Westminster, Evening and Morning

After my really hot tour of the Olympic sites and Nathan's book store extravaganza, we met up in Westminster and joined our new friends, Danny and Jocelyn. Jocelyn is the sister of a friend from church, Alyssa. The newlyweds very kindly fed us and let us sleep at their place, which was about a two minute walk from Big Ben. They were so, so kind, and they reminded us both of our dear friends Luke and Laura, both in looks and in mannerisms. 

We went on a pre-dinner walk around Westminster.

My love's silhouette

I love the light shining through the windows of Parliament.

That night, Nathan told me that he was going to go for a run in the morning, just so he could say he went for a run in Westminster. I told him to have fun. However, at 5:45 I awoke to Nathan whispering to me, "I can do hard things!" So, I went. I am neither a runner nor a morning person, so this was a big deal.

Holla! It's before 06:00 and I'm exercising!

This is what it looks like with no traffic.

He is so, so proud of this shot.

I whip my hair back and forth.

Big Ben says that 06:20 is a great time to stop and take a picture. We look tired. And hot.

Next stop - Windsor Castle and Eton!

My Olympic Tour

It was the first day of our vacation, and I was PUMPED. I planned to go on a tour of the Olympic sites with a friend from Bakersfield, Shannon. Nathan wanted to go to a used book store. Geneva Books is actually 30,000 volumes of theology and church history in the charmingly eccentric Colonel Underwood's house. We  took off from Durham at eight in the morning with the vision to part ways for the afternoon. My tour was at 2:15. Surely it wouldn't take more than six hours to get to London, right? Wrong.

Driving in London is so stressful. We flew down to the outskirts of the city in about four hours, and then we sat in traffic for more than two. The heat was stifling, and we don't have air conditioning in our car. We weren't moving. We kept seeing signs for congestion charges. We heard that you can be charged for bringing a car into high congestion areas. You don't pay a toll, but they do send you a bill to your house. We heard it was about ten pounds a day, which we were fine with paying. 

Spoiler alert: It's actually 60 pounds a day, and we had the car there overnight, which means we were charged 120 pounds. Oh, and Nathan got a parking ticket in Westminster, which was another 40. Moral of the story: Do not drive in London. Just don't.

Back to the story... I was stressing out that I was going to miss my tour! Finally, I jumped out of the car at a red light, found a Tube station, and arrived at the appropriate stop (West Ham) in East London about fifteen minutes late. The good news was that I was able to catch up with the group because Shannon was keeping an eye on them for me. 

The bad news is that she couldn't stay. We said hello, got this picture, hugged a big hug, and then we said goodbye.

This was our guide. I was the hottest I've ever been since moving to England. Like... sweating. Bad. This guy's shirt was completely soaked by the end of the tour, but he insisted on wearing the blazer and everything. He needed his pockets, you see. You can see the ring of sweat about down to his second button in this picture, taken about 30 minutes into the tour. By the end, the sweat ring was down to his belly button.

As he was talking about the area, loads of port-a-pottys were being brought in for the Olympics. I think they're called port-a-loos here. They all had zip ties on the doors, so we couldn't use them. The first hour of the tour was a little disappointing. We just traipsed around back roads and looked at sewage pipes and things. All of the good stuff was blocked off for security reasons, so it probably would have been better to do the tour of the Olympic sites several months ago. However, it got better the second hour...

Here we are at the Prime Meridian. Greenwich Mean Time can be seen here if you just stand in the center, like a sun dial.

The Olympic Village! Actually, this is outside the Olympic Village. On the other side of the pink thing, there were athletes singing "We Are the Champions" with a live band.

In the background are the apartment buildings where the athletes and coaches and officials are staying, all 17,000 of them. Can you see the flags of the people who have moved in already? In the foreground are lots and lots and lots and lots of security tents.

This is a better view from the steps of a new mall.

Woohoo!

This is John Lewis, the anchor store at this brand new mall. It. is. fabulous. On the top floor is an official Olympics store. We ended the tour there, and I got treats for my contest winners, my dad and Melissa R.

This is the view from the third floor of the department store. See what I mean about the security tents?

And here's a portrait of the queen made out of jelly beans. I told you it was a cool department store.

From the department store I had to take the train/Tube back to Westminster, where we were staying the night. It was so crowded. I'm realizing more and more that I'm just not a city mouse. It was an electric atmosphere. Everyone was excited to be there, which was really cool. However, it felt like all the tourists were lost and taking pictures every five steps. Everyone moved very slowly, and no one spoke English.

This was taken two days before the Olympics even started. I can't imagine how crowded it must be right now.

Here's the view from my first train. Cool, huh?

Because I joined the tour after everyone had paid, I didn't even think about forking over my nine pounds for the two-hour tour until we were in John Lewis, at which time I lost our guide in a sea of people. I am officially a criminal. But after what London did to us in parking tickets and congestion charges, I don't really feel that bad. 

