ironic 4th of July & Shakespeare adventures

I'm going to try to just do a quick post to catch everyone up before we leave for Scotland, but knowing me, it'll either end up longer than I planned or I'll ramble or both, so bear with me.

My dad's parents and two of his sisters got here last Saturday and we mostly did things around Stafford up until yesterday when we went to London for the 4th. Yes, I know, ironic. We took a slow train from Stafford to London around 8:30 in the morning at got to London in time for lunch. We originally planned to go eat at a restaurant called The Texas Embassy, which was going to be great for my Mexican food deprived family, but it was closed. As in out of business closed. Although we were really sad (especially my brother), my aunt suggested The Hard Rock Cafe. I didn't realize this until yesterday but The Hard Rock Cafe in London is the original, so it's pretty cool to say I've been to the original now :) I actually had nachos so I was able to get my "Mexican food" meal and we got to see some of the outfits that John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney wore (plus a ton of other antiques in the restaurant, the things that belonged to The Beatles being my favorite by far) so I looooved getting to go there. After lunch, we caught our bus for The Big Bus tour, the same tour we did with my mom's parents. We rode through Trafalgar Square and several other landmarks before getting off at Tower Bridge to take the river cruise. On the river cruise, we got to see Tower Bridge open! This only happens twice a day so I was pretty pumped to get to see that. After the cruise, we got off to take pictures in front of Big Ben and then caught another bus for our tour. We rode to Buckingham Palace and got off there to take pictures, went over to Harrod's for a little while, then took the tube to the train station to go back home.

Side note: I know at some point during the day, at the train station or tube station, someone saw Trey in his Auburn jacket and gave us a "War Eagle." I love my Auburn family. All In, All Over the World.

We took the fast train home and got back around 10:30 last night. I must have been exhausted because I slept from around 11:30 last night to noon this morning... ha.ha.

Today, we drove to Stratford-upon-Avon to see where Shakespeare lived. We got there around 2 this afternoon and went through a tour of Shakespeare's birthplace. It's funny to me because the town has set his house up as a museum in the middle of their town centre, which makes it look like his house was randomly in the middle of all these shops and restaurants. At least they didn't tear down the house...

They have a little tour set up before you go in the house so you can learn a little about Shakespeare's early life and career. I enjoyed getting a refresher on his biography since I don't really remember everything I've learned about him (sorry Mrs. Corona...). After going through the tour, you walk outside to this garden area outside the house and then you can walk through his house to see what the furniture was like and learn some more interesting facts. One of the things I enjoyed the most was watching the actors who performed Shakespeare's plays in the courtyard behind the house. They would act out a few scenes and then let the bystanders tell them which play they wanted to see. I was amazed at how quickly they could switch from one role to the next.

After we went through the house, we went to a couple of shops in the town centre, including a cute little Christmas shop where my family got a Christmas ornament and a precious Peter Rabbit store. Around 4:30, we all got a little snack. I had an apple tart and tea (I. am. SO. British.) and everyone else had ice cream or a piece of cake and coffee. After our snack, we went to the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried. We literally got there just in time because they closed the doors right after we left. whoops... :) The stained glass windows in the church were absolutely beautiful. It was a very neat experience to be in the church Shakespeare attended, was baptized, and buried. One of the goose bump, once-in-a-lifetime things.

We drove back home around 6, brought home fish & chips for dinner, and ate while finishing the first Harry Potter movie that we watched half of a few days ago. All in all, a quite lovely day :)

We leave for Scotland in the morning and come back on Tuesday, so I'll post all about that soon. :)

Grace and Peace.

in love with London town

I was able to spend this past weekend with Tiffany, a missionary in London who got connected to my family through some members at Shades Mountain Baptist. I rode the train from Stafford to London on Friday morning, which took about two and a half hours because of all the stops it makes. Tiffany met me at London Euston station and we rode the tube for about 30 minutes to get to her flat. After dropping off my things and relaxing for a little while, we headed into the heart of the city to see Evensong Choir at Westminster Abbey. I hadn’t heard of them until Tiffany asked if I’d be interested in going to see them, but thanks to Google, I learned that they are a choir that sings in the evening services at Westminster Abbey. The service is very structured, which was not something I was used to. The experience was interesting and I absolutely loved listening to the choir. The sound of delicate voices singing melodies and harmonies together for the Lord is extremely moving. After the service, which was over around 5:45, we went on a mission to find Chipotle. My parents had told Tiffany that I would love to have Mexican food if we could find any and some of Tiffany’s friends had told her that they had been to a Chipotle a month before, so we were bound and determined to find it. It was kind of hidden and tucked in to a corner, but thankfully we found it and we enjoyed some very delicious Mexican food. I think Tiffany enjoyed it even more than me, saying that she thought she could now continue living in London thanks to this discovery. :)

