London, Day 4, 31.12.06
Sunday was another day of "sleeping in." We all had some aches and pains from the walk from Victoria to the Tower of London the day before and had a rough time willing ourselves out of bed. After talking to nurse mom, dad discovered that he may have a stress fracture. Needless to say, we kept things pretty low key yesterday and got a day pass on the Tube. First stop, Kensington Palace. The first few rooms were pretty bare, but then we entered the Princess Diana area and the decorated parts of the palace, and we really enjoyed the visit. Dad and Katie's favorite room was this one with a very ornate clock in the middle. Mine was one of the bedchambers. Sadly, I don't know any more specifics about either.
When we got to the gift shop, I found the *perfect* pink, sparkly wand. I've been wanting one for quite a long time, but I felt kind of silly buying it. I picked it up, looked at it, put it back, walked around the shop, came back, looked at it again, walked away...this repeated several times. Finally I decided to get it, and when I got up to the check out, the cashier smiled and asked, "How did I know you were going to get that?" After I paid, he smiled again and told me to "Enjoy!"
It was well past lunch time by this point and we'd missed the free breakfast at the hotel that morning. I was really excited to see a Giraffe, a restaurant Katie's friend Cati had recommended to us. Their menu is super fabulous and I had a difficult time deciding what to order :-)
We wanted to hop on the Tube and head to Wimbledon Park after that, but service was slow on the line, so we headed back to Victoria. When we got out of the station, we realized we only had 10 minutes until the Tesco closed, and we wanted to pick up a few things for Dave and Andi's party. We got there just in time -- the place was packed and shelves were being cleaned out, as people stocked up on food and drink for their own parties. When I was in the checkout line, a British woman in front of me asked me about the store's hours of operation for the next couple of days. I replied, and even after hearing my accent, she turned around again to ask me about hours for department stores today. I love appearing knowledgeable :-)
My line was moving alone just fine, but the cashier at the next line told his manager, "I'm shutting down now." His manager just stared at him blankly. "Look at all these people in line! No." And again, the cashier *insisted* on shutting down because it was 4pm on the dot, but the manager talked him out of it ;-) It was so funny, everyone in line was just kind of looking around, wondering what possessed this man who's helping his store do *heaps* of business to just walk on the job.
NEW YEARS EVE:
Still with our Tube pass, we easily got to Bermondsey and found Dave and Andi's flat. In addition to the crew from Friday night, I met Charlotte, Ian, (d20) Dave, Rob, Justin, Jim Bob, Stuart, and I know a handful of other people :-) Everyone welcomed us immediately and I spoke to almost everyone at the party at some point. I was able to amuse a few people when they asked me to pronounce certain words for them. Then, Dave and dad tried teaching each other how to say "water" and we all got laughs from their attempts :-) Somewhere we have a picture of Dave in dad's coat, scarf, and hat, and we all loved when Dave shouted "Water!" in a very American accent.
Shortly before midnight, we headed out on the balcony for a spectacular view of the city! We counted down from 10 and celebrated as we watched fireworks go off in the distance. It was cold, but I wish I would have spent more time outside, because the view was so unique. Thankfully, it's a great image I have clearly in mind.
Justin and I decided that we wanted another passport, so we figured we'd both acquire dual citizenship by getting married. So he got down on one knee and asked my dad for persmission to have my hand, and we called me "wifey" for the rest of the evening.
We had such a great time at the party, and it was so hard to leave, but the Tube was only going to be open and free for so long on New Years Day, so we reluctantly headed out and back to the hotel.
Kev and company, again, we cannot thank you enough for your friendliness and energy. You each have 3 big fans in us!
Happy New Year and cheers, m'dears!
Sunday was another day of "sleeping in." We all had some aches and pains from the walk from Victoria to the Tower of London the day before and had a rough time willing ourselves out of bed. After talking to nurse mom, dad discovered that he may have a stress fracture. Needless to say, we kept things pretty low key yesterday and got a day pass on the Tube. First stop, Kensington Palace. The first few rooms were pretty bare, but then we entered the Princess Diana area and the decorated parts of the palace, and we really enjoyed the visit. Dad and Katie's favorite room was this one with a very ornate clock in the middle. Mine was one of the bedchambers. Sadly, I don't know any more specifics about either.
When we got to the gift shop, I found the *perfect* pink, sparkly wand. I've been wanting one for quite a long time, but I felt kind of silly buying it. I picked it up, looked at it, put it back, walked around the shop, came back, looked at it again, walked away...this repeated several times. Finally I decided to get it, and when I got up to the check out, the cashier smiled and asked, "How did I know you were going to get that?" After I paid, he smiled again and told me to "Enjoy!"
It was well past lunch time by this point and we'd missed the free breakfast at the hotel that morning. I was really excited to see a Giraffe, a restaurant Katie's friend Cati had recommended to us. Their menu is super fabulous and I had a difficult time deciding what to order :-)
We wanted to hop on the Tube and head to Wimbledon Park after that, but service was slow on the line, so we headed back to Victoria. When we got out of the station, we realized we only had 10 minutes until the Tesco closed, and we wanted to pick up a few things for Dave and Andi's party. We got there just in time -- the place was packed and shelves were being cleaned out, as people stocked up on food and drink for their own parties. When I was in the checkout line, a British woman in front of me asked me about the store's hours of operation for the next couple of days. I replied, and even after hearing my accent, she turned around again to ask me about hours for department stores today. I love appearing knowledgeable :-)
My line was moving alone just fine, but the cashier at the next line told his manager, "I'm shutting down now." His manager just stared at him blankly. "Look at all these people in line! No." And again, the cashier *insisted* on shutting down because it was 4pm on the dot, but the manager talked him out of it ;-) It was so funny, everyone in line was just kind of looking around, wondering what possessed this man who's helping his store do *heaps* of business to just walk on the job.
NEW YEARS EVE:
Still with our Tube pass, we easily got to Bermondsey and found Dave and Andi's flat. In addition to the crew from Friday night, I met Charlotte, Ian, (d20) Dave, Rob, Justin, Jim Bob, Stuart, and I know a handful of other people :-) Everyone welcomed us immediately and I spoke to almost everyone at the party at some point. I was able to amuse a few people when they asked me to pronounce certain words for them. Then, Dave and dad tried teaching each other how to say "water" and we all got laughs from their attempts :-) Somewhere we have a picture of Dave in dad's coat, scarf, and hat, and we all loved when Dave shouted "Water!" in a very American accent.
Shortly before midnight, we headed out on the balcony for a spectacular view of the city! We counted down from 10 and celebrated as we watched fireworks go off in the distance. It was cold, but I wish I would have spent more time outside, because the view was so unique. Thankfully, it's a great image I have clearly in mind.
Justin and I decided that we wanted another passport, so we figured we'd both acquire dual citizenship by getting married. So he got down on one knee and asked my dad for persmission to have my hand, and we called me "wifey" for the rest of the evening.
We had such a great time at the party, and it was so hard to leave, but the Tube was only going to be open and free for so long on New Years Day, so we reluctantly headed out and back to the hotel.
Kev and company, again, we cannot thank you enough for your friendliness and energy. You each have 3 big fans in us!
Happy New Year and cheers, m'dears!
3 Comments:
Wow! Sounds like such fun. It makes me wish that I was with you.
By
Anonymous, at 5:31 PM
I'm glad you bought the wand. May its powers be used (mostly) for good. :)
By
Anonymous, at 12:37 AM
It was a pleasure spending time with you while you were in our country, will look forward to seeing you again
By
Anonymous, at 12:42 PM
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