Missing London

I still need to tell you all about Iceland. I'm so terribly behind. But today I've been especially missing London so I'm going to break my heart even more by reminiscing about it. I thought about creating a 'Top 10' list of my favorite things. But I just couldn't narrow it down. So here you have my favorite things, unabridged:

 

The shows. Oh the shows. One of my favorite things was to pop into a show on Friday night. I've gone to Wicked, Singing In the Rain (twice!), Mathilda, Les Mis, Chorus Line, Once and I went to see Swan Lake at the ballet as well as Taming of the Shrew at the Globe (on the longest day of the year...perfection). It doesn't matter if I go by myself or with someone, I just love sitting in the seats anticipating the start of the show, eyeing the ice cream they sell at intermission, and seeing little kids try to be so grown-up as they sit next to their parents. I love the music and getting lost in a story. Yes, West End indeed sweeps me away.

 

The markets. Picture rows and rows of winding stalls full of artisan breads, yummy dark chocolate brownies, freshly squeezed juices, art, clothes, beads, candles, silver, photographs, costume jewelry, wood carvings and adorable bunting to top it all off. I love grabbing something delicious and surprising for lunch. From Borough Market, Spitalfields and Greenwich to Portobello Road, I could spend nearly all my free time discovering and re-discovering these markets.

 

The shops. London and I have similar tastes. Unfortunately we have very different bank accounts. So I try to keep my coveting in check when I wander through shops like The Conran Shop, Liberty, Fortnam & Mason, The White Company, Harrods (mostly I just want to clean out their food halls), and Skandium. The stores are really only half the story. They congregate in the most lovely neighborhoods like Islington, Covent Garden, Marylebone High Street, Notting Hill and Columbia Road, just to name a few. The only thing that has made it easier to walk away from an inviting throw or the perfect cake stand is my practical side telling me how impossible it would be (and was!) to get it all back to CA.

 

The food. I know, I know. People always complain about the British food. Can I just say that they have been working mighty hard to redeem themselves. I have had yummy fish & chips (one too many, my pants now tell me), sticky toffee pudding, roast, and pies...like apricot and lamb pie. Mmmm. They have also lived up to their reputation for being a great place for ethnic food. My favorite restaurant is current this wonderful Lebanese place in South Kensington. Yum. I've also had the occasional french cuisine, which has been delightful. Now this is going to sound silly, but I can't forget the yogurt. I think I would have much better luck losing weight if I didn't love their yogurt so darn much. Any of you who have eaten yogurt outside the US will understand what I mean. And with flavors like organic honey greek yogurt and russian fudge calling to me from the yogurt aisle...I mean, I'm doomed.

 

The commute. When I tell people my commute is 1.5 hours one-way they are quick to express sympathy. However, I loved my commute. Don't get me wrong, I also loved the days I worked in the city and cut the commute down to 40 min. But when I took the train to Bracknell I could just read, listen to podcasts, people watch, think and occasionally sleep, all with zero guilt. It's built-in multi-tasking, of which I'm a huge fan!

 

The sights. I have to start with the view I woke up to each morning. Those who know me know that I LOVE to wake up to the sunrise in my window. I'm lucky enough the have had a large window next to my bed. I'm even luckier that it faces east. Off in the distance I could see the financial district with the Gherkin and the Shard standing tall and distinct. It's over these buildings that I get to watch the sun wake up each morning. When it's not raining, that is. I also never got sick of eating a quick lunch under St. Paul's, walking across Milennium bridge, gazing at Tower bridge in her bright blue adornment, watching Big Ben as I walk along South Bank, or enjoying Trafalgar Square swimming with street performers and people climbing over the lions. And, although cliche, I just love the pops of red all over the city from telephone booths (which I am delighted to say actually work, much to my relief when I had to use one my first day here) to double-decker buses. 

 

The parks: Parliament Hill, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Green Park--all seemingly endless stretches of ponds, grassy nobs, picnic blankets, fountains and flowers. One minute you are watching paddle-boaters on the pond and then you turn the corner to find flower beds that make you feel like you are in Alice's Wonderland. Oh, and I haven't even mentioned The Mall and Buckingham Palace. My favorite is when you wander over there on a Sunday morning and they've closed off traffic so you are free to walk down the red paved street with guards on horses and bands occasionally walking by.

