Our tube stop in London…
Even if our hotel was right on up down there with that craphole in Tunisia, living across the street from Green Park has been extremely nice. We had central London at our fingertips and hey, isn’t every day that one of your closest neighbors is the Queen of England.
Thanks for everything, London. You’ve been an extremely cool place to dwell these past couple of months, but the time has come to bid you cheerio.
Wandering around the British Museum we spotted this clock from Germany in a time piece exhibit…
when the hour strikes the woman milks the cow and according to the sign liquid would actually came out.
I was a bit less impressed when we got to the modern times of the exhibit and the Casio digital clock was displayed.
I guess advances in technology don’t always mean things get better.
Although I didn’t really care for the contents, the Natural History Museum really was a lovely building…
We travel by ourselves quite a bit and have become the masters of self-portraits. Seriously, sometimes they are even better than the ones our friends take of us. When I say “we” are masters, what I really mean is “the Wife”.
I was walking around South Bank the other day and here is my attempt at a self-portrait in front of the London Eye and County Hall…
Awesome, huh? I had about 4 just like it. Me and the ugly water of the Thames. Can’t wait to frame one.
The thing that really gets me about them is that it almost killed me to even take them. I seriously don’t like posing for pictures by myself. It isn’t that I don’t want pictures of just me, I just freak out while they are being taken.
Posing in front of a camera by myself makes me really uncomfortable and super self-conscious. In the last 3 years I have trained the Wife to take any photos of me as quickly as humanly possible. If there is any lag I will inevitably say yell “NEVER MIND!” and storm off in an embarrassed huff. And yes, I realize this obviously brings far more unwanted attention to myself than getting my photo taken.
I am well aware that it’s a very stupid hang-up that I have and I’m really trying to work on it. This is why I forced myself to take my own picture- by myself- in front a million people.
AND when I failed so miserably at that, I even went a step further and asked a stranger to do it for me…
She was so nice and went well out of her way to ensure a good shot. She crossed the crowded sidewalk, zoomed in and out, asked people to wait as she took the picture, and slowly counted to 3. Through it all I just wanted to scream “Never mind!”, snatch my camera, and run away, but I totally didn’t and that’s what you call PROGRESS.
Let me start by saying, I have very few photos from the weekend, but will have more once I raid our friend’s camera. My point-and-shoot is seriously on it’s last leg. It has been dropped more times than I care to remember and for some reason I just never had our SLR with us. We both kept forgetting it even though we were doing awesome things around London with our friends. I know, it makes no sense. I’m starting to think we both subconsciously forgot it so we could take a break from being shutterbugs for a weekend.
Our friends arrived in London very early Thursday morning, so early that Jules could even come with me to pick them up and still make it to work on time…
They had 2 1/2 days before heading off to some other European destinations and we crammed a lot into that short amount of time- They saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham…
took a ride down the Thames to Greenwich, they had their first pint in an English pub, ate their first real fish and chips and steak and ale pies, walked around Westminster and toured Westminster Abbey…
we went up the London Eye, met our Londoner friends in Soho, tasted their first Korean food, and were even able to hit up the British Museum before leaving to catch their flight.
Since they’ll be back in London at the end of their trip I think this was a pretty nice start. And helloooooo…
I did the London Eye for them and although I did require a beer beforehand, I didn’t even freak out. It was actually not that scary, although I was literally weak in the knees and had to death grip the rails when getting close to the glass for photos.
After they were off to their next destination, we joined our sweet Londoner friends who had invited us over again to enjoy a home-cooked meal. The food was spectacular and the company great- we couldn’t have asked for a better Saturday night.
We seriously spent all day in bed on Sunday planning and booking China weekends and only left the room for breakfast and dinner. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a lazy Sunday together, they don’t come often and it will likely be our last one this year.
Up this weekend- Norway with friends and fjords. We’re so excited!!!
Not the first time our hair iron has caused damage…
or will it likely be the last. Nothing was worse than having to tell the sweet people at the Japan Westin that we had actually broken an entire glass table top when it cracked from the heat.
