Saturday March 12th:
For awhile on my way to meet them at the airport I was absolutely alone on the tube! It was so weird!! Usually it is bustling with people and one time I was even pressed up against the door so that when it opened it banged into my elbow and my whole arm when numb and tingly...and it was NOT funny...I had a bruise for days!!
So it was very strange and quiet...but that soon changed as I got closer...including certain individuals staring at me. lol. Long tube ride to Heathrow airport...over an hour!
...so I was late to meet them. woops! I felt SO bad about it. :/ I raced to where I thought they might be. I found the arrivals area and started to head to the board to see when they got here and saw mom coming to me with a huge smile out of the corner of my eye. :) I think I did a little dance-run over to hug her and dad. haha! That must have looked pretty silly. They apparently only took 5 minutes to get through customs (I thought it would take a lot longer!) and they had been waiting and looking for me in the airport. Oops...sorry!!
Took the tube back to Vandon and just kind of chillaxed while they rested up. :)
Traveling is exhausting...I know this full well.
Walked over to get their Oyster cards from Victoria Station...stopped for McD's on the way (Dad needed home food already? what?)...the ice cream and fries were lovely though. :)
We proceeded to walk to some touristy areas: Buckingham to Trafalgar (stopped and caught the changing of the horse guards by luck!! sweet!), showed them Leonardo's cartoon, then tube over to Victoria and Albert museum to show them Eve and David. :)
Poor Dad was ready to be done after all that. Having an injured knee and coming to a place where a lot of walking is necessary isn't fun. :( So we took the bus back (...and I had a mother about rip my head off on the bus for wondering out loud if she could enter by the side door....whoa buddy).
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| where the horses are kept |
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| changing of the horse guards...lucky my parents were with me...Dad lent me his shoulder so I could stand up on the narrow ledge and see over the crowd. :) |
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| I love Trafalgar square |
Mom and I went grocery shopping and made chicken fried rice that night. She got a taste of what the grocery store is like in London...much smaller and compact!
It was so nice to cook with my mom and not have to do everything on my own! Sometimes I don't like being an adult. :)
Sunday March 13th:
Kind of a gloomy morning...rainy.
we went to Tower Hill to get tickets for the Tower of London and walk on the Bridge.
Then took a bus over to the East End to find the place I booked for our Sunday Roast. :)
charming pub/restaurant called the "Water Poet."
We arrived early, so I led my parents through the rain to browse through Spitalfields market and Brick Lane market (only open on Sundays...except when it rains...just our luck).
However, we saw an indoor market that was bustling with people off of brick lane...this happened to be the Truman brewery market!! LOVED it!! S
team hit our faces as we stepped inside, with all the food stands set up making ethnic foods...and all the stands were selling homemade artsy and vintage stuff. Hope to make it back some Sunday. :D
Our Sunday roast, a traditional British meal, was very good.
We got two huge plates....the chicken and beef roast. But they piled the rest of the plate with cabbage, potatoes, carrots, onion, parsnips, oh! and yorkshire pudding. :) yum!
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| the Water Poet |
We then spent the afternoon in the Tower of London....learning and experiencing a bit of history. :)
The Tower of London was basically a multi-purpose castle in the center of the city....castle, dungeons, torture center...you name it. Our tour guide told us all about why the ravens must never leave the tower and where King Henry met Anne Boleyn.
We saw the armory (armor made for a fat King...never seen that before)
...and the crown jewels (that diamond was HUGE)
...and climbed a lot LOT of stairs.
Oh! We also saw where the prisoners were tortured and carved words into their cell walls.
Interesting stuff. :)
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| view of the Tower Bridge from the Tower of London |
Monday March 14th:
Internship...soooo tired.
I about had to peel my eyelids open at times.
Being a tour guide can be exhausting. haha!
When I got back my parents and I just walked around the Westminster area to see Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, and Abbey lit up at night. Beautiful!!
Mom made supper...hamburgers!! Gosh, have I missed my beef!! mmm
Tuesday March 15th:
James let me have the day off to spend with my folks. :)
So we walked the five minutes to Buckingham Palace early to claim a spot before the crowds got there to see the changing of the guard. I learned my lesson from the first time. ;)
We found a good spot by the gate where we could also sit on the ledge for awhile. But as the crowds got thicker we had to stand.
I knew that the changing actually started with a band marching in from the street...so I was turned around watching and listening for them...but those around us didn't know and every time they saw the two guards who are always outside the palace move...they started to freak. haha!
We ended up having a lovely gang of Spaniards behind us who were loud with no personal space issues. Arg! We were basically pushed into the gate during the ceremony and the girl behind me was almost crawling up my back to see.
"Excuse me....we got here early in order to see...you should have done the same...I'm not a human jungle gym thank you very much."
I didn't say it, but she probably wouldn't have understood me anyway. haha! :)
The changing of the guard was pretty cool. Something I only need to see once though...especially when the crowds are always so crazy.
The band played some Beatles too!! Yesterday. :) love it! And the band was really good...definitely put my high school marching band to shame. As they should, they're the Royal band after all. :)
They all looked a bit like the guards from Wizard of Oz..."ohweeoh...YOho!" lol
After that we went to Westminster Abbey and saw the inside.
Despite the snippy guy who wouldn't let us have our audio guides until we told him our language was American, not English,
It was gorgeous...I especially loved the cloisters, gardens, and poet's corner.
Lot of people buried in that Abbey...kings, queens, poets, knights...
I thought it was very interesting that Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth...sisters and enemies in life...were buried right next to each other. Hmm
It was fun to hunt down famous poets and writers' names in the poets corner...Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. :)
After that we went and ate fish and chips at the Laughing Halibut....on Strutton Arms, the same street where I had my first fish and chips.
