May 5th - London Trip

Thankfully, Brandon and I both slept so soundly. We actually slept in until 8:30am. Our poor tired bodies. I woke up feeling rested and my body seems ready for this time zone. We quickly got dressed and walked down to breakfast. Oh my, it was so fancy. I think the proper way to describe the atmosphere is posh, with a capital p.

We were seated at fabric covered wing back chairs. We politely declined the tea and coffee and went straight for the food. They had such a wide variety and I can see it would be easy to be a strict organic person here. I had bran flakes with sunflower seeds and hazelnuts on top. Then I had two squares of cheese with a danish pastry and a croissant. I did my best to eat them appropriately with elbows in and only a knife and fork. Yes, I ate cheese with a knife and fork. It was so funny!

We started the day by taking the tube to Westminster. It was delightful to come out of the tube station, look up, and see Big Ben. It takes your breath away because it is right there - and it is huge. Right there is also Westminster Abby. I snapped more then a few pictures there, and then we went and stood in the line to enter the Abby.

They don't allow any pictures inside the Abbey, but we did get a free audio guide and it was so helpful. I was astounded by the ornate detail on everything inside the Abbey. The walls are incredible with detail carvings. Then, there are so many tombs and memorials that are also beautifully designed. The wonderful part is that they have no barriers to anything. You can stand right up next to a tomb that is from the 1300's. My mind was literally blown away.

Another neat thing they do at the Abbey is pause for a moment of prayer every hour on the hour. We were there to participate in 2 such prayers. The second one was pretty awesome - the pastor asked for God's blessing and assistance for those who are in the government in this country and in all other countries. Since it is Ascension day - the day of voting in local officials - the topic is on a lot of people's minds.

Having lunch at the Abbey Cafeteria. Never has pasta been so expensive.

As I prepared for this trip I read a whole lot about Henry VIII and his wives, plus his children. It was overwhelming and so satisfying to visit the tomb of Mary I and her half sister Elizabeth I. They hated each other most of the time they were alive, but because they were the only children of the King, they had a mutual need for each other. Ironically, Elizabeth is entombed directly above Mary.  On the tomb is the following "Partners in throne and grave, here we sleep Elizabeth and Mary, sisters in [the] hope of the Resurrection". 

After this wonderful place we ended up walking to Trafalgar Square. Very awesome square area with streets all converging and going around it.  At one end was the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. We spent time wandering around both of them with lots of other people. It was also really neat to hear musicians and see chalk artists just hanging out in the square.  I had heard that the Vogue exhibit in the Portrait Gallery included a picture taken of HRH Duchess of Cambridge. I really wanted to go, but when we got down to that area it required tickets. We are too cheap to pay 20 pounds each to see just one picture.

Once we were done with those we made a super quick visit to the church known as Saint Martin's in the Field. While there I saw some security guards trying to get an intoxicated man off the steps of the street. From what I can see, security everywhere is pretty good and I don't see a whole lot of homeless people. There were filming inside the actually church area, so we weren't able to walk around in there. But, we did go downstairs where we found a whipping post that was on display. It was interesting only because it had some carving on it, and it looked very old.

Coming out of there we got a bit turned around after walking for a while. We ended up in Soho Square. It's only funny because of the song in My Fair Lady that talks about the square. The place is the only green area in that part of London, so it was packed with people sitting enjoying the amazingly beautiful weather. I dare say it was a hot day for Londoners.

Then we managed to wind our way to the British Museum and get started on that huge building. We only had time to look at part of Ancient Egypt, and America before they kicked us out for the night. We went and sat on the outside steps to try and get our bearings. While there we got asked to move along - I guess sitting on the steps is not allowed right there. Since it was a little bit after 5pm we went to the nearest pub right across the street and that had "pub" food. I had fish and chips. It seriously was so delightful. It was basically battered white cheese because I ordered the veggie kind. Super yummy. Brandon had a burrito and chips that are similar to the Doritos we have in America.

After dinner we walked and walked and walked to Hyde Park. I wanted to see where President Hinckley preached so we walked clear to "Speakers Corner". It was seriously the largest park and Brandon and I both got so tired. There were a ton of cyclists and runners. They actually had a dedicated lane for bikes and another one for walkers. I bet some of those bikes were going 40mph. Makes me wonder how many bike/people accidents they have. After Hyde Park we walked just a little bit over to the Marble Arch which was super neat to see, but a pretty quick view.

We then started to make our way back to our hotel. It took a while because we had to walk down Bond Street. It was super busy with many shops. We saw Gap, H&M, Selfridges, Old Navy, and many of the other name brand stores that we have at home. We then hopped on the tube station and got home.  Today was a very long walking day. In fact, I bet this was the longest walking day that we will have here. Brandon and I are both glad we saw what we did, but we are glad we are done. My favorite part of the day was Westminster by far.

There were always amazing things to see when you looked up.

Street views

The tube

May 3rd - London Trip

Our day started smoothly and it just continued to be smooth. I had a list of things that needed to be done, and by the time Bekah came at 10am most of them were done. Then at 11:20 we all (Peter, Brandon, Bekah, and I) walked over to Mrs. Kristie's to pick up Luke. He was excited to see us.

