Girls Weekend...Plus Jeff

I was so excited to find out that one of my best friends, Kelsey, was coming over to London for work for a few days.  She let me know, and the planning began.  Jeff and I decided to go down to London to spend it with her, do some tourist things, and just catch up since we don't live close even back in the states.

Jeff and I drove down to London on Friday evening to meet up with her.  We got a bit of a late start, so it was pretty late when we finally arrived in the city.  I ended up meeting up with Kelsey at a local bar, while Jeff hung back at the hotel.  Kelsey and I had some much needed "catch-up" time together.

The next morning, Jeff and I headed to Westminster Abbey after grabbing a fantastic breakfast with beautiful views of the London Eye.  The location of our hotel was great, as it was right on the River Thames.  Westminster is one we have been trying to get to since moving here. It is always on our agenda to get to, but we always time it poorly.  Either we get into the city or that particular location late or there is an event going on that prevents us from going inside.  I think I have a ton of pictures of the outside though. Once arrived, we were astonished of the entry fee...20 pounds each. Yowza! I think that might be one of the most expensive entry fees of the tourist places we visit. We entered nonetheless, and it was beautiful.  Great history learned through the audio guides, but not sure it was worth the amount of money we paid.  No pictures to show of the inside, sorry! Rules. Rules. Rules.

 Britain's oldest door and the court yard inside Westminster.

Afterwards we met up with Kelsey and walked down by the River Thames for a while.  We popped into have a pint and get out of the cold weather for a bit.  We made it to the Tower Bridge, which is also been on our agenda for a while. It is my favorite building in London.

 

You know our rule...if you take a picture or stop to enjoy the street performers...you owe them some money.  This guy was playing "Putting on the Ritz" and fire would come out of the top of his instrument as the beat continued. 

 In front of the Tower Bridge

Jeff and I in front of the bridge

Once arriving, we took the elevator up to the top.  There were videos throughout the experience teaching us about the history and the 8 years it took to build. Our favorite part was the glass floor on the halls that connect both sides of the tower.  It was pretty crazy and almost hard to walk on knowing you could see 139 feet below you.  Cars, buses, people, and the river flowing beneath you...crazy!

 Pretty scary, right?

 Looking down!

One of the beautiful views! The Shard is the tall building...used to be the tallest in Europe.

Afterwards we grabbed a late lunch and had a relaxing evening.  We finished our night walking around the city, seeing a few of the sites at night.  Jeff and I headed back on Sunday morning after a late breakfast and parted ways with Kelsey.  It was so great being able to just hang up and not missing a beat while doing so. We are so incredibly lucky to have so many friends and family members come over to see us. Thanks again, Kelsey!

On to the next adventure...

Welcome to our Home!

Our friends, Christian & Kristin, joined up with us again, this time at our flat in Nottingham.  We were able to just spend some quality time eating, drinking, sharing stories, & just enjoying the area.  We were able to take them to some of our favorite spots and some tourist traps as well.

Friday night it was great to enjoy a bottle of wine & a home cooked meal.  We were able to just have some quality time together, hanging out. It was definitely nice to have close friends over, just as if we were in the States. Saturday we took them to Wollaton Hall & Deer Park (see my former post for more pictures) to walk around the park.  Then we took them to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem (see my former post for more pictures), the oldest pub in England, where we enjoyed a few beers and lunch.

 

 Wollaton Hall is a great place for a walk or a little Frisbee!

A little pub action after Wollaton Hall.

 Bringing back games we played in college. Never too old for the silly college games! 

We ended our day walking around the city, grabbing some amazing curry for dinner, and attempting to watch the biggest boxing match since World War II in England.  We couldn't even get into a pub as they were so packed, people were trying to watch the TVs through the windows on the street. Unfortunately we missed the match.

The next day, we drove down to London for the day.  We were able to see the Tower of London & walk around the city.  We had a guided tour that was very entertaining as well as watch a show.  They taught some lucky people from the audience (Christian, included!) to use the catapult. We could have spend the majority of the day at the Tower of London as there was so much to do there. We also went to St. Paul's Cathedral where Kate & William were married.  As for most of the churches, we were unable to take pictures inside the cathedral.  It was beautiful and special that a wedding that was viewed around the world took place there. Not going to lie, I was visualizing them standing at the alter while inside. haha!

 

 On the walk to Tower of London. 

 Tower of London. It was so large that I couldn't even get the whole grounds in the picture. 

 The show was very entertaining! 

 Christian was a part of the show! He helped 3 other men use the catapult.  They did a great job! 

 Inside of the Tower of London. 

Another shot of the Tower Bridge. One of my favorite buildings in London!

 

Great travel buddies! Miss you guys already!

We were blessed to have another visitor...Jeff's dad, Greg, the very next day Christian and Kristin left.  He stayed in Nottingham this time, which was great because we were able to see him almost every day he was here.  Lots of quality time and yummy food! Thanks for a great visit, Greg, and helping us feel right at home!

London Part 3: Westminster Abbey, Streets of London, & the Tower Bridge

As we were waiting for our tour to begin for The Palace of Westminster, we explored for a bit. We saw the outside of Westminster Abbey because for some reason we weren't allowed inside for a self guided tour. Hoping to do that next time we come as well. 

Did I mention we could barely move our legs by the time this trip was over? We wished we had kept track of how many steps/miles we walked. I did a little research and this doesn't include walking indoors (tours, museums, etc) as well as Nottingham walks to/from the station. I think we easily walked over 11 miles. During our walks we took a few pictures of just neat buildings or things we found interesting. 

This was my little research project this morning. Obviously, it is not 100% accurate, as I do not remember every street name. But generally, this was our 11+ mile route.

I was getting disappointed because I was only seeing modern double decker buses. I was refusing to take pictures of them, until this one was quickly approaching so I snapped a picture!

 The River Thames.

 View from the other side of the river.

 I couldn't resist. How can you be in London and not get one of these pictures?

 This was outside of the train station: London St. Pancras Station.

 This was a hotel we found when walking to The British Museum.

I believe this is another rail station, but don't quote me on that!

This is the London Eye. It is a giant ferris wheel. Each capsule can fit a decent amount of people (like a small room). I was doing some research and you can have a specialty capsule (i.e. wine tasting, events, etc). Pretty awesome. We didn't want to wait in line, so once again this is something we'll do next time for sure!

Before hopping on the metro (instead of walking our entire route back...hello 22+ miles?!) we visited the Tower Bridge. This was one thing I was REALLY looking forward to seeing. It closed at 5:30, so we were unable to go up to the top, but this place was beautiful. I'm glad we were able to see it at night. 

 

After the metro ride back, we grabbed some food & beer. Then we hopped on the train and headed home. What a day! As you can tell we had a packed day, but still many things left to do in London. We're so glad it's just a 2 hour train ride away so we are able to check some more things off our London Bucket List. Amazing.