So Thomas and I have spent the last few days wandering the streets before doing any of the museums (which we are doing later this week) and there are a few things we have noticed:
1. The French really don't care if you're visiting their country, it's your job to figure it out. (Quite different from the British who seem to go out of their way to provide you with maps, tools, and are generally super helpful.)
2. You cannot hurry the French. They go at their own pace and you just have to deal with it. (Thomas and I spent 20 minutes today at a lovely chocolatier waiting for the one sales girl to finish packaging a customer's purchase. Think of that scene with Alan Rickman and Mr. Bean in the department store in Love Actually.)
3. The French are very happy drunks and can handle themselves quite well publicly, as they've proven tonight at the Sacred-Coeur for new Year's.
4. EVERYTHING tastes better when you're in France. Everything. Seriously.
5. Everyone is happy and in love in Paris, except for the Parisians whose city has been overrun with tourists and the Italians who can't help but argue loudly no matter where they are.
6. Being in Paris makes you appreciate good weather, sunshine, free toilets everywhere and doggy poop bags.
7. Not all croissants and baguettes are created equal.
8. Americans earn themselves the bad reputation we've come by. It's definitely not the French.
9. One can subsist on a diet of cheese, bread and wine everyday.
10. Most of the best things in life are the simple pleasures we take for granted.
I'll write a summary of what we've done the last couple of days soon. Hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Years!
Cheers,
Cathy
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
WiFi = pictures!!
Finally! As promised, pictures!
We're happily settled into our Paris apartment, complete with WiFi. So here are a few pictures from our travels so far:
First, our London hotel the Beauchamp:
The view from our other window.
Next, some shots from London:
One of the oldest pubs in London.
Big Ben of course!
The coliseum where we saw the Nutcracker from the nosebleeds!
The two of us damp right before the show.
What was left of am amazing chicken pot pie I had. We actually came back to this pub a couple days later.
Thomas' reaction when I told him what we were paying for our fancy (and overrated) dinner.
Me at the Corner Room.
Westminster Abbey on Christmas Eve.
Inside from our seats.
Another picture from inside.
Another shot.
The two of us on the Millenium bridge (the one featured in Harry Potter)!
Another picture of the bridge, now starting to gill with love locks.
Just an attempt at an artsy shot, reflection of a church on glass of a shop.
Thomas thought her Tower bridge was a bit too Disney.
Me at the tower Bridge.
A pub not named after an animal or with "ye olde" something!
Thomas at breakfast.
A full English breakfast, eggs, toast, sausage, beans, bacon, mushrooms and grille tomatoes.
(Hey, we've been doing a lot of walking. Don't judge!)
Just having a bit of fun in the tube.
Hyde park.
Hyde park.
Thomas trying to get into Buckingham palace with our hotel key.
Thomas' usual position before dinner.
At dinner. My hair is crazy.
That's where the Crown Jewels are held at the Tower of London!
Us at the Tower of London.
Whew, that was a lot. We're off to walks the streets of Paris now!
Au revoir,
Cathy
Friday, December 27, 2013
Our last two nights in London...
So yesterday was Boxing Day, which for those of you who aren't in the British-know, is the day after Christmas that they also celebrate (read: Brits go shopping Black-Friday-status and basically the tube runs on a shorter schedule, most things are still closed). Since a lot of things were closed during the day, we walked around a bit in the morning and strolled down some shopping districts. Most were pretty boring (i.e. stores we have at home), but one street was amazing: New Bond Street.
Imagine every single high end designer you've ever heard of littered down one long street that is teeming with mostly Japanese tourists with just armloads of bags from Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Bvalgari (they have a hotel/apartments here in London, btw, in case any of you have a few thousand you want to blow), Ted Baker, Prada, Gucci (the line to get into this place was around the block), the list goes on. Thomas and I were practically going broke just window shopping. It was by far the most crazy expensive street we'd ever been on. We peeked in the Burberry store just for shits and giggles and briefly (and I do mean briefly) considered getting a classic Burberry print cashmere scarf until we realized it was about $500 US dollars. Sigh. I need to win the lotto. Or one of you need to and share with me!