As soon as we got home we had a prayer with the boys and off we went. We left home right about 11:40pm and we were to the airport right around 1pm (despite getting off at the wrong exit and taking the long way to get there). We dropped the car off in long-term parking and then got on the shuttle that took us over. Two of the four people in the shuttle with us had been to London. It was fun to get their opinion about things.

Our flight to St. Paul started loading at 2:30pm so we didn't have very much time to waste. I got myself a simple turkey club sandwitch since I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Brandon had gotten himself a turkey wrap earlier in the day.

Our flight to St Paul was a little over two hours and it went by very smoothly. We had about 1.5 hours to chill at that airport before our flight left. We had a chance to find a nice restaurant and sit down and enjoy a slow meal. I ordered a Cobb salad - it was so amazing! It also felt so good to drink as much water as I wanted to. I think I had 3 tall glasses full. Needless to say, I had to go potty a bazillion times before our flight left.

Our flight started boarding at just after 9pm and we were ready to take off around 9:30 (instead of the 10:03 that was listed on our flights.  I pretty much got ready to sleep on the flight in the airport (took out my contacts, put in my retainer). So, once we really started going on zoned out. Brandon said I missed the dinner that Delta served, but that was okay with me.

It was pretty difficult to sleep on the plane.  I think I've pinched a nerve or something in my left shoulder, so my arm kept aching and then having prickles and tingles. It was beyond annoying. At 3am or so US time I sat and watched a movie that I have been interested in seeing. It was called Brooklyn. Before long, our flight was in England and it was now the 4th.

May 4 - London Trip

We started this long day over the skies of the Atlantic Ocean. While our bodies were telling us it was the wee hours of the morning back home, the actually time was mid morning in England. Our flight managed to arrive at Heathrow airport 15 or so minutes early. I was beyond thankful because I needed to us a water closet pronto.

After that business was finished, we made our way to the US Boarder to be inspected. The wait was awful! I think it probably took us about an hour to make our way to the front of the line. There were so many people coming into London. I was beyond nervous about being asked hard questions, but the older "grandpa" whose line we got into was quite chatty. He teased me about being a "homemaker". He told me I should go and get a job so we could afford to come to England 3-4 times a year. Brandon was laughing right along with him, yet I was standing there ringing my hands due to nerves.

Once we got through that line we made our way to the baggage carriage which had our bags waiting. None of them got scuffed up too much - which was surprising. After finishing a trip to the "loo" we headed out to arrange transportation to our hotel.

We decided it was worth the expense to just take a taxi to our hotel. We left the airport at 1:45pm and got to our hotel about 45 minutes later. The drive to it was quite nice, but I was surprised at how many cars were on the road, and how many houses/industrial areas there are. Not a whole lot of green space.

Our hotel is situated in a fantastic area. In order to drop us off though, the taxi had to dart into two lanes of incoming traffic and then park in a lane. I felt so badly for the car we parked in front of. But, the people are so nice and friendly and don't get miffed at being cut off and such. When we opened the door to our room there was a delightful treat waiting for us with a nice card. I had mentioned this was our 10th anniversary trip, and they had made this yummy dessert for us. It was a delicious way to start our culinary English adventure.

We spent about an hour in the hotel unpacking things and getting settled. Then, we wandered out into the world. Our first stop was Buckingham palace since it is literally right across the road from us. The building is so much bigger then I thought it would be. I seriously had tears in my eyes - I couldn't believe that we were finally seeing the building that I have seen so many times on the telly.

Then we decided to just take off down the road and see where it led us. We walked quite a while on the outskirts of a park called Green Park. The Londeners were all out in force sprawling all over the green grass. Apparently, this was the first sunny day they have had in 5-6 months. I was so glad about that.

We managed to find the underground station and we bought our oyster cards. Then, I was beyond famished. We found a darling little pub called Clarence on 4 Dover Street. They had wonderful "loos" and there was no one else in the upstairs dining area. I had the ultimate burger with 2 chicken breasts. I also made myself some fry sauce for my sweet potato fries.

When we were done with dinner we walked back to our hotel, and then continued onward to Victoria Station underground and train station. Oh my goodness, so huge! There were so many people and they were coming in from all directions. We were trying to find the place were we will pick up our rental car on Sunday, but we didn't have any luck. We did manage to find some yummy places to eat just down the road from our hotel. I'm sure we will be over that way at least once more before we are done.

We finally were completely worn out after that so we came back to the hotel and got ready for bed. We both ended up taking a shower in our very tiny bathroom. We are hoping to be able to video chat with our boys soon. I am anxious to hear how their time has been spent.

In nusery

A few weeks ago when I showed up to nursery this was in the toy boxes for the nursery kids to play with. I am baffled how anyone could consider this a good thing for 2&3 year olds to play with.  The darn thing doesn't even go on their heads without them getting pokey by the snaps that hold the pads on. I finally told my assistant that I was taking it home to throw away.

Papa's birthday

Brandon turned 35 this week. The boys were so thrilled to be able to get him this Dr Who Lego set. We bought it a few weeks before his birthday and every day they were so anxious to open it. Then, Brandon had to go in for a full day of work so they couldn't put it together until after he got home. It was pretty tragic. It is actually a really neat set. It's now a fancy nick-knack in Daddy's office, but the boys are thrilled that they can go play with it when we next go to his office.

In addition to the lego set, we also got Papa a work shirt and a t-shirt.