Okay, so this is the last from the Natural History Museum…
I took a picture of this for few reasons. One to remind myself that my fear of the ocean is totally reasonable with things like this swimming around in it, two I thought it was really interesting and three, there was a sign I couldn’t take a photo of that said something to the effect of “The male is essentially a swimming testicle” and that made me laugh.
We’re only a 15-20 minute walk from Chinatown and tend to go there a lot for dinner. It isn’t that we’re really trying to prepare for our upcoming trip to China so much as we’re now addicted to crispy duck. Thanks, Frenchie.
The other night we were there with our Chinese friend, C, and as we were walking around I spotted this window…
Me: “C, what is wrong with that duck up in the corner? Why is he by himself and a different color??”
C: “What is wrong with him is he’s a chicken.”
I’ve been out of the kitchen for far too long.
Yummy little treat the new cohort bought for us…
The Wife isn’t even a fan of macaroons, but these she actually enjoyed. Thanks again, new cohort!
We had a trip to Malta booked and were going to take a long weekend in the Maltese sun soaking up the sites, but thanks to the heavy workload in this insane round, we had to cancel so the Wife could work. Seems to be a bit of a theme this year, huh?
At least this time we were in London and not Jo’berg, so no real loss. Although I had planned an awesome weekend in Malta, just for another day I guess.
We spent all day Saturday outside of London, riding through the countryside to see Windsor Castle…
This a a fave residence of the Queen and was really, well…fit for a queen. The state apartments don’t allow photos, but the grounds were lovely and we even got to see the changing of the guards…
It was strange and a bit boring if you ask me, but we did get our quintessential British guard photos…
with who I’m thinking might be the tallest of all the guards in the country. I wanted to ask him, but he was being all guard-y and serious so I’m just going to go with it in my head. Tallest guard ever!
St. Stephan’s cathedral was really gorgeous…
and allowed us to visit the final resting place of Henry VIII, which as a huge Tudor’s fan, I was pretty excited about.
We were then off to Bath or as the English say Baaath.
The city is Georgian architectural wonderland and we rode through taking it all in before arriving at the Roman Baths…
In truth we rushed through the baths so we could visit the really impressive Abby that was next door…
After Baaath, we had another hour ride to Stonehenge…
I’d heard conflicting opinions on Stonehenge about it living up to the hype or not and I’d say, at least for us, it really did. Mysterious- check. Imposing- check. Beautiful setting- check. Just really cool to see- check.
It hit all the marks for us and I’m really glad we made the trip out to see it, definitely the highlight of my day.
After an 11 hour day of touring, we picked up some take-out and watched half a movie before completely conking out. Yes, I know, we’re very hip. I know only the coolest of the cool spend their Saturday nights in London this way.
We spent Sunday at the British Museum and then later met up with our Londoner friends for dinner on Brick Lane to finally have some Indian. I can’t believe I’ve been in London this long without having some tikka masala!
We have some dear, dear friends that we absolutely adore coming in from Atlanta this week! This week!!! Friends! Friends! Friends! YAY!!!! YAY!!!!! YAY!!!!!
As you can see, we’re just a wee bit excited to see them.
Pics from Saturday…
The sign said this was the oldest thing I would ever see…
See white dust inside the tube? Those are apparently tiny diamonds formed billions of years ago on a dying star. Sounds a lot more impressive than this display would lead you to believe, huh?
Although, I will say I would have easily missed it had I not thought “Why are they displaying a crack pipe over there?” and went over to check it out.
Although the area is pretty obnoxious with hordes of people and cheap tourist shops, I don’t think anyone can walk through Piccadilly Circus and not appreciate the beauty, especially at night…
Just to update those who care and especially to update my friend who is coming and I know reads the blog- we have a great room now! It’s large, totally not creepy and there is no sign of this guy…
anywhere!
They even promised us we could have this exact room each week. Thank goodness.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!! We’re off to Geneva and to take a peak at Mont Blanc!
