London

Wednesday April 30, 2014

Today we left for Europe for four weeks! What?! I still can't believe it. This morning was kind of hectic. We got everything packed in our hotel in Seattle and then left to go to the laundromat to do one last load of laundry before our trip. When we got there we couldn't find Rusty's credit card, and we knew that the last time we had seen it was when I was holding it in bed at the hotel to pay a little fee to change our address. We rushed back to the hotel, told the front desk lady who gave us a key, and then ran up to our room. The sheets were torn off and already in the wash! OK, so not only is this a problem because our credit card is lost the day we leave for Europe, but also for lots of our reservations we had to show the card we booked with, and it was his! So I'm panicking!! I drop down on the floor and see something under the night stand and shove my hand there and... Luckily pull back the card!! Oh my word, what a huge blessing! Heavenly Father really was watching out for us, just like I'm sure He will a lot on this trip because I know we're going to make a lot of mistakes. Anyways, then we went back and did our laundry, Rusty got his hair cut, and we grabbed some Subway before filling up the rental car with gas and heading to the airport. We got through everything a lot faster than we had anticipated so we had a pretty long wiat (an hour and a half) before we boarded the plane, but we were just glad we weren't late and rushing around like crazy.

We got on the plane, Iceland Air, and took our seats right next to the window. We didn't sleep on the plane like we should have, so we were dead tired when we got to London. It was just so hard to sleep because it wasn't time for us to sleep at home and it was really bright outside. Then the strangest thing happened! Because we were so far North, when we were flying over Greenland we saw the sun just barely dip below the horizon and then about thirty minutes later it rose again! What. It was nuts!

Thursday May 1, 2014

We wanted to eat something that was native to Iceland because that's where our layover was so on the plane we got a sandwich that they said is a staple for them. Only within the past few years have they had access to fresh fruit and vegetables whenever they wanted them, so this sandwich was pretty similar to your basic ham and cheese. When we got to Iceland the plane landed out on the runway and the ladder came down and we all got off and then took a shuttle back to the airport terminals. We were so tired that all we wanted to do was sleep, so we looked around in the stores and then laid on a bench and tried to sleep. We couldn't because everyone was laughing and talking. Quite chipper for a 7am flight if you ask me. They were all blonde and really skinny too. Then we got on another flight, which we actually kind of slept on, and then we landed at the London Gatwick Airport. We went through the border control stuff and got our first stamps in our passports! Woo hoo!

Trying to sleep at the airport in Iceland

It was an interesting couple of hours trying to find or flat. We asked an attendant at the airport and he helped us get some Pounds and then get a ticket on a train from the airport to downtown London, where we took the tube to the little town our flat was in. We went to the office and got our keys, found the building, but couldn't find the room number. The manager told us it was on the sixth floor but we could not find it. It was probably a mix of being overly exhausted and being confused about finding our way around this new country, but we just kept looking down the same hallways and walking around the elevator. I tried about five times to find this magic room in the same hallway, just opening the door and then closing it hoping that things somehow changed. Eventually we tried the fifth floor and it was right there!

Our original plan for this trip was that we would not take a nap so that we could adjust better to the time... But we were so, so tired that we had to take a quick nap before we left again. We woke up feeling really confused and jet lagged, but excited to explore this new city! It was really rainy, but we rode the tube and went and saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Then we walked around and crossed a bridge over into a mall area. We are some sushi for dinner, super expensive but tasty. We were in a daze as we were walking around and we were so scared of getting hit by a double decker bus. We struggled knowing which direction they would be coming from and the driver was on the other side so it always looked like a ghost was driving them. I had white fabric flats on and as we were walking in the rain they started foaming! I think I had thrown them in the washer before the trip so maybe all of this water was bringing out some detergent.... So funny and weird to be walking around London like that haha. That night we went back to the flat and showered and then fell asleep.

The Underground. I felt like I was in the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter.

Yay Big Ben!

Foam!!

Now a little bit about the flat and our hosts. We stayed in Galleon's Point, which was an adorable little town/neighborhood that I fell in love with. Our flat was kind of run down and dirty, but we came to understand that was just kind of how they are in London because it's so old. There was a great view from the balcony of the River Thames. Our hosts were... Interesting haha. Not the friendliest folks, but I think that also just might have been due in part to the culture. They were very to the point and direct, whereas we do lots of small talk.

Our flat was on this street!

Our apartment was the fifth floor on the corner.

Thames River walk by our house!

The DLR to go to the Underground in downtown.

Weird flushing toilets ha.

