We took an overnight flight to London which was great because it made the time go by faster. I was actually able to sleep for about three or four hours straight so the nine hour flight went by pretty fast. I also watched one of the dumbest movies ever (How Do You Know), but hey, it was free and I was stuck on a plane. Jeremy slept for most of the flight since he can fall asleep in 2.4 seconds no matter where we are. The only bad part of the flight was how HUGE my ankles and feet were when we got off! I hope that wasn't a vision of month nine of the pregnancy because I was sure someone took my feet and traded them with an unfortunate, overweight woman with cankles.
Our good friends from Texas moved to London about a year ago. David and Sarah are some of our best friends from church and David and I work together at Volusion. David actually went to London to open the UK office for Volusion and he is basically the head honcho over there. We were so excited to see them and stay with them for a few days. We got to their cute little house just after lunchtime on Saturday. We were so tired and stinky! Their other friends from Texas were there visiting which overlapped with our first weekend there so we had fun with the whole crew. They all left for sightseeing while Jeremy and I napped, showered and prayed over my fat ankles.
David and Sarah's cute little house!
Ella's boyfriend, Kirby, next to David's garden (he developed a British green thumb). Don't worry, Ella and Kirby keep up on Facebook and Ella hasn't met any other dogs to take his place.
We met up with them later at a pub next to the Globe Theater for our first English meal of fish and chips and mushy peas. I warned Jeremy about the mushy peas (mushy vegetables, his worst nightmare), but he ate a few and loved the rest of the fried meal.We did a little more sightseeing by the Thames walking by London Bridge and seeing St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower Bridge. After a long walk we all went back to David and Sarah's for a relaxing evening of Apples to Apples, bread, cheese, olives and wine.
Fish and chips and mushy peas.
In front of St. Pauls Cathedral
The famous Globe Theater.
Day 2 in LondonOur first full day in London was a FULL day! Our first stop was breakfast at a great restaurant called Tom's Kitchen which was in the old Somerset House. It's a beautiful old house (palace really) that has fountains in the middle that become a skating rink in the winter. There is a scene in Love Actually at the skating rink! Anyway, I had an awesome eggs benedict with eggs so fresh the yolks were orange, and Jeremy had some awesome waffles that I may or may not have eaten a lot of. He and the guys also had the most expensive breakfast drinks ever for £9.50 each. Hey, we were on vacation.
The Somerset House fountains/ice skating rink w/ David and Sarah.
After breakfast and taking a quick look at the fountains of Somerset, we headed to the London Dungeon. Sarah basically had to drag me into this place because I hate stuff like this. It's basically a haunted house but the stories you hear inside are true stories like Jack the Ripper, Bloody Mary and Sweeny Todd. It was interesting but I HATE being scared and I was attached to Jeremy's arm the entire time. Fun history, not-so-fun being scared.
After the Dungeon, we headed to Trafalger square for some photo opps and then Harrods for some snacks, a new designer handbag and scarves. Okay, we just bought a cupcake and a cookie, but hey we can dream. My favorite part of Harrods, that I hadn't visited when I lived in London, was the pet section. Wow, let's talk about over-the-top. I did find a great new couch for Ella though!
Sarah had to head out of town for work that night so we headed back to the their neighborhood so she could get home. The rest of us walked to a local pub and restaurant called Charlotte's Place. The food was great and Jeremy got all artsy with the camera so here are a few shots. I had my first traditional English Sunday roast!
A traditional English Sunday Roast. The thing on top is Yorkshire Pudding, which is basically fried bread.
Pork tenderloin
No European meal is complete without wine or beer!
Day 3 in London
I knew I had to go see the Volusion UK office while I was in London. I had to see where David was making all the magic happen, and also meet some of the guys I have talked with over IM but never met in person. The office was in a great location and had an awesome view! We had to take a photo for the Volusion culture board so here you go HR...
We had a nice lunch with David at one of his favorite local pubs where Jeremy got to try another local beer. I think that was his favorite part of London. After that, Jeremy and I headed to the Tower of London to see the famous Crown Jewels and all the other historical treasures inside. The armory building was pretty cool! It had really old knight's armor, weapons and even gifts that had been given by other countries. There was an Indian headdress given by a tribe in North America...that was pretty cool! The tiny little kid armor was kind of funny...I wonder if it was just a formality or if they had to wear it. I imagine it's pretty heavy!