There is so, so much more to come on our holiday down South. My computer is being a little frustrating right now, but I promise I'll keep working on things until it's all been documented. Stay tuned!

The Eagle Has Landed

Sorry for the lack of posting for the last two days. I largely blame the fact that I couldn't get a video to load for this post. I let it stay in "video uploading" stage for - oh - 10 hours yesterday, and it still didn't work, so I'm just going to move on with my life.

After our daddy/daughter date night, Dad and I crashed in our hotel near Heathrow and woke up the next morning to pick up Mom, who was on her way back from Romania. We got some porridge at this little breakfast cafe in the airport.

The seats in the airport cafe reminded me of a camel hoof.

We found Mumers and made our way across the city on the Tube to Covent Gardens. Despite the fact that we had to haul around all of their luggage (which was full of birthday presents, so I won't complain) and that it was suuuuper windy, we had a great day! We had lunch on the patio at a really cute French place, walked around, shopped, and heard some really great buskers (translation: street musicians), all of whom had CDs for sale. 

This was the group that I had videos of that didn't load. They were really good! In case you were wondering, the cellist is holding up her instrument with some sort of neck thingy. That is the technical term.

We got back on the train to Durham in the evening and were home in about three hours. Now, onto the next post...

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

On Saturday, I was a big girl and picked up my dad in London all by myself. I took the train, which was delayed an hour and a half. After three hours on the train, I rode on the Tube for 45 more minutes, totally guessed which terminal he was in, and then and found him among the bajillion people at Heathrow - miracle of miracles. 

Despite the delay, we had time to drop off his bags at a nearby hotel and then get back on the Tube and head to the city. We had an important date! LES MISERABLES at the Queen's Theatre for my birthday, which is next Friday, the 27th. Don't worry, you still have time to get your shopping done!

First we found a really awesome Italian restaurant nearby.

We started with the Tricolore salad: mozzarella, tomato, and avocado. Perfection.

We both ordered the lasagna, which was the best either of us had ever eaten, and we're not "this is the best I've ever tasted" kind of people.

Here we are in front of the theatre!

The ceiling was gorgeous.

There were three levels. We were on the bottom one, all the way in the back in front of the sound booth. The theatre was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, so even though we were in the back, we felt really close.

At the intermission, I took this picture of the music in the orchestra pit. Les Mis is the longest running show on the West End, and you can probably tell by the dirty finger marks where the musicians turn the page.

Thanks for a memorable night out Daddy!

London With the 'Rents - Part 2

After a good sleep at Oak Hill, we woke up and had a delicious breakfast with the Rubies at their place. Rachael made us crepes, and we oohed and aahed over Emily. Isn't she the cutest baby?

I could have used a little hair color, make up, and Botox. Emily posed sweetly for the camera.

Rachael took a break from her masterful cooking to smile with us.

We went to the Tube to head to the Tower of London, and we were delayed at one of our change overs. It was dumping snow outside. We thought, "It won't be bad once we get there." After 30 minutes of standing around in the cold with no sign of our train, we decided to walk "about 10 minutes," in Nathan's estimation.

Before setting out, we took a picture with Dad's hat off...

and one with it on. I loved it.

We walked and walked and walked. Everything was closed nearby because it was Saturday and because it was snowing. It was cold. It was way longer than a 10 minute walk. Finally, we made it to the Tower of London. There it was in all its glory. Success! 

Until we got to the window to pay for tickets to get in. "Sorry," the young woman in the ticket booth said to Nathan. "We're closed due to inclement weather."

"Are you serious?" his eyes bulged. "Then what are you still doing here?"

"I'm just giving people refunds."

A guy next to the booth, who was also an employee, said to Nathan, "You should have stayed at home, mate."

"Yes, that would have been valuable advice two hours ago!" 

I was definitely in a grumpy mood. It was about 1 p.m. on our last day, and we hadn't "done" anything besides walk around in the snow looking at closed buildings. After thawing out in the KFC in a cluster of gift shops selling Tower of London paraphernalia, we came up with a plan and decided to try Buckingham Palace. 

"It's completely indoors," I said. It shouldn't be closed. So we walked yet again through the snow, trying to "do" something in London.

Wrong. Closed. I momentarily considered a tantrum on the ground, but I didn't want to get my clothes muddy and wet.

So close to warmth and entertainment and learning more about the monarchy, yet so far.

These guys looked really cold. I guess I couldn't complain too loudly.

I was definitely not smiling in my heart in this picture.

Or this one.

Or this one.

We had officially been not "doing" anything in London for four hours, and I was despairing for my poor parents who came all this way not to do nothing. I was cold and discouraged. Despite of our better judgement not to go to the biggest department store in England the Saturday before Christmas, we decided to try to find Harrod's, and after another hour or so of Tube trains and walking, we found it. It was open, which we considered a victory. 