Our room

View from our flat of the Thames

Friday May 2, 2014

So this morning we got a pretty early start and walked through the sunny little town enjoying the people out walking around and the huge double decker buses. It was a lot better when it was sunny and we had a night's rest behind us. We stopped by this cute bakery called The Crusty Loaf and met a sweet old English lady. I love everyone's accents. I ordered a delicious egg and sausage sandwich and Rusty got a ham sandwich that was pretty good. :) Not as good as mine, but he liked it better so it all worked out. :)

We also stopped at a little grocery store and picked up our Oyster Cards, which just allow you to travel on the tube without having to buy individual tickets for every trip. The grocery store was fun to walk around in. They call chips crisps, and fries are chips. We used our cards and rode the tube down to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and St Mary's Church. We walked around, but the line to get into Westminster was a few hours wait. So instead we went through St Mary's Church.

We had the play at the Apollo Victoria Theater later that night so we decided to walk over that way to find the theater so we would know exactly how to get there tonight. Then we went back and walked across the Westminster Bridge and looked at the London Eye. We decided we wanted to go to Borough Market because my friend who lived in London told me it was awesome, and the carrot cake is divine. So we put that into our tablet and started following the directions. We walked through little towns and neighborhoods, seeing lots of cool buildings, churches, and parks. We also saw telephone booths! The red, cute ones that I was so excited about setting! Only, they were disgusting and there was no way I would go in that thing. It smelled like urine and alcohol. Definitely not standing in it.

 

 

We walked around through these random streets for about an hour, and then popped out right next to the Westminster Bridge... Hahahahaha the GPS totally took us on a wild goose chase! Anyways, we eventually found the market. It was bustling and super busy and full of life and excitement. It was also fun because it was mostly locals there, and hardly any tourists. When planning our trip we knew that we wanted to do the touristy things, but also actually see the city how locals did. So this was a good sign! There were so many different things being sold. The vegetables looked wonderful and were so bright and colorful. There were some things I've never seen before! We wandered around enjoying the sights and smells and then happened upon the carrot cake. It was expensive, but we knew we had to do it. And oh. My. Heavens. I am so glad that we did! That is seriously the best carrot cake I have ever had. I don't even know how it can be that different. But it was unreal. It lasted about 3 minutes although it was a huge piece. Then we went and bought some fish n chips and then we went to a little park and ate it. I liked it with the malt vinegar, but I still thought it was pretty bland. Definitely a must thought while in London, so I was still happy!

Hahaha

Mail box!

I dream about this cake.

 

After our lunch we made our way to the British Museum using the tube. By this time in our second day we were feeling pretty competent about reading the maps and getting everywhere we needed to be. The British Museum was really cool! We saw all kinds of things, and it was free! London has over 240 museums and they are all free, and they are really wonderful. Here we saw the Rosetta Stone and incredible Egyptian and Greek collections.

The Rosetta Stone!

The Incredible Egyptian Collection

Assyrian gateways. These were placed at the gate of important buildings to protect it from evil.

And the Greek Collection

I instantly fell in love with this sculpture

Then we walked around on the London Bridge and made our way to St. Paul's Cathedral.

The London Bridge!

The view of the Tower Bridge from the London Bridge.

St. Paul's was so beautiful! We followed an audio tour looking at the different areas of the cathedral. There was the main floor, the whisper gallery, the dome, and the crypt. We visited all of the areas except the crypt because we ran out of time. (The crypt is a burial place). The whisper gallery is a large circular balcony that is acoustically set up so that you can whisper and be heard from every side. Then we climbed to the top, seeing the inner dome and then the outer dome. We just barely made it up to the top before they closed it down! The views of the city up there were breathtaking, even though it was a little cloudy. Then we made or way back down into the cathedral and decided to stay for evensong. The service was about to start and there were a bunch of empty seats right next to me if I just squeezed between the wall and the line of chairs, so I decided I would just go that way instead of going all the way around and having to crawl over people. I made it through, but a woman saw Rusty do the same thing after me and got really mad at him. And stinking Rusty just points at me and says, "I was just following my wife..." What?!? He totally threw me under the bus! The lady just looked at me and saw my horrified face and laughed. That was super fun. But it was really amazing to hear them singing in there like that so I suppose it was all worth it. :) We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the cathedral, so we only took some outside and walking down the stairs.

St. Paul's!

Views from the top of the outer dome!

Stairs making our way back down.

Then we made or way over to the British Library to see some manuscripts and things. By the time we got there, it had closed thirty minutes earlier. We weren't that depressed about it so we decided to go into this really cool building that we walked past and eat dinner there before going to the show. It turned out to be St. Pancreas Train Station, which is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. We ate dinner at an Italian place called Carliccio's, and it was really good. It already was tasting more authentic and a little different! As dinner went on, we realized that it was getting to be really close to time for Wicked... Like we might be late. We asked for the check and then walked very quickly back to the train station. We were checking the clock all the time now, so worried that we would be late and they wouldn't let us in. Then the dang tube stopped for a while because it was backed up. Ahhhh! We got to our stop and ran out of the station and to the theater. We made it! They took our tickets and we say down, literally five seconds before the show started. Relief.