Anyway, afterwards we grabbed lunch and took a stroll through Hyde Park which was positively lovely. Imagine beautiful Golden Gate Park minus the hobos, hippies, and general derelicts with the most well-manicured lawns you'd ever seen, and that was Hyde Park. Oh, and Kensington Palace just happens to be at one end of it. We also stopped by Buckingham Palace where Thomas tried to open the gate with his hotel key card (I have pictures).
We eventually wandered home, mostly because I was in fear of getting frost bite on my freaking toes before grabbing dinner at a semi-decent Italian place and heading to the Tower of London for the Ceremony of the Keys*.
*Side note: Now some of you know about the Ceremony, but others don't. The brief bit is basically the Tower of London, home to the Crown Jewels, gets locked up every single night by the Yeoman and this tradition has been going on for over 700 years. Each night, they allow about 50 people to come observe the ceremony, which is totally free, but you have to write away for the tickets months in advance.
So when Thomas and I were heading over to the Tower, I could tell he was skeptical about all of this. He kept asking what the ceremony was, if we were going to go see the crown jewels, what's such a big deal, blah blah blah. I assured him repeatedly this was a really cool (and FREE) event that we could go to and it would be an original experience in London. Well, I'm not sure that did it until we actually attended the Ceremony.
Now, our Yeoman was in the Queen's military service for about 25 years and has a real authority about him. He was dressed in this black hat and long, regal looking red coat, and he was a super funny, nice guy, but you could tell it would take half a second for him to go military on you if you didn't listen to what he was saying or asking you to do. It was hilarious and terrifying at the same time.
So we show up for the Ceremony at 9:30 sharp and he tells us about what we're expected to do, where we stand, that absolutely no pictures or videotaping of any kind can be done, etc. After a long list of Dos and more Do Nots, he explained that the keys are escorted by one main guy and four armed Beefeater guards. Yes, like real guns. Anyway, they walk down and lock two gates, then come by where we were standing and get yelled at by the night watchman who says "HALT! Who comes there?" to which the reply is "The Keys!" and then "Whose keys??" to which the reply is "Queen Elizabeth's Keys!"... this happens exactly like this, every night like clockwork. It was awesome. Anyway, if any of you can come get a chance to do it, I highly, highly suggest it.
Today was our last day in London before leaving for Paris tomorrow morning and we spent the morning at the Tower of London looking at the Crown Jewels and basically all the places were people were tortured or incarcerated for months or years and then were beheaded. Thomas and I saw the biggest diamond I think we've ever seen. It was 530 carats! (I told Thomas he could get me one of those next year for Christmas... I should have told him my for my birthday instead so I wouldn't have to wait so bloody long.) Anyway, they are totally impressive. Actually the entire Tower was really impressive, super interesting with lots of history.
In the afternoon Thomas and I parted ways. He went to the National Gallery and I went shoe shopping**. My trip was successful and I think he had a rather nice time looking at Renaissance artwork that I really couldn't give two pence about :)
**Side note: Okay, so I may or may not have done that dumb girl thing where I brought shoes I thought looked really good with my outfits but maybe were just a *tiny* bit uncomfortable and now are eating my feet alive since I'm walking 5-6 hours a day in them, easily. I had to go buy new shoes STAT.
Tonight we went to a "Christmas Spectacular" show at the Royal Albert Hall. Think Ballet-Symphony-Opera-Talent-Laser-Light-Show-With-Indoor-Fireworks-Pyrotechnics-And-An-ET(yes the movie)-Orchestra-Encore, and that was what we watched. It was awesome! We had total nosebleed seats, but with the laser light show, I think we had the best seats in the house! Totally straight back from the stage, but perfect sound and a very clear view. I've never seen or heard of its equivalent in the States. What a fun way to leave London!
So! Now we're packing and getting ready to catch the train to Paris where we will be spending the next two weeks in a lovely apartment WITH WiFi! I'm so excited.