The sidewalks outside the store were jam-packed with people. The windows were dressed up for Christmas with a Peter Pan theme, which was a little weird, but nice. I mean, it was strange to see mannequin mermaids dressed in lingerie with a little boy mannequin next to them. We headed indoors. 

Big mistake.

We were herded around like cattle, not being able to move of our own accord either forwards or backwards because of the sheer volume of people. It was crazy crowded. I may or may not have had a small panic attack. We lasted five minutes. I stumbled back out into the snowy outdoors, gasping for breath. It was 4 p.m., completely dark outside, and all of us were hungry, tired, cold, and done with trying to be tourists. It just wasn't meant to be.

We buzzed around the block to Pizza Express, snacked on some way overpriced pizza, and decided to just go back to Oak Hill for dinner. My parents needed to reserve their plane seats online and pack. 

We walked to the closest Tube station. Closed. For the weather. Of course. We walked to the next closest one. Closed. For the weather. But would re-open in 15 minutes. We decided to just wait. 

Standing out there in the cold with a closely compacted group of people waiting to go underground, I was just so sad. The metal gates they shut that separated us from the warmth of the Underground below reminded me of the Titanic, when they wouldn't let the third class escape the ship at first. It felt like a failure of a day in terms of not being able to really "do" London, despite our best efforts. And I thought about my poor attitude for all of those hours when I could have just been happy to have my parents with me at all. I thought about improving that, but then we were met with another challenge.

After standing outside in that huddle for more like 30 minutes, they opened the metal gates and people poured down to the trains. It started getting so crowded again that I thought people would get pushed off the platform and onto the track. Every train that came through was so packed that only a handful of people could smash in at a time. The four of us just slinked back to the wall in defeat and tried to think of another plan. A taxi? The line for taxis outside of Harrod's was really, really long. A bus? We had no idea which one/s to take. It was too far to walk back up to Oak Hill. We decided to just stay put, link arms, get in some sort of line for a train, and hope for the best. We inched up toward the front with each passing train. It would finally be our turn next. I braced myself for a heave forward into the already crowded car.

All of a sudden we heard cries of delight from people further down the pavement. The train was nearly empty! We yipped with joy and the four of us actually got a seat for our 45 minute Tube journey back to our station.

Whenever my mom gets in some sort of moving transportation, be they trains, planes, or automobiles, she falls asleep almost immediately. These pictures of her snoozing were taken throughout our adventures of the day.

We finally made it back to our station, had a pub dinner nearby and then dessert at a Greek confectionery across the street, and made it back to the Rubies so my parents could reserve their seats on the plane the next day. Will and Rachael told us that our friends Dave and Mindy were stuck at Heathrow and had been trying to fly out to California that day on the same flight number as the one my parents had the next day.

Uh oh...

London With the 'Rents - Part 1

After touring York, we jumped back in the car and drove down to London.We stayed at a seminary where our former pastor, Paul, used to teach. It's called Oak Hill, and it's on the North side of the city. Some of our first English friends, Will and Rachael Rubie and their baby Emily, live and study there, and they were an absolute blessing in every way. They fed us, cared for us, gave us maps and guide books, let us use their internet, Oyster cards, etc. (which came in handy, which I will explain in a later post). We started out our time there by ordering Chinese takeaway and talking late into the night with the Rubies. Good times!

The next morning, the Rubies recommended going to Covent Gardens for breakfast and a little shopping. My mother absolutely went bananas over the place. It was decorated festively for Christmas, and the French bakery we went to for breakfast served delicious girly foods. The flowers above I saw on the way to the bathroom, and they  smelled fantastic. I think those are pickled pears at the bottom of the vase.

We went outside and took our picture next to the Christmas tree.

Then we took the tube to Westminster and popped out from underground to see Big Ben. The sky looked ominous, and indeed, it started snowing on our walk around the Thames.

The rest of the day we went indoors because of the cold and snow. We first tried the National Portrait Gallery, because they had some amazing photographs of Princess Diana that I wanted to show my mom.  Later, Nathan had an appointment at the Dr. William's Library to look at a manuscript he needed for his research, and Mom, Dad, and I went to the British Museum. Nathan took the camera with him in case they would let him take pictures of the old manuscript (they didn't), so we don't have pictures from our afternoon museum hopping. To see more of London and the British Museum from Nathan's and my trip in March, click here. 

After going to evensong at Westminster Abbey, we finished the day at the Whole Foods mecca on High Street Kensington. Do you remember me raving about the food there this spring? We just had to take mom and dad back there, and it was just a little bit less amazing than I remembered, but still amazing. We were more than a little tired and hungry by this point.