London for the 5th(?) Time...

I find it utterly unbelievable that I have lost count of how many times Matthew and I have visited London. Especially considering that the first time we visited in 2009 was the one and only time we thought we would ever get to see it! Oh the surprises of life. Repeat visits are still exciting, and it is extra special to share the city with first-timers. There is always something new to discover.

Anyway, Matthew was able to go with me to meet Jenna and Allison at Heathrow way back on the 14th. I was so happy that he got to go for the weekend. His big strong arms came in handy for carrying luggage, and he is an excellent tour guide, if I do say so myself. He is the king of remembering all types of random trivial information, which is exactly what you want in a guide/navigator/storyteller. Sidenote: There was this really cute little black baby next to us waiting with his parents at the airport arrival area. Hubby devised a genius plan. We were going to offer the mom and dad £20 (yes, after 3 months I learned how to type the pound symbol) to let us hold their kid when Allison and Jenna walked up. Then we would say, "Surprise!" and act like we had adopted the precious little boy. Their faces would have been priceless. But, Matthew was going to make me be the one to talk to the parents, and I couldn't devise a non-threatening way of wording my question. "Hey there, total strangers, would you mind if I took your kid real quick and acted like he was mine? Don't worry, I'll give you money for your trouble." Needless to say, we greeted the girls with hugs only. No minority children. Probably for the best.

We stayed in a hostel really near to Oxford Street, which is the main shopping area of London. Kind of like Rodeo Drive but with affordable chains such as H&M mixed in with the designer goods. Our room had bunk beds. Matt liked to moan and groan when going up and down the ladder to demonstrate how he is just such an old bag of bones. Yeah, we didn't buy it either.

Not exactly the lap of luxury, but it was inexpensive while still being in a decent part of town. I like how we all turned away from Jenna as she took this picture.

I was not religious with journaling at the end of each day like Jenna and Allison were, so I may get some events out of order. I lost my sense of record-keeping perseverance. But, go easy on me. I had been traveling for 3 out of the past 5 weeks at this point. The girls were troopers that first day. Tylenol PM had worked its magic, and they each got something like 6 hours of sleep on the flight over, which is an incredible feat. So they went traipsing around with us until late that night. That afternoon we refueled at Nando's, an African-Portuguese chicken restaurant chain. And then we squeezed in time at the British Museum, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey before retiring for the night.

We came out of the Tube at the Westminster stop and enjoyed the dramatic view of the clock tower that was revealed as we walked up the steps. Jenna's jaw dropped, and she exclaimed, "Holy schmokes!" Memorable phrase #1 of the trip. 

I loved that I could talk about Westminster Abbey in relation to the royal wedding and my entire audience fully appreciated it!

The next morning we walked by 10 Downing Street, saw some tourists trying their best to have their heads bitten off by some royal horses at a guard station, and perused the National Gallery.

We just had to climb the lions in Trafalgar Square. As witnesses would confirm, we were uncommonly graceful in pushing and pulling our way up the monument. I even did so in a dress without pulling a Britney Spears. So what we are the only ones over the age of 10 doing so? And yes, we realized at the time that we had picked an unfortunate end of the lion to be pooping, I mean popping, out of.

Anyone know why there were hawks flying around the Olympic countdown sign? Your guess is as good as mine.

Next, we ate lunch and had drinks at the eighth floor OXO Tower Bar. It had the best views of London that I have ever seen. We thoroughly enjoyed our burgers, fish and chips, and wine. I would highly recommend making a reservation there. It wasn't even as expensive as I had expected. It was only £15 for the meal/drink combo. And we could have paid that to climb 300 stairs to the top of St. Paul's dome for a lesser view and no snacks.

I forgot to mention that Jenna and Allison are the luckiest people I have ever traveled with. They brought blue skies to London in January! Allison attributed it to their sunny dispositions. She's a clever one, that lass.

Yummm.

Probably my favorite picture of the three of us from the whole trip.

Just a taste of the perspective from the OXO observation deck. That's St. Paul's on the far right. Or, St. Ball's Dome, as I affectionately and unintentionally renamed it. Must have been a Freudian slip. I blurted it out of nowhere. Memorable phrase #2 of the trip.

He is so handsome. The girls thought that Matthew looks particularly European since moving here. I agree. Which is funny because he looks the same and dresses the same way that he did in Oklahoma. But he does blend in well here. I don't know what it is.

Allison and I couldn't resist buying the caramelized peanuts from the man selling them out of a steel drum on the sidewalk. Surprisingly, it was not a digestively regrettable decision. We had some leftover nuts, but they were put to good use later in St. James's Park.

Caramelized peanuts are probably poisonous to Her Majesty's ducks and squirrels. But we didn't see any of them keel over, and they sure swarmed like it was a good thing. I was only brave enough to let the goose come so close because I had gloves on. False sense of security? Indeed.

Jenna's turn. No gloves! And the little bugger didn't even take it. He just sniffed it and ran away. So Jenna retaliated by throwing the nut at him. Not hard. No animals were harmed in the filming of this segment.

Next stop, Buckingham Palace. The Queen wasn't home. Her flag wasn't flying. Probably a good thing because she otherwise may have caught us force feeding her woodland creatures.

Two blondes and a brunette visit Buckingham Palace... I really wish I could come up with a clever joke. Sorry.

And finally, we ended our day of sightseeing at an impromptu organ recital in St. Paul's. Well, the recital was planned, but we inadvertently stumbled upon it and got to sit under the dome for an hour listening to the reverberating pipes. Free of charge. Like I said, Allison and Jenna were so dang lucky.

The ceiling of the dome looked like a giant antique sketch. Very unique. Matthew and I had never seen it before because we had always been too cheap to pay. Once you've been to St. Peter's in the Vatican and La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, it's hard to muster up the coinage for another church visit. But, I will always check in on Sunday nights to see if there are any more concerts happening.

The ceiling is covered in Victorian glass mosaics. Sparkles upon sparkles. I guess Queen Victoria said that the old ceilings were "undevotional" because they were so cold and bland. So she had the tiles added during her reign.

Warning: Chandeliers will probably become a repetitively photographed motif in the next few posts, much like the street lamps and tree-lined paths have been in past entries. They just look like really cool anchors floating in grand surroundings. 

After dinner, Matthew had to catch a train and return to Cambridge to start class on Monday morning. We three girls were officially on our own. I immediately put my game face on and assumed the role of guardian, making it known to any would-be assailants that I would shank anyone who tried to do us harm. I think my imposing demeanor did the trick. We only had to shrug off a few catcalls when we were in Paris. Our final day in London was pretty relaxed and involved a lot of shopping. I've reached my picture editing and writing quota for the day. I should probably go catch up on my Bible study and get dinner started before Matthew gets home. To be continued tomorrow... Hasta luego.