Our first mission was to hunt down some delicious fish and chips. I know us Americans get a bad wrap for our french fries, but I'd bet they eat more "chips" in Europe than we - seriously, they are a side dish for just about every entree in some countries.
We explored all the major sights and really fell in love with the city. Kyle did not expect to like it because of its size, and I didn't remember much of it besides seeing Big Ben and the Doc Marten store on my high school trip ... but we were both pleasantly surprised and wished we had more time here.
I know what you're thinking, "cute picture in front of London Bridge." And you would be right that this is a cute picture. But, we are actually standing in front of the Tower Bridge. Very common to mistake the two. At least you got the important part right. :)
Here we are in front of the London Eye - aka a ginormous ferris wheel. We didn't find time to go for a ride.
Kyle in front of Big Ben and a famously British phone booth. Really, people still use those things? I think they just keep them around for tourists like us to take silly pictures.
Kissing my Prince Charming in front of Buckingham Palace.
My favorite part of our visit, surprisingly, was the Churchill Museum and War Rooms. Clearly, not a place I would have seeked out but it was on Kyle's list so I obliged given that I had two more days here with Beth. It was just so surreal to be walking through the underground hallways and rooms where Winston Churchill and his men developed their strategies during World War II. We even saw Churchill's private room with a phone that would call direct to President Roosevelt. Very interesting visit.
Here is one of the underground deliberation rooms used by the British during the war - so crazy.
Then it came time for my dear hubby to head home. I jumped on the train to head to the airport with him and got him checked in with both of our bags. I was now going to live out of my backpack for the next two weeks. We had such a wonderful time together, and I have to admit, I shed a few tears as he walked through security to his gate. It brought back so many memories of our days dating long-distance, where we had to go through those goodbyes much more often than I care to remember..JPG)
Like the professional traveler that I am, I took the train to another airport in town to pick up my college friend, Beth Blue. Since Kyle didn't have enough vacation time to stay longer than 2 weeks, she came over to tour around with me for another 2 weeks, visiting friends from my study abroad days in Denmark. This was her first time in Europe so we packed every last minute. So glad she was able to join me! We decided we are BTB's - Best Travel Buddies. We've been to Boston, New York, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, and twice to Orlando together. We added 5 countries to our list, and plenty more destinations to come!
We hit up some of the same sights while riding a double decker bus - then we added some girly flavor. An afternoon tea party on the top floor of a high class department store, Fortnum and Mason. I do say, we had a lovely time. Just splendid!
We even caught a musical in Picadilly Circus ... Billy Elliot. Breathtaking show - literally. I thought the show started later than it did, so we were literally sprinting to the theatre and crawling over people to get to our seats during the opening scene, completely out of breath.
London was a beautiful city, and we lucked out with much nicer weather than the norm. I was lucky to get a man's view of the city (visiting war museums) and a women's view (with tea parties and musicals.) It really was like two cities for the price of one.
At this point, it was goodbye to my husband and hello to Beth and a jam packed 2 weeks of travel ahead. Next stop: Paris.
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