Cheers,
Cathy
Imagine every single high end designer you've ever heard of littered down one long street that is teeming with mostly Japanese tourists with just armloads of bags from Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Bvalgari (they have a hotel/apartments here in London, btw, in case any of you have a few thousand you want to blow), Ted Baker, Prada, Gucci (the line to get into this place was around the block), the list goes on. Thomas and I were practically going broke just window shopping. It was by far the most crazy expensive street we'd ever been on. We peeked in the Burberry store just for shits and giggles and briefly (and I do mean briefly) considered getting a classic Burberry print cashmere scarf until we realized it was about $500 US dollars. Sigh. I need to win the lotto. Or one of you need to and share with me!
Anyway, afterwards we grabbed lunch and took a stroll through Hyde Park which was positively lovely. Imagine beautiful Golden Gate Park minus the hobos, hippies, and general derelicts with the most well-manicured lawns you'd ever seen, and that was Hyde Park. Oh, and Kensington Palace just happens to be at one end of it. We also stopped by Buckingham Palace where Thomas tried to open the gate with his hotel key card (I have pictures).
We eventually wandered home, mostly because I was in fear of getting frost bite on my freaking toes before grabbing dinner at a semi-decent Italian place and heading to the Tower of London for the Ceremony of the Keys*.
*Side note: Now some of you know about the Ceremony, but others don't. The brief bit is basically the Tower of London, home to the Crown Jewels, gets locked up every single night by the Yeoman and this tradition has been going on for over 700 years. Each night, they allow about 50 people to come observe the ceremony, which is totally free, but you have to write away for the tickets months in advance.
So when Thomas and I were heading over to the Tower, I could tell he was skeptical about all of this. He kept asking what the ceremony was, if we were going to go see the crown jewels, what's such a big deal, blah blah blah. I assured him repeatedly this was a really cool (and FREE) event that we could go to and it would be an original experience in London. Well, I'm not sure that did it until we actually attended the Ceremony.
Now, our Yeoman was in the Queen's military service for about 25 years and has a real authority about him. He was dressed in this black hat and long, regal looking red coat, and he was a super funny, nice guy, but you could tell it would take half a second for him to go military on you if you didn't listen to what he was saying or asking you to do. It was hilarious and terrifying at the same time.
So we show up for the Ceremony at 9:30 sharp and he tells us about what we're expected to do, where we stand, that absolutely no pictures or videotaping of any kind can be done, etc. After a long list of Dos and more Do Nots, he explained that the keys are escorted by one main guy and four armed Beefeater guards. Yes, like real guns. Anyway, they walk down and lock two gates, then come by where we were standing and get yelled at by the night watchman who says "HALT! Who comes there?" to which the reply is "The Keys!" and then "Whose keys??" to which the reply is "Queen Elizabeth's Keys!"... this happens exactly like this, every night like clockwork. It was awesome. Anyway, if any of you can come get a chance to do it, I highly, highly suggest it.
Today was our last day in London before leaving for Paris tomorrow morning and we spent the morning at the Tower of London looking at the Crown Jewels and basically all the places were people were tortured or incarcerated for months or years and then were beheaded. Thomas and I saw the biggest diamond I think we've ever seen. It was 530 carats! (I told Thomas he could get me one of those next year for Christmas... I should have told him my for my birthday instead so I wouldn't have to wait so bloody long.) Anyway, they are totally impressive. Actually the entire Tower was really impressive, super interesting with lots of history.
In the afternoon Thomas and I parted ways. He went to the National Gallery and I went shoe shopping**. My trip was successful and I think he had a rather nice time looking at Renaissance artwork that I really couldn't give two pence about :)
**Side note: Okay, so I may or may not have done that dumb girl thing where I brought shoes I thought looked really good with my outfits but maybe were just a *tiny* bit uncomfortable and now are eating my feet alive since I'm walking 5-6 hours a day in them, easily. I had to go buy new shoes STAT.
