We're back from our Euro adventure and are hoping to do a post about each of the 3 stops on our trip: London, Lille, and Paris.
DAY ONE
We took a red eye to London overnight and left Heathrow airport around noon on Thursday to go find Jake and Marilyn's apartment.....and coffee.
This is when I didn't want to take pictures because I was so tired from not sleeping on the flight (turbulence targets me). #precoffeekels
As soon as we got apartment keys from Jake and dropped our stuff off at their apartment, we were off for a walk around the city.
One of these buildings was in a recent James Bond film.
Walking along the Thames, Mike enjoyed snapping pictures of me.
We stopped at a playground near the Houses of Parliament.
This is a little turny wheel....
it looks fun, but it's actually quite dangerous.....
Here I am scared for my life....
The "Thames", which I pronounced incorrectly for about 3 days. It's "T(eh)ms."
"Look!" Mike said, "It's the Burghers of Calais! We're going to see this again in Paris!" Kelsey was clearly enthralled.
Our first glimpse of Big Ben
From the other side. Very jet lagged.
DAY TWO
After a full English breakfast at the Regency Cafe we took an uber to The British Museum.
We really liked the inside.
Kelsey very patiently allowed me to walk her through history.
Horse from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Statues from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
There were interesting pamphlets around here about how the British definitely didn't steal these statues and it is totally okay for them to be in The British Museum and they take better care of them than the Greeks would anyway. We were convinced.
Kelsey thought this guy was fun.
I did too.
From the museum, we took a walk to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant for lunch. It was a long walk, but the food was worth it. Afterwards, we walked over to the Tower of London.
And on the way passed through the City of London...
And saw buildings that didn't make a lot of sense but were very neat looking...
And made it to the Tower! We also went into the crypts of a nearby church, which still had some mosaics from a villa that was built on that site when London was still Londinium around 2000 years ago. Kelsey was not expecting more history, but that's what she got.
Tower Bridge
The Shard (where we went for drinks later that night)
We walked across the Thames, the correct pronunciation of which sent Kelsey into a giggling spree every time, and walked through Boroughs Market to the Tate Modern Art Museum.
The art was very similar to what we have at the Hirshhorn, but it had a nice view!
Then we walked over to the London Eye (giant Ferris wheel). On the way we had some incredible hot chocolate from a food truck that sold only single-source hot chocolate from hot chocolate fountains. I do what I have to do to bribe Kelsey to keep walking. We did a lot of walking.
Views from the Eye of places we had been or were going:
Marylin and Jake's place is somewhere to the upper right of the river in this picture.
We got off the Eye and went back to the Shard to meet Maryin and Jake for drinks followed by dinner at an Indian restaurant called Dishoom, where we were served warm sherry while waiting for our table and our Scottish/Italian bartender waxed poetic about how nice Americans were compared to Europeans and how he could never visit America because he would just end up staying forever.
Some of Dishoom's drink menu
Jake and Marylin and our food!
DAY THREE
For our third day we took a train out to Windsor Castle, the home of the royal family.
Definitely a castle.
Jake and Marylin came too, since they had not seen it either!
We took the audio tour. Once again, I tricked Kelsey into history.
The inside of the castle was very pretty, but no photos were allowed.
The outside had swans, though. This is part of a canal system that leads back to London.
For lunch we went to a nearby pub that Jake certified was a "real English pub" and therefore somewhere that we could try cask ales and fish and chips.
So I did.
Jake and I re-calibrated our cameras on the way back. Just kidding. I have no idea what I'm doing.
Back in London, we stopped by Harrod's, which is like a normal department store but with single items that cost more than aforementioned department store.
Comparatively, the giant stuffed lion was a bargain.
On the way to Windsor, we went through Paddington Station. I told Kelsey we would get a picture with a giant Paddington Bear statue on the way back, but the statue was on the other side of the station. We took a picture with this Paddington instead.
For dinner, we went out for Chinese at Duck and Rice.
We had already eaten far too much by this point, but of course we ate all of this too.
And on the way back to Jake and Marylin's place we got to ride on top of a double-decker bus.
DAY FOUR
We had been very active, so this day started off a little quieter. Kelsey needed to rest her feet so Jake and I took their dog Rigby out to Battersea Park.
Rigby is a good dog.
Afterwards, Jake took us on a walk around the canals.
The boats are all roughly the same size...
Because they all have to fit through these locks.
Our end-goal was to get here, Camden Market.
We knew it was Camden because of the sign.
The best part of any market is the food.
Who would have known that dough with powdered sugar and Nutella would be delicious? Everyone. Everyone knows that.
Giant paella.
Pork in a steamed bun.
Cupcakes.
Cupcakes and cake-cakes.
Marylin met up with us at Camden Market and we started walking back through the city. On the way, Jake announced that we were coming up on something that I, as a music person, would think was cool. It was not Adele's house. That was my first guess.
A road! Abbey Road, specifically. We spent about twenty minutes watching people block traffic and take pictures of themselves standing, sitting, lying down, and otherwise not crossing the crosswalk as cars honked at them.
Then we walked back to Jake and Marylin's place. For dinner we went to a nearby burger place that had live music.
Whether they were a band or just eight people who brought different instruments to a burger place and started jamming together, we appreciated them.
The burgers were also good!
DAY FIVE
We woke up early on Monday to get to the train station.
Goodbye London!
Staying with Jake and Marylin was a wonderful way to experience the city. We saw everything that we wanted to see and logged around 40 miles of walking in the short time that we were there. Most importantly, we were able to spend quality time with our friends and with each other.
More to come from Lille and Paris!