Except this place was legit!! REALLY good stuff and fresh!! :)
I think I got haddock.
...the fish wasn't half breading, they actually had tartar sauce to use, and they gave you a ton of chips. We were so stuffed!! It was worth it though.
The locals were packed into the place as well.
You always know it's going to be good when the locals go there. :)
After eating I had to do homework the rest of the day...unfortunately. :(
So we walked the five minutes to Buckingham Palace early to claim a spot before the crowds got there to see the changing of the guard. I learned my lesson from the first time. ;)
We found a good spot by the gate where we could also sit on the ledge for awhile. But as the crowds got thicker we had to stand.
I knew that the changing actually started with a band marching in from the street...so I was turned around watching and listening for them...but those around us didn't know and every time they saw the two guards who are always outside the palace move...they started to freak. haha!
We ended up having a lovely gang of Spaniards behind us who were loud with no personal space issues. Arg! We were basically pushed into the gate during the ceremony and the girl behind me was almost crawling up my back to see.
"Excuse me....we got here early in order to see...you should have done the same...I'm not a human jungle gym thank you very much."
I didn't say it, but she probably wouldn't have understood me anyway. haha! :)
The changing of the guard was pretty cool. Something I only need to see once though...especially when the crowds are always so crazy.
The band played some Beatles too!! Yesterday. :) love it! And the band was really good...definitely put my high school marching band to shame. As they should, they're the Royal band after all. :)
They all looked a bit like the guards from Wizard of Oz..."ohweeoh...YOho!" lol
After that we went to Westminster Abbey and saw the inside.
Despite the snippy guy who wouldn't let us have our audio guides until we told him our language was American, not English,
It was gorgeous...I especially loved the cloisters, gardens, and poet's corner.
Lot of people buried in that Abbey...kings, queens, poets, knights...
I thought it was very interesting that Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth...sisters and enemies in life...were buried right next to each other. Hmm
It was fun to hunt down famous poets and writers' names in the poets corner...Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. :)
After that we went and ate fish and chips at the Laughing Halibut....on Strutton Arms, the same street where I had my first fish and chips.
Except this place was legit!! REALLY good stuff and fresh!! :)
I think I got haddock.
...the fish wasn't half breading, they actually had tartar sauce to use, and they gave you a ton of chips. We were so stuffed!! It was worth it though.
The locals were packed into the place as well.
You always know it's going to be good when the locals go there. :)
After eating I had to do homework the rest of the day...unfortunately. :(
Wednesday, March 16th:
Not as eventful.
In the morning we went to The Albert (a pub on the corner of Buckingham Gate and Victoria) so Mom and Dad could have a traditional English Breakfast.
Somehow all three of us were confused into thinking it was St. Patrick's Day...haha! We were so sure of it!! But I was corrected later in the day. Whoops. lol! Day early I guess. :)
The breakfast was pretty good. Not as good as the homemade one James gave me at my internship...but still good. :)
And homework again. For my art class we went to Tate Britain and I saw an art exhibit that made my skin crawl. It was called the Coral Reef and it was basically a maze of small rooms, each room with very little things on the floors and walls. But it was so quiet and some of the things in the rooms were really creepy...as if someone was living there and was hiding behind a corner to jump out and scare me. I was paranoid and hovering by my two other friends the whole time. haha! It's hard for me to acknowledge stuff like that as art...but the artist made me feel things in a way a normal painting wouldn't. Part of art is producing a response from the viewer...and this artist definitely achieved that. haha!
Thursday, March 17th:
Okay, now it's St. Paddy's Day. haha!
After a long night finishing up my paper about a Christian couple who were denied their request to be foster parents because of their views on homosexuality, and a long day of classes included my own presentation on British family life (Homework Hell week, as I call it),
I very much welcomed the afternoon tea that my parents treated me to. :)
I picked and reserved the place...but come-on...would my Dad normally go to a place like this? lol
Normally my afternoon tea is just clotted cream and jam with scones and butter tea...but this was a full afternoon tea....
complete with finger sandwiches, cupcakes, little brownies, scones, and some foamy desserts.
There were SO many teas to choose from. I think I got a fruity tea, if I remember correctly.
Yum!
The place was super cute too!! Bea's of Bloomsbury. :)
The table set-up was adorable, brown and white sugar cubes in tiny porcelain bathtubs...
and the light fixtures were a bunch of white teapots with lights in them....contrasted well with the vibrantly colored fabric on the seats. Charming. :)
Dad was such a trooper. I don't know if he's ever had tea before in his life, but he tolerated the girlyness well...and mom and I had a good laugh.
Oh my father...in his john deer hat and carhart clothes...asking the taxi drivers on the street how much gas is...and walking around Vandon house in sandals with tall white socks. lol! We are definitely small-town Iowa farmers. :)
He made malts for us one night! My Dad is the master-malt-maker...in case you didn't know. haha! We have them a lot at home...kind of a tradition...so we got ingredients from the store (or tried to...different brands here in England) and he made malts. Yum! They didn't quite taste the same as when we're at home, but still nice. :)
After Bea's of Bloomsbury we walked around the area. I was hoping to go into St. Paul's Cathedral, but was disappointed to see that there was an entrance fee and we didn't have time anyway.
So we walked across Millennium Bridge and I showed them the sunflower seed exhibit at Tate Modern before walking past the Shakespeare Globe, Sir Francis Drakes ship, and into Borough Market. Didn't make it in time for the market though, they were all taking stuff down. :(
So that almost concludes my week with the rents here. I had to say goodbye Friday morning before our group set off on our program excursion to Bath...and my next post. :) It was so good to have a piece of home here with me. :)
~Merely Mortal~
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