we stopped over in London for a few days of sightseeing. Clearly, we were not able to see all that London has to offer, it is such a great city, but we did see a few of the 'musts.'
Because we arrived the week before the Diamond Jubilee, the Queen was not available for tea, so no High Tea for the traveling threesome, and since Mamma does not drink beer, no pints either - yet despite these shortcomings, our time in London was fabulous.
We visited the British Museum, and the boys spent hours drawing the various artifacts they saw on display, at one point I had to remind them that we did not have days to spend in the museum and had to keep on going. The British Library left us in awe over the many old documents still in existence - what would have happened if Mozart, Handel or the scribes of Magna Carta were as eager to purge and not save as this family tends to be? We visited the National Galleries and once again had to cut the art studies short in order to see the St Paul's Cathedral, where we did get some serious exercise climbing all 532 steps to the very top. We hoofed across the famous bridges, ate lunch in the shades of the Lion statues at Trafalgar Square, got really good at navigating the double decker bus system and often had front row top of the bus seats allowing us to sight see while resting weary feet. We learned a lot about World War II while visiting the War Rooms and were happy to walk out alive from the Tower of London. To recap our three whirlwind days we ended up doing the 360 London Eye tour, and excitedly being able to identify and locate Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other landmarks we had passed by on our city tour. We enjoyed the finest of pub food and the best of Italian ice cream, and walked through the large toy store to marvel at the Lego models ready for the Jubilee. 
We happily flopped down in the airplane seats for the 11 hour flight back to California - finally getting to rest our tired feet for more than 10 minutes.
Although we had a fantastic time, the boys could not wait to see Bob and despite 18 hour plus of traveling and jet lag they could not stop talking, telling Bob EVERYTHING, and before we headed to bed, we had to unpack the largest chocolate box ever, and of course try a piece. What a fun trip; however there is no place like home.