London: Trouble on our first trip back

by Jose · Published December 22, 2025 · Updated December 23, 2025

This is a picture of the x-ray of my mom’s broken arm. Not the first picture we expected to post from our first overseas trip in 3 years. It happened on the first day of the trip at the entrance to the Tower of London and it was just a simple fall when she tripped on a barrier they had put up. After consulting with the doctors in London and back home, my mom decided to soldier on at least through London and Paris. She is a trooper!

Tower of London Take 2

After our disastrous first day spent mostly at the hospital, we rallied to make up time on our second day in London. First stop tower of London

Our new travel companion (next to the Yeoman Warder) is Yashira, the daughter of Raul (my mom’s husband). This was her first time in Europe so my mom was determined she would at least get to see London and Paris even with my mom’s broken arm

Ornamental cannon from 1600s with carriage from 1800s

The Tower of London is actually a group of buildings but the White Tower houses the Royal Jewels (no pictures allowed) and several floors of medieval armor. In May 2025, they invited artists to create poppy displays to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII

Westminster Abbey: I See Dead People

During our previous trips to London, we managed to miss Westminister Abbey. It is stunning and nearly all (39 of 40) British monarchs since 1066 have been crowned here. Over 3000 people are buried or commemorated in the abbey including 30 monarchs. Tombs include the famous like Sir Isaac Newton and the unkown like the monks buried without any grave markers

*Lady Chapel is so pretty with its lace ceiling. It is where 15 monarchs are buried including Elizabeth I and her half sister Mary Queen of Scots*

Edward the Confessor. The first king buried at the abbey

There are a lot of tombs. The royal vaults get more and more elaborate as time goes on

Other London Sites and Fan-Boying for King Charles

We had seen most of the big sites on previous trips and our time was limited but we did check out the London Eye and of course Parliament and Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben is really the name of the bell). We did a tour of the changing of the guard and we saw King Charles drive by. I had no idea I was such a fan boy but we all were!

It was weird how excited we all got when we had our first royal siting ever. It does not look like much and he is on the other side but it was pretty cool nonetheless