I couldn't miss the opportunity to tell you about my vacation. Since the details are plenty, I will instead throw a slew of pictures at you.
I first spent some time back home in Oregon for a week, which is just what I needed. We zumba-ed, basketballed, ate a lot, celebrated my mama's birthday, and spent some time at the beach house.
{it was Petunia's first time ever to the beach!! I just adore this picture}
DAY ONE--tourist day in London
Then we rocked the full day of traveling through 3 different countries to end up at good ole Heathrow Airport. I still don't believe I went back. I never thought that I would, so it felt like I was just walking around in a dream. My family had to tell me a couple of times to slow down so they could take pictures of things and I realized that I was just so used to this city that I forgot that they haven't seen the cool things, yet. Being in London just felt good and comfortable, like a favorite pair of shoes.
{BYU London Centre, where I lived for 4 glorious months with 40 wonderful people}
{Kensington Palace and gardens}
{tourists}
{London Eye}
(yes, Annie, Kira, and Brittany, I instisted we did the 4D experience. It was just as great the second time around)
DAY TWO--Tower of London, Tower Bridge, British Museum, "39 Steps"
{beefeater at the Tower}
{Tower Bridge}
Then, the fastest tour of the highlights of the British Museum that you've ever seen. Mummies, Rosetta Stone, Parthenon, oh my!
I went to see "39 Steps" on my birthday last time and loved it, so I'm glad that I got to take my family to that.
DAY THREE--Buckingham Palace, St. James' Park, Parliament tour, Westminster Cathedral, Trafalgar Square
{I didn't get to go inside of Buckingham the first time I went to London, so I LOVED being able to see something new. Plus, it's where the queen lives. Plus, it's really really pretty on the inside.}
Oh, and as we were rushing to our tour, we were stopped from crossing the street by a police man and some fast-moving important cars drove by and my parents looked at each other and said, "Was that Prince William?!" And as I walked across the street, a local mumbled in as-a-matter-of-factly manner something about the Prime Minister. I couldn't tell who it was, but, hey, probably someone famous. I didn't get anywhere close to that during the 4 months I lived there!
Yes, William and Kate are still the hot topic there, with plates with their faces on them, postcards, etc. As a part of our Buckingham tour, in the grand ballroom was a display of Kate's gorgeous dress and accessories for the wedding along with the very elaborate wedding cake.
{St. James' park}
When we got our passes for the Parliament tour, my mom decided to make a face in all of our pictures from behind us. Hahaha oh mom...
{Westminster Cathedral}
{St. Martin's-in-the-field}
When we went to check out Trafalgar Square, they were having the year countdown kick-off for the olympics and it was crazy. So we didn't get to see it, but got the full party-in-Trafalgar experience. The Londoners are SO excited for the olympics next year. Talk about construction galore all over the city.
DAY FOUR--Portobello Market, St. Paul's, "All's Well That Ends Well" at the Globe, Borough Market, double decker ride through the city, Gelato Mio
{Portobello on a Saturday...}
{St. Paul's from the Millenium Bridge, south of the Thames}
{Shakespeare's Globe Theatre}
{we didn't have to stand...good thing since 3 people passed out in the heat}
{Borough is my favorite market ever ever--and those baklava guys are the best}
{my favorite gelato place in London, Gelato Mio}
DAY FIVE--Royal Tunbridge Wells, driving on the wrong side of the road, Guinea Butt, Great-Grandma's grave, swimming
Sunday morning, my father and I went to the airport to pick up a rental car to take down to Tunbridge Wells. Do you know what that means? It means that my dad drove on the wrong side of the road in Europe in a little European car. SCARY! and therefore fun. The reason we ventured to Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was because of family history. When my Grandma was 12, she jumped on a boat with her adopted mom to Canada, where 2 years later, they gained US visas and moved to California. Before they moved to the State, however, they lived in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. This last Christmas, my mom (who also got her degree in English) editied and printed her mom's adopted mom's autobiography and gave copies to all of the family. It was a very touching moment for my family. So we thought it would be only appropriate to go visit Tunbridge Wells since it's only 30 minutes south of London and it's our family history spot. My grandma couldn't remember the exact death date or where her mom was buried, but there is only one cemetery for the greater Sussex/Kent area, so we decided to start our search for great-grandma there. After about 20 minutes of my family spread across the cemetery, brushing off headstones and looking for a familiar name, my dad said, "Hey, come down to this area where the rest of the family is, Michelle. There's nothing up there." But I had found a section that had dates close to what my grandma had thought was her mom's death date and so I said that I was going to stay in that area. He walked up to my area and said, "Oh, these are the dates we need." So he joined my sweep. After about 5 minutes, he exclaimed, "Found it!" Mind you, this was a big cemetery and there were headstones dating back to the late 1800s/early 1900s. So finding the headstone of great-grandma Rosamond Williamson and 3 of her sisters was a great experience for our family.
{Ericksen kiddos}
{why are you driving on that side of the car, dad?}
We ate fish and chips at a quaint little pub called Guinea Butt. I'll leave it up to you to look up what that means.
I think that's a good dose for today. Week two is on its way!!
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