The Tower took the better part of the day, but I knew I wanted to try to fit one more thing in. Baby S wasn't slowing me down. That's a lie. I got really hungry at one point (hangry as I like to say...hungry and angry). We headed over to the Embankment area to go to the London Eye. I was so excited to see a crepe stand outside the tube (subway) stop and I couldn't wait to inhale a crepe with Nutella and banana. Or not. We didn't have any cash and of course they didn't take cards. BOOOO! Neither did any other place we tried to go to. I was so hangry by that point that I gave in and just went to the stupid McDonald's to get a milkshake. I am embarrassed to say I had McDonald's while I was in Europe but it's the baby's fault. :)
My hangry face
The London Eye is a huge sort of ferris wheel contraption but instead of seats, you get into these pods with several other families. It's awesome because you can see all of London from the top but the wheel goes REALLY slowly so after a while it's sort of boring. But, it's a must-do when you are in London so we hopped on for the 30ish minute ride and some photo opps.
Big Ben and Parliament behind me.
In our pod.
We headed back to David and Sarah's apartment after that and were SO happy to find out David got burgers to grill. Yes, they grill burgers in the UK...or at least Americans working in the UK do. It was so nice just to chill out at a house that night and relax after a really long day. We watched some weird British TV and went to bed early.
Day 4 in London
This is one of my favorite days in London! I got to show Jeremy my old stompin' grounds in South Kensington. We headed over to that area and made a stop at Wafflemeister to have breakfast (dessert really). This place wasn't there when I lived in London which is probably a good thing...I would have gotten so fat.
Jeremy's "breakfast" waffle w/ strawberries, dark chocolate and whipped cream.
When I studied in London with Baylor in Great Britain, we lived at Imperial College. It's in a great location just a block away from Hyde Park and the Royal Albert Hall. Walking around there brought back so many awesome memories. Every student should have the chance to study abroad to expand their worldview and learn more about themselves. I am so glad I got to share this with Jeremy since it was such an important part of my college life. I met some of my best friends on that trip, and I learned so much about how to be independent and adventurous. But I digress...
Royal Albert Hall
Our plan after that was to head to Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, but apparently President Obama had the same idea and he had not invited us. We got to the Abbey and they had the place shut down. They were clearing people out of the area because the President was about to come lay a wreath on the grave of the unknown soldier. This was kind of cool since it was a historic event. It was only the second official state visit a US president had ever made to the UK (the first being George W.) We were tempted to hang out across the street and wait for the presidential motorcade, but the rumor was that he would be another two hours so we decided to continue our sightseeing.
Since the day before had been so long we decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. We headed to Picadilly Circus (sort of the Times Square of London) so Jeremy could say he had been there and then we went to Notting Hill. I love the Notting Hill area with its colorful quaint little houses and the Portobello Market. The only thing we got were some Cuban cigars for David and Jeremy to smoke that night, but we had fun strolling and browsing all the fun little stands. Unfortunately, we didn't run into Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts. Of course, we had to stop at a pub for another pint and then I had to get my ice cream (gelato in this case) fix. Funny story at the pub: Jeremy walked in and asked what a good local was. He wanted to try a local beer. The bar tender looked so confused. He then proceeded to tell Jeremy that a pub is actually called a "local." So, Jeremy had gone into a "local" asking what a good "local" was. It was funny!
Notting Hill
Jeremy with his local beer from the "local."
We had a great time that night with David. He took us to a mall called Westfield that is similar to the Domain in Austin. It wasn't there when I lived in London and it was really nice! The restaurant options were great and we ended up at a pizza place that had pizzas from around the world called Fire and Stone...it was yummy! David and Jeremy made fun of me because I ordered the "Trinidad and Tobago" and basically scraped everything off to make it a cheese pizza. Hey...I do what the baby says!
Our last day in London was great! We went back to Westminster and it was honestly one of our favorite parts of the London trip (other than seeing our friends). There is so much history in that one place! When I had gone before w/ my Baylor group, they basically opened it up to us in the evening so we could have it to ourselves, but we didn't really have a tour. This time, we got the free audio tour (after we paid to get in) and it was fascinating! A few of my favorite things were: Handel's grave, Poet's Corner where a lot of famous poets and playwrights are buried (Chaucer, Dickens and Tennyson for example) and the choir loft where the choir boys sit. Oh, and we got a chance to snap some photos in front of Big Ben, the famous clock tower.
Westminster Abbey
My British-themed preggo belly picture at 16 weeks. :)
London was awesome! We were sad to go because it felt like a whirlwind, but we had exciting things waiting for us in Paris! To be continued...