 

The Brits. I love their wit and sense of humour and, of course, how smartly they dress. As Lauren (and Denise) would say: Well done.

 

I often have to pinch myself to believe that I really lived there.

Norway

I had this crazy notion to skip town for my birthday. Now that I think of it, who would ever want to skip town when that town is London? Anyway, the destination was Norway. I've been curious about Norway for some time now and decided to check it out. They do this thing called 'Norway in a Nutshell' where you race around the country in 24-48 hours. Sounded perfect for a girl with a dwindling number of vacation days. I decided to skip Oslo this time around and just explore Bergen and Voss.

This was my weekend:
Flight from London to Bergen
Train from Bergen to Voss
(sleep)
Bus from Voss to Gudvangen
Boat through fjords from Gudvangen to Flam
Kayaking the fjords in Flam
Train from Flam to Bergen
(sleep)
Flight from Bergen to London
(crash)

(my hotel in Voss)

(cruising the fjords)

Here's my assessment...in a nutshell. Norway is beautiful and cold and rainy. I didn't have much room to take anything home with me so I splurged on yummy food and some home magazines. I love Scandanavian design so they made me sufficiently happy. For my birthday meal I had 'clam chowder' which was not really clam chowder at all. It was some kind of delicious cauliflower concoction with half a lobster nestled in it. It was DIVINE. And even though it was freezing I bought myself an ice cream cone because it felt like the right thing to do on one's birthday.

Overall it was a great trip but I was sure glad to get back to London.

 

 (train from Flam)

Greece

 

I just spent a lovely week in Greece. It's been on my list for some time now so it was a bit of a dream come true. My friend, Lauren, came with me and I could not have asked for a better travel buddy.

We started off in Athens. I almost didn't survive the flight. I caught a cold the day before we left (joy!) and when we started our descent my ear wouldn't pop. The pressure was getting worse as we got closer to landing. It honestly felt like someone was twisting a knife in my ear. I could handle the pain but I was terrified my ear drum would burst and we'd have to go straight to the hospital after landing. I was seriously freaking out. Lauren flagged down a stewardess (which I protested wouldn't do any good). The stewardess then brought me a cup of something and told me to inhale...sketchy, right? It smelled like vicks vapor rub so I began to inhale and sure enough, it eased the pressure. Crisis averted. Lauren saved the day.

We caught the bus to make the trek to our little flat. Unfortunately it was dark and we missed our stop, was scolded by a woman (we didn't understand a word, but judging by her face I assure you it was a scolding), and sweet-talked a bus driver into dropping us at our stop (they normally don't make stops on the way to the airport, only from).

The next morning we got an early start to beat the crowds at the acropolis. We left at 7:30am local time, which meant it was 5:30am London time. It was brutal but well worth it when we saw the crowds as we were leaving. We wandered around Athens until our little feet couldn't take any more, had some dinner and headed back to our flat.

The next morning we packed our bags and headed out to find church. I won't go into details but it was nothing short of a miracle that we found it. We were even early so we went to check out the Olympic stadium while we waited and were thoroughly impressed. Lauren knew a missionary couple serving in Athens so we visited with them for a bit and then after Sacrament meeting the sister took us to see Mars Hill...impromptu Sunday School, you could say.

 (Mars Hill)

We finally made our way to the ferry, where we spent the next 7 hours sailing to Naxos. I printed off faulty directions that told us our hotel was a 15 min walk from the ferry. So we trekked to the marker on the map only to find no hotel in sight. This nice woman at a grocery store called the number for us and discovered it was way back next to the ferry. We could have chalked it up to an unofficial tour of the island if it wasn't midnight at this point. But we made it back to our hotel and it was in the midst of these small winding streets between beautiful white-washed buildings. We were swept away as we walked through them to our utterly charming hotel. Well worth the walk.