OK, so I don't even need to say how mindblowingly awesome this show was. It was killer. Rusty and I were absolutely in heaven. I was so excited because this was a surprise I got for rusty because he had never seen Wicked but I knew he would love it. It definitely did not disappoint. What a fantastic night!

Saturday May 3, 2014

So here are some random but interesting things about London. An obvious one is that they drive on the left side of the road, but this also applies to walking. I can't tell you the number of times that I found myself fighting through large crowds because I was walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk or in the underground tunnels.

There are also a lot of weird that I think are funny, and they are serious.

• Litter (garbage)
• Lou (bathroom)
• Cheers (thanks/goodbye/hello/anything you want)
• Cheerio (bye)
• Give way (yield)
• Push cart (stroller)

Also, all of the women wear tights. Under skirts, dresses, jeans (you can see the bottoms when the sit down), shirts, everything. And the lights will turn yellow before turning red like they do here, but they also go yellow before they turn green. This makes it so all the cars are revving their engines and bolt from the line like it's a starting line and they are race cars. Some really crazy drivers here.

Today we slept in... We were so tired still! We slept until 11 after being out late for the play. On our way out we stopped at the little grocery store and bought some scones and got an apple turnover from the Crusty Loaf. We tried to do Westminster Abbey again, but the lines were super long again. So we walked around the area a little looking at the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye.

 

Crazy London booths

Then we decided to walk to Buckingham Palace and passed through St. James Park and Green Park. The Palace was cool but I was really mostly looking forward to seeing the guards. To my disappointment, they are really far back behind the gates now. :( I guess too many people bothered them haha. We still really enjoyed walking around the grounds and through the parks.

You can see the guards waaaaay behind us!

 

I loved the parks here! They were beautiful!

A lot of our time was spent like this... finding out where to go next :)

Then we decided to walk to get some cookies. I know it might sound crazy, but we had heard that Ben's Cookies were to die for, and because that carrot cake was so good we weren't going to risk missing it. We walked through a really fancy and rich area to get to an upscale shopping district that had this cookie shop. The cookies were really big, but Rusty got a little excited and got 7. I don't know why exactly, but I think it was around $20 ha. They were delicious though! And we got to try all different kinds. We were really hungry and because trying English food was not really something we felt was necessary (we had actually been warned away from it) we went into Subway. Here they have different kinds of bread, and their normal bread is more delicious and has more spices. They also have corn for salads or sandwiches, and really tasty salami- way better than the US.

After our lunch we went to Shakespeare's Globe Theater and walked along the south bank of the Thames. It was very alive and there were all kinds of street performers out. It was really fun and relaxing, and another time where we felt like we were one of the locals just enjoying the afternoon. Across the river you could see the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral.

 

St. Paul's!

The Globe!

That night we went back to Westminster Abbey. We knew there was just no way that we would be able to get in with the lines and we were going to be gone on a day trip to Stonehenge tomorrow, so today was the day! We found out that they were doing an Evensong performance, bit you couldn't wear shorts and Rusty had some on and we didn't have time to go home and change. We decided to just try to sneak him in, and hide his legs with a jacket haha. It worked though and we got in! It was incredibly beautiful inside, and hearing the music here was even more inspiring than in St. Paul's. It was one of my favorite things that I have done.

After that we went over to Tower Bridge. That was so exciting! I loved seeing it!! It was so cool. We walked across it, and watched the sun set on the river.

Then we got a sneak peak at the Tower of London. We are planning on going tomorrow so we just looked around the outside and it looked really fascinating!

Sunday May 4, 2014

This morning we tried to get to this building to buy tickets to go out to Stonehenge, but we were too late so we got tickets for the afternoon. Then we went and spent some time at the Tower of London. We didn't have very much time, just about an hour and a half. Then we lost some time standing in line. I told the lady that we only had an hour and she told me that was really pushing it but that we needed to see the crown jewels and the White Tower.  Usually the crown jewels have a huge line, but we were so so lucky and there was not a line at all. We saw all the crown jewels and expensive treasures of the crown. When we left the line was HUGE! We went into the White Tower and saw suits of armor and cool rooms throughout the castle. After we had enough time to wander around on the wall and through different towers, like the torture tower, which was really creepy and the prisoner tower.

Then we had to run home so fast! We had to get our bags because we were leaving for Paris after Stonehenge. We got to our station and ran all the way to our flat, grabbed our bags, checked out, and ran back. Our Oyster card ran out off money, ugh, so we had to stop and fix that. Then we got on the tube and went to the station. We were so close to being left behind, down to the minutes. We ran through Victoria Station like crazy people, scaring pigeons and people in all directions. We got to the building and the place we were supposed to line up was empty... We started panicking; we were only one minute late!! Rusty went in to talk to the office and when he came out he had a big smile on so I knew we were safe! They hadn't left yet!! Oh my word, I was so happy! We had too many close calls in London that's for sure.