Tonight we went to a "Christmas Spectacular" show at the Royal Albert Hall. Think Ballet-Symphony-Opera-Talent-Laser-Light-Show-With-Indoor-Fireworks-Pyrotechnics-And-An-ET(yes the movie)-Orchestra-Encore, and that was what we watched. It was awesome! We had total nosebleed seats, but with the laser light show, I think we had the best seats in the house! Totally straight back from the stage, but perfect sound and a very clear view. I've never seen or heard of its equivalent in the States. What a fun way to leave London!
So! Now we're packing and getting ready to catch the train to Paris where we will be spending the next two weeks in a lovely apartment WITH WiFi! I'm so excited.
Cheers,
Cathy
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
My feet hurt... a LOT.
.. But it's totally worth it!
My goodness, the days are already starting to melt together and we're having a hard time keeping it all separated! The last two days have been sort of epic and Thomas and I have about a gazillion pictures we want to share with you, but the wifi situation is seriously frustrating. So for now, text only (Read: this is a test to see which of you are our really good friends and who's really just in it for the pictures! ;)).
So Monday was our first real full day visiting the museums since most were closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We started off Monday by having one of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten at a place called The Riding House café (http://www.ridinghousecafe.co.uk/). Hands down, the best buttermilk pancakes I've ever had. I ordered the "full English breakfast" and it kept me full until mid-afternoon easily. I wasn't brave enough to try the "black pudding" (a wedge of dark black, hard-brownie looking thing), but everything else was delicious. The mocha Thomas ordered was also amazing.
After breakfast, we hopped over to the British Library and spent some time with the original sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, the hand written lyrics of the Beatles, the Gutenberg Bible and the Magna Carta. You know, the usual. We walked back towards the underground station where I was appallingly straight up ignored by a Red Cross worker with a clipboard who was very obviously soliciting for charity donations! Apparently I'm not as readily British-identifiable as I'd like to think I am. Made me sad. :(
So after that, we decided to hop over to Harrod's for a bit. For those of you who aren't familiar with Harrod's, it's London's biggest and probably most well known department store. Think Macy's in New York city, but BIGGER. It was ridiculously busy. Even I wasn't brave enough to wander in there for very long to fight the crowds, but we were in there long enough to slip through their "Pet Kingdom" in which you can buy any expensive-over-priced-thing you want for any pooch of your choosing. Not only that, but they had a pet salon. Like, get your pet groomed in style. It was crazy. I have pictures.
We hightailed it out of there rather quickly, and ended up back at the British Museum where Thomas was in absolute heaven. Now when I go to museums, I sort of have an attention span limit. I'll read most of the little placards for the first say, 30 minutes or so, then I just start looking at cool things and skimming through the verbage. Thomas wants to. Read. EVERYTHING. Literally. Luckily (for me), we only had about 1.5-2 hours before they closed, so we ended up not staying too long. I think if he had more time, Thomas would quite literally spend an entire day there and read every single word about every single thing they had.
After the museum we headed home to recoup (aka Thomas passed out for a solid hour), then we wandered the streets for a place to eat. We ended up at this quirky, but authentic looking Italian place where the owner greeted us at the door in Italian and shook our hands and made plenty of recommendations. It was the kind of place where he brought us our food, asked if we'd like pepper on our pasta, I said no, Thomas said no, but he decided Thomas' dish should have pepper anyway and asking was basically just a courtesy not intended to actually be adhered to. LOL. Thomas' face was priceless.
Oh, and did I mention that it's been raining and super windy the last two days? It was positively miserable!
Luckily yesterday was a bit better with the exception of one part. So for Tuesday, Christmas Eve, we had a big day planned. We started off having breakfast at another little bakery/café I had found, called the Fleet River Café. Super tasty and in our neighbourhood which was great. Afterwards, we hopped over to Trafalgar Square where the tree sent from Norway is held, and there's also a rather large fountain, the National Gallery, and most of the theaters. We were seeing the Nutcracker at the Coliseum, so we had some time to kill before our show at 1 pm.