In Naxos we went to the beach, ate yummy food, slept, watched movies at night, walked around the island, and made multiple stops at an ice cream shop. The second day I hopped on a bus to another part of the island to catch a boat that takes you snorkling (on my to-do list for the trip). I didn't learn until after we left that we needed to bring our own snorkling gear. A true greek tragedy. Lauren spent the day at the beach and had a great time but I think we were both excited for a shower and dinner at the end of the day.

On Wednesday we caught another ferry for Santorini. We were thrilled when it only took 3 hours to get there and we just couldn't get over the views. My cold was getting worse at this point so I took some medicine to help me with my cough and slept away half of Thursday and spent the other half at the pool reading. Best day ever. On Friday I rented a 4-wheeler and explored the island, tip to tip, and took a bzillion pictures. I couldn't talk Lauren into going with me (she doesn't trust 4-wheelers) but she had a great time reading by the pool.

 (Fira)

 (Lauren did not pose next to the accordion player...he scooted over next to her while I was taking the picture. Who wouldn't, right?)

 (Oia)

(Red Beach)

This is where the adventure begins. We were planning to catch at ferry at midnight Friday night. It was supposed to be a 10 hour ferry ride so we bought tickets for a cabin so we could get some sleep. Lauren went to catch a bus to check out some of the island and while at the bus station discovered that there wasn't a ferry leaving that night...it had left 12:30 that morning. A startling realization to say the least.

We quickly gathered our things and went to the ferry office. Goal: get to Rhodes by Sunday in time to catch our flight. At the ferry office they said there was a ferry leaving 3:40am on Saturday and would arrive 20 hours later in Rhodes. Although it met our goal requirements we both felt sick at the prospect of sitting on a boat for 20 hours. But we had no choice. So we gathered our things and found a spot with a great view of the island where we chatted until midnight then made our way to the bus station. We caught a bus to the port and then had to wait another 3 hours for the ferry to come. We joined the rest of the crowd and laid on the cement to try to get some sleep until the boat came. At this point we wondered how things had gone so wrong.

The boat finally arrived and I vaguely remember boarding. We found a corner and made it home by laying out our beach towels on the ground and immediately falling asleep. We were both amazed when we woke up 5 hours later. The rest of the day we read our books, enjoyed the sun as we passed island after island, and somehow the time just flew by. 

 

We spent our last day in Rhodes before we caught our flight home. As we were getting ready I hear Lauren in the bathroom:

'Oh no. Oh no! I cut myself!'

'Shaving?' I asked.

'No, on the wall.'

What?? 'Is it bad?'

'Yes, it's really deep. Oh, it's really bad.'

'Are you okay? Are you going to pass out?'

'No.....oh, maybe.'

Don't worry. She didn't pass out...completely. Once we got her sat down I started to tend to her 'gash.' It was on the elbow so looked deep but didn't hit any bone or muscle. Lauren was panicked that she might need stitches (actually, I think she was more terrified at the thought of going to a hospital in Greece) but once the blood was gone the cut didn't look so bad. I have to say I made quite a good nurse and quickly declared all we needed was disinfectant and butterfly bandaids...a regular procedure at the Wells household. I left Lauren lying on the bed and set out to find a pharmacy but decided to first see if they had a first aid kit in the hotel. They had a disinfectant and regular bandaids. Close enough, I thought. So I cleaned the wound and made a sculpture of bandaids around the cut to hold it closed.

So, between my ear drum and Lauren's gash, we had saved each other's life. A truly epic trip.

June

I'm determined to catch up so sit tight, this could get long. The last month has been super busy with with visitors. Gwen came the second week of June. Although spending a lot of time in Europe (her mother is French) she had never been to London, so I had the pleasure of introducing them.

After working in the London office on Friday we went to see the crown jewels in the Tower of London and then wandered across Tower Bridge, past London Bridge to The Globe, and walked across the Millenium bridge to end at St Paul's Cathedral. Our little feet were so tired but we then had to rush to catch Les Mis. I had been dreaming of seeing Les Mis in London for some time and although it was amazing I really missed Alfie Boe :(

The next day we woke up and went straight to Borough Market where we ate yummy bread, cheese, fresh juice and...oysters. This was a first for me (oysters) and I'm still not sure how I feel about them.