On Saturday morning, we ventured down to Portobello Market and Notting Hill. It was only a few blocks from Tiffany’s flat and the market itself went up and down several blocks after that. I honestly don’t think I had ever heard of Portobello Market but I know I definitely want to go back. Basically, over the weekend the roads are blocked off so these little street market stands can be set up. There’s everything from food to vintage clothes to antiques – books, stationary, and the like. If you’re ever looking for something unique and for sale at a reasonable price, that’s your place. Towards the end of the market is The Notting Hill Bookshop. I had never heard of this movie but Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant is based on this bookshop. I was in my happy place there. The inside of the shop is so quaint, cute and cozy. If too many people are there it can get a little crowded, but it’s still a really nice shop. We stayed for quite a while and I ended up buying Mary Poppins, which I didn’t realize was a children’s chapter book until I found it in the shop, and a book called A Reader’s Guide to a Writer’s London. As a child, I was absolutely obsessed with Mary Poppins so it only seemed right that I finally purchase and read the original book in London, where the story takes place. The Reader’s Guide to a Writer’s London caught my eye and after flipping through several pages of it, I was in love. My inner English nerd was so intrigued with all the stories inside of where classic authors have lived, written some of their stories, or what some of their stories are based on. The book is really more of a “coffee table” book than a regular reading book, but I’m really excited that I found it.

After leaving the bookshop, we went over to the Cath Kidston store, which is basically like a British version of Vera Bradley but they also sell things like baby clothes, aprons, teasets, postcards, mugs, and all other kinds of things. I got a really cute tea mug there with most of London’s famous landmarks on it (Big Ben, Tower Bridge, The London Eye, etc.). We stopped for lunch at a Gourmet Burger Kitchen and I actually had breakfast for lunch – hot chocolate and a toasted sandwich with fried eggs, bacon and cheese on a sesame bun. It was brilliant, as a true Brit would say :) We then headed back to Tiffany’s flat to drop off the things we had purchased that morning and got directions to go to the original Twinings Tea Shop. This was the one thing I absolutely wanted to do before leaving London and I was definitely not disappointed. We rode a double decker bus for about an hour to get there, and although it was super crowded with the weekend tourists, I enjoyed getting to see the new decorations for the Olympics on the way.

The tea shop is just lovely. Really. The store is just one narrow sort of hallway and in the back, there is a small kitchen type area where the workers will make you a fresh cup of any tea you want to try – for free! I really enjoyed looking at all the different kinds of teas you don’t usually find in the grocery store. I originally wanted to buy a tea cup there, but since there weren’t any for sale that I could find that actually said “Twinings,” I decided to buy a gift box instead. The gift boxes are wooden and come in all kinds of sizes but I got one that has two compartments inside to put tea in. When you buy the box, you can fill it with 20, 40, or 60 teabags depending on what size box you get. Since I got the smallest box, I got 20 teabags, which was honestly plenty for me. I got two of just about anything I could find that looked worth trying. White tea, green tea, some fruit teas, a special Winter edition tea that I’m looking forward to trying around Christmastime, and of course some of my favorite – English Breakfast :) After the trip to the tea shop, we were both pretty tired so we rode the tube back to Tiffany’s flat and we ate salads and sausage rolls for dinner. She then started baking some cookies and cupcakes for a bake sale her church was having the next day while I watched What A Girl Wants. It was fun to watch that movie after spending a day around London :) If you’ve never seen it, the movie an American teenager living in NYC who tries to go find her dad, who is a British politician. There are lots of scenes around London in the movie and it was cool to see some of the places in the film that I had been to.

On Sunday, I went with Tiffany to the church where she works with the children and youth. The style of the service was different than anything I had ever been to, sort of similar to the Evensong Choir service, but not quite as structured. It was definitely a neat experience to see a different style of worship. After the service, one of Tiffany’s friends, Polly, joined us for lunch at a local pub where I had a British Sunday lunch of roast, carrots, green beans, roasted potatoes, and Yorkshire Pudding. I wasn’t able to finish all of it but I at least tried a little of everything and really enjoyed all of it! I loved the cultural experience and was honestly pretty surprised that I liked the meal as much as I did. Maybe I really am British after all. :) haha