Phew. Made it!

We got on the bus and took a quick little tour of London on our way out of town. We drove past Hyde Park (huge), and saw the US Embassy. This one is actually not on US soil because the Duke was being stubborn and refused to sell us the land for anything but the state of Florida haha. We also drove past Harvey Nichol, which was Princess Diana's favorite shop. It was down in that fancy shopping area where we got Ben's Cookies. Then we saw the Museum District, which is just an area with a lot of the many museums of London. Then we headed out into the countryside! Rusty and I decided that if we ever go back to London we will spend the majority of our time in the country because it is so beautiful and quaint. I loved it! It was just like I imagined it, only with HUGE fields of yellow Canola flowers!

After a soothing drive out away from the hordes of people, we reached Stonehenge!! We saw it from the road and I started getting excited. We were so far away that they looked a lot smaller than they really are and I was kind of disappointed, but it proved to be awesome up close! We unloaded and went to the visitors center. They had a cafe there and we were starving so we got some dinner. We ordered pasties, which I had heard were a big deal in England. They were like a hot pocket, but a little bland. They had some sweet sauce that was like a mix between ketchup and BBQ sauce that really helped it out though. I liked them but Rusty was not a fan. We finished off with some English Shortbread, which was a hit with both of us. Naturally.

After our dinner we got our audio guides and started walking over to Stonehenge. They had shuttles but we wanted to walk and it was so beautiful. We got there and started walking around the perimeter and listening to our guides. Nobody really knows why it was created, but there are some theories. It was created sometime between 3000-2000 BC. What I didn't know is that the stones aren't the only part of the monument! There is a ditch all the way around, and then there are large mounds built up all around it. Some people think that it was a burial ground, and there have been some cremated remains found there dating from 3000 BC. Others think that it was a religious site, and still others believe it was a place of healing.

On our walk

A grave?

Our first glimpse!

One of the most interesting things to me is that we have no idea how the stones were brought to this location, or how they were set up. Some of these stones come from just under 200 miles away! These are massive stones, and it is mind blowing to think about how they were moved and stood up. There are legends that the Devil, Merlin, a giant, or some other great power moved them and put them into place. Some of the rocks have acoustic properties that cause the rock to make a loud ringing noise when it is hit, which supports the theory that this was used for healing because some ancient cultures believed that acoustic rocks possessed healing powers.

Some of the stones are more unique and had a special purpose. One of these is the Heel Stone. During the summer solstice, if you stand in the center of the stones you will see the sun rise directly above this stone. Why exactly this is important, I don't know. But it is really fascinating to think about what they were thinking during the 1,500 years while they were setting this up.

Something else that I learned that was really fascinating is that there was one man's body found buried in the ditch around the stones. He is called the Stonehenge Archer because he buried with arrowheads, some of which seemed to have been the very cause of his death because they were found in his bones. Nobody knows why he was buried here; was it an act of respect, reverence, to warn others, or a sacrifice? I guess we will never know!

After we walked around the whole monument we spent a little bit of time in the visitors center before going back to the bus. As we started getting closer to London we realized that we were about twenty minutes late. The bus driver must have noticed too because he started driving like a maniac. Our huge bus was swaying as he weaved through traffic and around roundabouts. He reminded me of the crazy bus driver on Harry Potter. Eventually we made it back in one piece, but because we were late we had to hurry because our overnight bus was leaving for Paris. 

Trying to take a little nap on the way back to London

We went back to the Queen Victoria Station, which is huge and fairly open so we quickly changed Pounds to Euros, grabbed some "easy to eat on a bus" dinner, and cashed in the balance on our Oyster Cards. We went over to the bus station and it was really dirty and scary. It smelled bad and there were so many people squished in there that I wanted to die. We only had to wait about twenty or thirty minutes until it was time to load the bus, but then it was a mad dash because everyone wanted seats next to someone. I was so nervous I would have to sit by a stranger so Rusty and I split up because it was easier for one person to push to the front. Luckily, when I got on I saw that he had a seat next to him! Which is great because there were no more. We were on a big double decker travel bus and our seats were on the second level. It was really cool because we had sweet views, but it also was pretty tipsy which made me car sick. So I fought that for a while but luckily it didn't last very long. We tried to sleep but we couldn't get comfortable. We got to where we had to take the ferry and got off and had or passports stamped! The spot for the very was right next to the cliffs of Dover. Even though it was dark, the moon lit up those white cliffs and they looked like they were glowing! We spent an hour and a half on the ferry drifting in and out of sleep, and then we got back on the bus. We arrived in Paris the next morning at 8 AM!

On our bus to go to Paris!!!