I think I’ve mentioned before how I have a hard time at museums because I want to touch stuff. And by that I mean, I really want to touch stuff. I have a tough time being able to appreciate it without putting my hands on it. If we’re touring some castle or church or temple or what have you, I’ll inevitably touch walls and door handles as we walk through. (Note to self- maybe this is why you’re always sick?!?!) Anyway, I want to touch things and if it’s a book, I’ll want to smell it as well.
Victoria and Albert Museum, you are awesome…
Ming vase from the 16th century and I got to touch it! Legally.
There aren’t a ton of things in the museum you’re allowed to touch, which yes, I realize makes a lot of sense, but there were a few and it was enough to make this museum-goer a very happy one.
It also made me realize that I’m not the only weirdo who wants to touch things at museums.
Even for a nomad, we’re feeling extremely unsettled right now. If I lapse in posts, this is the reason. We’ve never had so many unknowns, changes and upheavals in one round before and it is taking a toll on my patience.
First we were told we HAD to get an apartment in London, no easy feat when you have to secure 6 of them. Then the schedule changed sending some people to other locations, then sending us all to Ireland for 4 weeks, then only 3 weeks for us, and finally only 2 weeks. Because of all the changes in timing it was impossible to secure an apartment and we were finally told we could stay in a hotel. Thanks to the very last minute change, our hotel didn’t have room for us last week. So, we had to stay at a different hotel, move our luggage over on Friday and then check-in to the new place when we returned from Munich.
When we finally arrived at midnight, to what is supposed to be our “home” for the next 5 weeks, we are less than impressed. Our room is a nightmare, literally. We were “upgraded” to a suite. Yay! Except wait, this suite hasn’t been upgraded…ever. It’s like a chopped up, creepy old apartment with little rooms connected to a heinous bathroom that even if a tidal wave of bleach washed over it, it would still look and feel dirty. We’re on the first floor and facing a very busy street so loud doesn’t begin to describe our nights. The whole floor is actually creepy. I’m not kidding when I say when I walk down the hall I’m waiting for blood to come spilling out of the elevator or these two to come walking towards me…
So, we wake up Monday morning with the mission of finding an apartment…again. London is insanely busy in October and because of the “deal” this hotel gave us, our budget is extremely low. I spend hours scouring the web and begging apartment people to help us find a place. If this is the hotel’s upgraded suite, we want out of here and pronto…at least before I start looking for a ax…or a big wheel, I didn’t want to see what character I was going to turn out to be.
Then Jules comes home and tells me the other girls can’t believe our stories about our room. Their rooms are nice. Mmmhmm, sure. Except, we go to look at them and they are. They are normal hotel rooms with normal bathrooms, even have a pullout sofa (which we need for our friends coming to visit) and no sign of the twins or blood spilling elevators on their halls.
As soon as some people check out this afternoon, I’m going up to look at a room the front desk guy assures us is on par with what the rest of the team received. Wish me luck because at any moment I could seriously start talking to my index finger, Tony.
*If you have not read the novel or seen the movie, The Shining- this post will not make a lot of sense to you. AND you should totally see that movie- it’s a classic!
First off, sorry for the blur, the Tower of London doesn’t have the greatest indoor lighting…
I told you monkeys should be avoided! The Tower used to have a menagerie of exotic animals that the public could come and see. They obviously had no clue how to take care of the animals properly, hence an open room with wild monkeys running around. They once had a polar bear they tied to a rope to let it fish in the Thames and an ostrich they killed feeding it nails and scraps of metal because that is what they thought the giant bird liked to eat. Zoos have come a long way.
I suppose I shouldn’t complain about the 900 pages of Ulysses…
Actually, this was a ledger book from the late 15th century at the Tower of London. I bet it smelled great.
The world’s smallest body armor…
How cute is that? The sign said they originally thought it was made for a son of one of the queens who was a little person, but it is now believed to have been made for a 1 year old prince. Not that I think that a 1 year old should be riding off to battle or whatever, but come on- it’s cute.