 

We then explored Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery (my fav). After eating the rest of our goods from Borough Market on the steps of the National Gallery we continued on our mini walking marathon to see Buckingham Palace, Green Park, Fortnam & Masons and Harrods. Sadly, Gwen hopped on a plane the next day to head back to Geneva but it was so fun to have her visit!

Kayce came to visit later that week. Although I had to work while she was here we made the most of the evenings and weekends. The second night she was here we went to see Once and I fell even more in love with this music...and was just loving all the Czech.

That weekend we headed for Amsterdam. I saw this deal for a 'Rail&Sail' package from London to Amsterdam. This consisted of a 2 hour train ride+8 hour boat ride+another 1.5 hour train ride. Sounds fun, right? Well, as much as I love trains and boats, I was pretty exhausted of both by the end of the day.

That night we went to the Van Gogh museum which was open late for the weekend. They had an awesome DJ and the art was just incredible. This was prob one of my favorite things we did all weekend.

Saturday morning we went straight to see the Anne Frank house because I had heard that the lines get pretty crazy. Although the line was pretty long, it wasn't the worst part. It was rainy and cold and oh so windy. I quickly bought an umbrella off a street vendor. It lasted me 5 min before it blew inside-out. This super nice couple next to me tried to help me fix it but the umbrella had none of it. So I let it sit there all mangled above my head...better some cover than none, I thought. Then this nice man from the museum came out to lend a few umbrellas to people standing in line. When he saw my destroyed umbrella he handed me one. This one was much sturdier and showed promise. Indeed it was sturdier, it lasted a whole 6 min before flipping inside-out by the wind. I felt terrible. But I looked around and found comfort in the fact that I wasn't the only one who had destroyed the museum's umbrellas. We eventually made it inside and I loved being able to see this house that I read about so many years ago and see the diary itself.
 

Afterward we wandered through the city, took a boat tour of the canals and just enjoyed the sun that finally decided to grace us. I have to admit that I wasn't sure how much I'd like Amsterdam but I was pleasantly surprised to find it quite magical.

The next Friday Lauren and I went to see The Taming of the Shrew at the Globe. This is one of my favorite plays and the weather was perfect. It was the longest day of the year so we also had daylight through the whole play. I loved it so much that I don't think I'll ever go back. I just can't imagine ever topping it.

The next week Meggan came for a few days. She really wanted to go to Bath and Stonehenge so we rented a car and went out. Although I had already seen both I was happy to go back with the prospect of nicer weather. It didn't disappoint. We had a great time wandering through Bath and this time Stonehenge was still open when I got there so I finally got to take a closer look.

Isn't England just beautiful??

Cotswolds

For Laura's last weekend we rented a car and headed out to explore the Cotswolds. It's a region of towns built from the cotswold stone, making them just charming.

We headed out Friday night and soon discovered that the rest of London had the same idea because it took us FOREVER to get out of the city. We finally made it to our cute little B&B (below) late that night but I'm so glad we battled traffic on Friday because we woke up to a beautiful day on Saturday all fresh and ready to go.

I don't remember all of the towns we hit but we saw Cheltenham, Slaughters, Abbots Grange, Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold. Aren't those the best names ever?

We explored the town a bit and then started driving through some of the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen.

 We made sure to swing by Stratford-Upon-Avon, which wrapped up our day.

Sunday morning we went to church then stopped by a couple of more towns on our way home.

One final stop in Oxford rounded out our trip.

Leeds, Canterbury and Dover

After our whirlwind trip in Italy Laura and I decided to 'take it easy.' Yeah. That somehow turned into a 14-hour road trip.

Our first stop was Leed's castle. A real stunner. There's just something so charming about water...even when it's murky.

We stopped at Canterbury, which I thought was a cute little town but no pics, I'm afraid...they were all a bit uninspiring. BUT we made our way down to the Cliffs of Dover and you have to admit they're pretty amazing. I had been wanting to see these for so long. Laura and I both agreed that they'd be even more stunning without the spots of green on them. Darn hearty plants.

We drove down the coast and caught the sunset in Brighton. The town is totally hippy and we didn't really love it at first but it kind of grows on you. Finally, we then made the long trek back home. It was a super long day but packed with lots of great sights, don't you think?