Mike and I just returned from a fabulous trip to London! We had a marvelous time seeing the city and enjoying all it has to offer. I was super excited to show Mike my stomping grounds from my semester abroad. However, it was even more fun this time around experiencing the city anew. It's such a dynamic place, and even sites I'd visited before felt new. Not sure if that's the city or me growing up...maybe a bit of both!
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| Mike's first view of Westminster! |
We stayed really close to where I went to school, but, again, it was completely new. Although, I do admit that it was nice to jump on the Tube knowing where we were going. Speaking of the Tube...I was definitely reminded that it's the first and best underground system ever!
We had an interesting start to the trip...mother nature decided the day of our departing flight was a perfect time for a blizzard in Philly. If there's one thing we've learned from living out here, it's how to change our schedule on the fly! Thankfully we got on a flight the day before and missed not only a blizzard here, but also a major wind storm in London!
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| With the lions and my favorite art museum in Trafalgar Square |
Mike had found an amazing tour company, London Walks, and we took a number of really interesting walking tours throughout the city. We even did the Tower and Westminster Abbey via these tours...really interesting. We visited a bunch of amazing museums too.
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| After our tour of the Tower of London |
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| And the view from inside the Tower |
One of our favorite things was going to shows in the West End. We had booked tickets for Book of Mormon a few months in advance for a special birthday night for Mike. And it lived up to the hype...funniest show ever! We had to sell our tickets for the show in Minneapolis when we moved to Philly, and tickets in NYC are way too expensive, so we were thrilled to be able to finally see this show. In addition we got day of tickets to two other shows.
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| It wasn't a West End show, but we did happen upon the tents at London Fashion week! |
Another favorite: our Saturday historical pub crawl! Again, a walking tour across the city to some of the most historic pubs in London. How did I not know these existed when I studied here? One still has inn rooms and is a location where Shakespeare performed some plays prior to the Globe theater being built. Oh yeah, and Chaucer frequented pubs in this area. These were some seriously historic pubs.
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| The first pub on our tour...this is the courtyard where Shakespeare performed plays |
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| Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is just showing off..."rebuilt" in 1667 after the great fire! |
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| The Princess Louise - all artisan hand crafted interior - this is just the front entryway! |
We did get out of the city one day, and took a bus tour to Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge is as interesting as ever (seriously, how did they build that...). And then we had a few hours to wander Bath. This is possibly the most picturesque town I've ever seen! All planned stone homes, and a 1000 year old Roman Bath (hence the name) to boot!
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| The Roman Baths - bath below and church next door |
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| They're no longer in use, but we did want to jump into the steaming warm water! It's all natural hot spring water |
One of our favorite new things to do now is having Indian dinner! Other than my poor excuse for homemade tikka masala, Mike had never really had it. We made up for lost time with at least 4 dinners at Indian restaurants!
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| Millennium Bridge...on our tour we found out about an artist that transforms the gum on the walking bridge into "art" by burnishing it and adding colors and random faces. Appropriately modern outside the Tate Museum! |
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| From inside the Abbey at Westminster |
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| Houses of Parliament and Big Ben |
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| Yup, there are still phones inside! |
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| Swans (and a few other birds) in Hyde Park...15 minutes later was an absolute downpour! |
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| Anyone could parallel park this little guy! Oh, and there's a bug behind it - Slug! |
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| Hanging out with the Horseguardsman |
On our last full day, we decided to tour St. Paul's Cathedral. Wow, it was really spectacular up close. And then, crazy as we are, we climbed to the top. Now, I didn't think I had vertigo issues, but this climb taught me differently! The outside dome is actually built on top of the interior dome so you walk in between the two...on metal grid spiral staircases. You can see all the way down!!! Deep breaths (and not just from 500+ stairs) but the views were totally worth it!
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| Just a wee bit of wind from way up here! |
We did upload all our pics to our shared site if you want to see more (
Click HERE for link). London has officially solidified itself as one of my favorite cities ever..."Cheers" until next time!