Well, Thomas and I decided to pick up our tickets at will call, then wandered all the way down to Big Ben, the Parliament Buildings and Westminster Abbey, which was fantastic, until it started POURING on us on the way back. (My mind rewound to the earlier part of the morning when I asked him "Hey, do you think we'll need our umbrella today?" His answer: "Nah, we should be fine." Sigh. I should know better.) Anyway, we ended up going to a lovely production of the Nutcracker positively drenched.
After the show we grabbed a quick snack at a wonderful pub called The White Swan (literally every pub I've seen is some color of animal, or "ye olde...." pub, and is claiming to have the oldest brewed beer in casks or what have you). I had an amazing chicken pot pie I won't be likely to forget anytime soon and a Blue Moon (I just needed something that tasted of home). After that we wandered around Covent Garden and the markets for a few minutes, then went back to the hotel room for a 45 minute break before heading out to dinner.
I had reserved a Christmas Eve dinner at a little restaurant that had gotten great reviews online called the Corner Room. It was a bit far from our hotel, but seemed innovative and interesting, and it was inside a hotel. Well. The entire dinning room was about the size of Thomas' classroom. I shit you not. LOL. He was like... that's it? Anyway, 5 courses later, I'm not sure exactly what I ate, and I'm pretty sure the food was more sophisticated than I am. It was good, but we probably wouldn't go back again.
After that, we took the underground over to Westminster Abbey where we stood in the rain for nearly an hour for the 11:45 pm Christmas Eve service. This was absolutely outstanding. If ANY of you ever have the change to do this, GO! Westminster Abbey is beautiful enough as it was, but to actually be there for a Christmas eve service (which by the way, was broadcasted on the BBC), was absolutely incredible. So memorable. Yes it was late. Yes the entire place smelled of incense. And yes, we were pretty wet and miserable waiting, but all in all, definitely worth it. Not to mention that it was just amazing to be sharing such a wonderful experience surrounded by Aussies, Italians, Brits, everyone. Truly a one-of-a-kind experience.
Anyway, after that, we had to walk home. Did I mention there is no tube service on Christmas Day? Since the service ended around 1 am, we walked home and got in our hotel around 2 or so. I think we finally passed out around 3:30 am or so. Such an epic day! (which also accounts for why we slept in until 10 am this morning!)
Whew! I'm exhausted just recounting all of this again. I do hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas! I'll write another post later about what we did today, but it was also amazing and luckily the weather has been lovely. :)
Merry Christmas to you all, we miss you guys!
Cathy
My goodness, the days are already starting to melt together and we're having a hard time keeping it all separated! The last two days have been sort of epic and Thomas and I have about a gazillion pictures we want to share with you, but the wifi situation is seriously frustrating. So for now, text only (Read: this is a test to see which of you are our really good friends and who's really just in it for the pictures! ;)).
So Monday was our first real full day visiting the museums since most were closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We started off Monday by having one of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten at a place called The Riding House café (http://www.ridinghousecafe.co.uk/). Hands down, the best buttermilk pancakes I've ever had. I ordered the "full English breakfast" and it kept me full until mid-afternoon easily. I wasn't brave enough to try the "black pudding" (a wedge of dark black, hard-brownie looking thing), but everything else was delicious. The mocha Thomas ordered was also amazing.
After breakfast, we hopped over to the British Library and spent some time with the original sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, the hand written lyrics of the Beatles, the Gutenberg Bible and the Magna Carta. You know, the usual. We walked back towards the underground station where I was appallingly straight up ignored by a Red Cross worker with a clipboard who was very obviously soliciting for charity donations! Apparently I'm not as readily British-identifiable as I'd like to think I am. Made me sad. :(
So after that, we decided to hop over to Harrod's for a bit. For those of you who aren't familiar with Harrod's, it's London's biggest and probably most well known department store. Think Macy's in New York city, but BIGGER. It was ridiculously busy. Even I wasn't brave enough to wander in there for very long to fight the crowds, but we were in there long enough to slip through their "Pet Kingdom" in which you can buy any expensive-over-priced-thing you want for any pooch of your choosing. Not only that, but they had a pet salon. Like, get your pet groomed in style. It was crazy. I have pictures.
