Saturday, May 15, 2010

London…

Okay, so I need to catch up.  On Thursday we went to Westminster Abbey and on the way saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.  I don’t mean to undermine these amazing icons of history…but I really expected Big Ben to be bigger.  

Onto Westminster Abbey…so, this is an amazing work of architecture.   Who can sit down one day and think, “I am going to build this amazing building with all of these intricate details.”?  And then we move on to the inside.  You had a self tour with these phone/walkie talkies.  When you got to a specific area, there was a sign that told you what number to put into the phone thingy.  Then there was a narrative on the specific area in which you were.  Basically, we were walking all over the many, many kinds and queens who are buried there.  There were some intricate, golden, memorials erected in honor of some of the royalty buried there.  Really amazing “death masks” depicting these incredibly pious dead people with their eyes closed and their hands folded in prayer.  There was a lot of Mary and baby Jesus.   It was such a monument to Man.  Each monument was designed to surpass the royalty that followed; such a memorial to the people…so very little God.  Such time and effort dedicated to building and crafting the things that moth and rust destroy…

Should I even get into the “worship service”  that happens everyday?  It’s in the middle of the nave and during which, tourists are free to wander around.  We were very surprised to see that it was led by a woman.

Some thoughts on London:

  • It is very, very clean.  Even though you can’t find a trash can if your life depended on it; it is really clean.  Even the subway.
  • It was very cold.
  • You think you will be able to understand the people; but sometimes you won’t.
  • The bathtub in our room was like a coffin; long but very narrow.
  • The cars are very small and British looking.
  • There are many “grocery” stores on all the streets.
  • You can’t sit at the bar at the pubs…you have to grab a table.
  • Not so much fashion going on.
  • The food was better than we anticipated…we ate Thai and street food…but of course we had to have fish and chips in a pub.

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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

We are actually in London!


My watch says it's 12:05 pm (KS time) but London says it's 5:05 pm. Time changes really mess with my head!




It's cold here! I am so glad that I brought my coat! Wish I had brought my tennis shoes and my boots. Really, anything goes here...I am seeing lots of leggings, short short skirts, and flats. I am pretty happy with my wardrobe so far.




We went to Buckingham Palace today after a shower and little rest. We didn't see any guards in big, red, furry hats and the official changing of the guard was at 11:30. But there were guards and there was a palace. We rode the tube like pros.

Friday, May 7, 2010

European Vacation

Scott and I will set out on a 15th anniversary adventure on May 11th.  We will be going to England, France, and Italy.  Scott has been working on this trip for a year.  Our itinerary is quite ambitious.

I will try my best to blog each day while we are.  Hopefully I will figure out the whole video thing.

I will be in Venice for my birthday…don’t hate me!