I rode the train back that afternoon and got back to Stafford around 6:15. I had a really great time and I fell in London even more. It’s funny, I’ve heard a saying that people who travel always hold the first place they go to in a really special place in their heart, and although I went to other countries before going to London in my 10^th grade, London was the first big city outside of the U.S. that I went to and I really do think I love it the most of all the places I’ve been to. Cape Town is a close second. Despite the crazy traffic, insane amount of people, dirty and unreliable public transportation, I still absolutely love it. I seriously think I could live there, but I guess I’ll have to just see what God’s got in mind :)

Currently Reading: I finished reading Kisses from Katie last week, which I highly recommend. It is a very humbling and inspiring read. I started Same Kind of Different as Me this week, so I’ll post about what I think about it once I get a little farther into it. I’m also reading through Mary Poppins, which is just adorable. A little different from the movie, but still just as magical :)

I apologize that I never finished my posts about our Rome trip. When I have time to sit down and remember all the things we did, I’ll be sure to put them up. :)

Grace and Peace.

A Day in London

Today we took the train to London and did a bus tour around the city to see the sights. I have been to London before* but enjoyed seeing the extra decorations for the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee...and just seeing the city again in general! :)

*I came to London my sophomore year of high school with the marching band to do a New Year's Parade and got to see a bunch of sights, just at a very fast pace. I remember that trip being one of the first trips I've ever been on where I sincerely did not want to leave at the end -- and it was a 10 day trip! I absolutely love London and could probably go there over and over again without ever losing the butterflies in my stomach/amazement feeling. 

We left around 9 a.m. this morning and took the "slow" train that made multiple stops on the way to London, making the trip there last around 2 and a half hours. After arriving, we ate lunch at Burger King in the train station--I know...of all the places to eat in London we chose Burger King! But we ate there mostly for my family since they always appreciate a little taste of America--and then we walked several blocks into the city to catch a bus for the tour. Our tour was through a company called Big Bus Tours, and basically it has several buses running the same route and they stop at the major landmarks (such as Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Tower Bridge, etc.) so you can ride straight through the route or you can get on and off whenever you want to take pictures and visit the shops or museums. If you ride it all the way through without getting off, I think it takes 2 to 3 hours, mostly because of traffic. We had a little trouble figuring out how to catch the right bus at the right time and even got on the wrong bus at one point. They had two of the tour buses stopping at the same point in the route, but they took you different directions so we accidentally got on one that took us around the east side of the route twice, adding an hour of things we'd already seen to our tour. It was frustrating to some degree, but honestly kind of nice at that point because we'd already stopped at Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, and taken a river cruise down the Thames so we got to at least sit down for a breath and just take it all in. I am an absolute city girl at heart and I loved just looking at the architecture around London, seeing the old and the new. When we were coming back through the east route the second time, I actually saw the Twinings Tea Shop and was able to take a picture, which I hadn't done the first time, so that made me very happy :) After riding the east route twice, we were able to get off at Buckingham Palace and take some pictures, but there was some sort of garden party going on for the Queen in preparation for the Diamond Jubilee so we didn't really get to go as close as we hoped. All in all, though, it was a very enjoyable day seeing all the sights of London!

I think one of my favorite parts of the day was the river cruise on the Thames. We got off tour bus at the Tower Bridge stop, went down to the docks, stopped for some Starbucks along the way--just in time for the half off frappucino happy hour!--and rode a boat that was included in our tour. The captain of the boat gave us commentary for the different buildings and landmarks up and down the Thames and although he warned us that he wouldn't know as much as a tour guide, I was extremely impressed with his knowledge of the city and additional humorous stories. 

We ate dinner at the train station at a place called Nando's. A missionary that stayed with my parents earlier this year, Tiffany, lives and works in London so she joined us. I enjoyed hearing about the kind of work she's doing and what life is like for her in London. I may even be able to go back and stay with her for a few days sometime later this summer (fingers crossed!) so it was nice to get to meet her and learn a little bit about what she does. The dinner itself was delicious! There were 7 of us -- my parents, me, Trey, my grandparents, and Tiffany -- so we all split a family platter of chicken and several sides. I was really tired and hungry at this point so it may have tasted better to me than it actually was, but I thought the chicken tasted incredible and the soft drinks had free refills so that was a definite plus :) Usually the drinks here are small and refills are not free, so that was a nice treat. 

We rode the "fast" train coming back, which only made one or two stops and traveled at a much faster speed than the one we rode this morning, making that ride only an hour and a half. We are definitely exhausted, but had a wonderful day!

I took about 150 pictures today so I'll be going through them and putting them up on Facebook soon :)

Grace and Peace.