We hightailed it out of there rather quickly, and ended up back at the British Museum where Thomas was in absolute heaven. Now when I go to museums, I sort of have an attention span limit. I'll read most of the little placards for the first say, 30 minutes or so, then I just start looking at cool things and skimming through the verbage. Thomas wants to. Read. EVERYTHING. Literally. Luckily (for me), we only had about 1.5-2 hours before they closed, so we ended up not staying too long. I think if he had more time, Thomas would quite literally spend an entire day there and read every single word about every single thing they had.
After the museum we headed home to recoup (aka Thomas passed out for a solid hour), then we wandered the streets for a place to eat. We ended up at this quirky, but authentic looking Italian place where the owner greeted us at the door in Italian and shook our hands and made plenty of recommendations. It was the kind of place where he brought us our food, asked if we'd like pepper on our pasta, I said no, Thomas said no, but he decided Thomas' dish should have pepper anyway and asking was basically just a courtesy not intended to actually be adhered to. LOL. Thomas' face was priceless.
Oh, and did I mention that it's been raining and super windy the last two days? It was positively miserable!
Luckily yesterday was a bit better with the exception of one part. So for Tuesday, Christmas Eve, we had a big day planned. We started off having breakfast at another little bakery/café I had found, called the Fleet River Café. Super tasty and in our neighbourhood which was great. Afterwards, we hopped over to Trafalgar Square where the tree sent from Norway is held, and there's also a rather large fountain, the National Gallery, and most of the theaters. We were seeing the Nutcracker at the Coliseum, so we had some time to kill before our show at 1 pm.
Well, Thomas and I decided to pick up our tickets at will call, then wandered all the way down to Big Ben, the Parliament Buildings and Westminster Abbey, which was fantastic, until it started POURING on us on the way back. (My mind rewound to the earlier part of the morning when I asked him "Hey, do you think we'll need our umbrella today?" His answer: "Nah, we should be fine." Sigh. I should know better.) Anyway, we ended up going to a lovely production of the Nutcracker positively drenched.
After the show we grabbed a quick snack at a wonderful pub called The White Swan (literally every pub I've seen is some color of animal, or "ye olde...." pub, and is claiming to have the oldest brewed beer in casks or what have you). I had an amazing chicken pot pie I won't be likely to forget anytime soon and a Blue Moon (I just needed something that tasted of home). After that we wandered around Covent Garden and the markets for a few minutes, then went back to the hotel room for a 45 minute break before heading out to dinner.
I had reserved a Christmas Eve dinner at a little restaurant that had gotten great reviews online called the Corner Room. It was a bit far from our hotel, but seemed innovative and interesting, and it was inside a hotel. Well. The entire dinning room was about the size of Thomas' classroom. I shit you not. LOL. He was like... that's it? Anyway, 5 courses later, I'm not sure exactly what I ate, and I'm pretty sure the food was more sophisticated than I am. It was good, but we probably wouldn't go back again.
After that, we took the underground over to Westminster Abbey where we stood in the rain for nearly an hour for the 11:45 pm Christmas Eve service. This was absolutely outstanding. If ANY of you ever have the change to do this, GO! Westminster Abbey is beautiful enough as it was, but to actually be there for a Christmas eve service (which by the way, was broadcasted on the BBC), was absolutely incredible. So memorable. Yes it was late. Yes the entire place smelled of incense. And yes, we were pretty wet and miserable waiting, but all in all, definitely worth it. Not to mention that it was just amazing to be sharing such a wonderful experience surrounded by Aussies, Italians, Brits, everyone. Truly a one-of-a-kind experience.
Anyway, after that, we had to walk home. Did I mention there is no tube service on Christmas Day? Since the service ended around 1 am, we walked home and got in our hotel around 2 or so. I think we finally passed out around 3:30 am or so. Such an epic day! (which also accounts for why we slept in until 10 am this morning!)
Whew! I'm exhausted just recounting all of this again. I do hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas! I'll write another post later about what we did today, but it was also amazing and luckily the weather has been lovely. :)
Merry Christmas to you all, we miss you guys!
Cathy
Sunday, December 22, 2013
We made it!
Well, we made it safe and sound over the pond after our first flight ran a bit late. Luckily, our next gate was only one down!
Amazingly enough, getting through Heathrow was a breeze. By the time we cleared customs and headed downstairs to baggage claim, we made it just in time to see our bags wander around the baggage claim belt. Talk about good timing! Then it only took a second to get our Oyster Cards for the tube and before we knew it, we were at our hotel, the Beauchamp.
I have to say, I did pretty darn well in choosing our hotel, if I must say so myself (and I do, since Thomas refuses to contribute to this blog). It's a lovely hotel in Bloomsbury, a neighbourhood I had stayed in previously on my last trip to London. It was a budget deal I found on Expedia so I wasn't exactly expecting a luxury room, just something quiet and clean Thomas and I could sleep in, but I was delightfully surprised at the spaciousness of the room and the coziness of it! Not only that, but it's *literally* half a block away from the British Museum, which already makes it a win-win. If any of you happen to visit London, I highly suggest this hotel. (I have some pictures I'll upload a bit later.)
The only downside is that we are having the hardest time finding any free Wifi around here. I didn't realize how (obsessively) I check my phone until you can't. Literally. So aside from me writing this from the lobby computer, it looks like the updates might be a few days in coming.
Anyhoo... we weren't able to do a ton today since we got in late and both of us were tired from not being able to sleep too well on the flight, but we did manage an hour's visit to the British Museum, dinner at a pub, Shakespeare's Head, and a wander down through the shopping district. I have come to the realization that I absolutely cannot understand the Brits. I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to figure out what they're saying even though it's technically still English, which I embarrassingly discovered this evening whilst ordering dinner. (This doesn't bode well for Paris.) The bar server asked me something about wanting mashed peas or garden peas with dinner and I couldn't understand a bloody thing. She had to lean in and talk super slowly so I could understand. I'm sure she thought I was a dumb American! Of course in her defense, I didn't do much to discourage her from thinking so. C'est la vie.
Hopefully tomorrow we'll finish the British Museum and visit the British Library before doing a bit of Christmas shopping. Unfortunately, the weather is supposed to have rain and gale force winds! Ah well, you can't win everything, right?
Hope all is well back home.
Cheers,
Cathy
Monday, December 16, 2013
Five days and counting....
Alright, so all of you know (mostly because I won't let you forget!) that Thomas and I will be spending three weeks in London and Paris! We depart this Saturday (assuming no emergency surgeries occur between now and then, fingers crossed) and will be flying back wearing elastic stretchy pants on the evening of Sunday, January 12th. Instead of spamming the entire interwebular space of Facebook, I've decided to start this little blog to post pictures and share our experiences with you, should you be inclined to follow our travels through what I'm sure will be heaps of baguettes, piles of cheese, croissants and wine. And hopefully, at some point Thomas will be interested enough to post some of his own stories here as well! (Okay, so I'm not really holding my breath for this one.)
A couple of quick thank yous to one Robyn Mohr and one Jennifer Wiklund who are going to ensure Bella, the Wonder Weenie, will not be homeless and love-deprived whist we're away. (And thank you to the numerous other people who generously offered to dog sit for us!) And thank you to Ines, who will be visiting my house to collect the mail, water the plants and hopefully make sure my house isn't robbed.
So! Let the packing games begin! (And may the odds be ever in your favor....)
A couple of quick thank yous to one Robyn Mohr and one Jennifer Wiklund who are going to ensure Bella, the Wonder Weenie, will not be homeless and love-deprived whist we're away. (And thank you to the numerous other people who generously offered to dog sit for us!) And thank you to Ines, who will be visiting my house to collect the mail, water the plants and hopefully make sure my house isn't robbed.
So! Let the packing games begin! (And may the odds be ever in your favor....)
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