Most wonderful vacation ever!!
Started out with going to Colorado and going through the temple with my brother Brett. He is going on a church service mission this Saturday for a year (he can extend if he wants.) He will be living with my grandma in Mannassa Colorado and serving in the Temple and with the welfare program. For all who know about my brother- this is HUGE!!! We are elated that he can serve! It was
the highlight of the trip to be with him as he prepared and bore a sweet testimony of the Atonement. We love you Brett!!!
We left Bree with my parents and off we were-7 hours time change and two planes later we saw the glorious England landscape! We got in at 6am-decided not to waste time by
napping (I'm still kicking myself for that decision) and were off to the Tower of London, Big Ben and Westminster Abby! Then we were in bed at 8.....the jet lag killed us. We were so tired. Next day was the Tate Modern Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral (huge and BEAUTIFUL) and Wicked the musical (we loved it!). Thursday was shopping day-Primark (huge selection of in-style clothes, but really cheap. Like IKEA if it sold clothes), Cocoa Maya (a boutique chocolate shop—the best in London—we bought almost £40 worth of chocolate which was only about 20 chocolates), National Galleries, St. Martins in the Fields, and Trafalgar Square. We rode the train for two and a half hours up to Warwick Castle and Stratford Upon Avon on Friday, and Saturday we spent the day in Portabello market. Not that you care about our itinerary but there you have it!
Top five:5. Primark-the IKEA of clothing stores. SO SO cheep EVEN for US standards. Shirts for 4bucks shoes for 8! Joseph got hot pants for $9 and an awesome jacket for under $25 (check it out in the Warwick Castle pics below). It was so wonderful! Thank you Laura!
4. Sushi-hello such good quality! And so tasty. You can also get it pre-made and it is actually good as opposed to here where pre-made stuff is just nasty!
3. Dan going into the women's bathroom. I went in to tell him and he was said"oh no!" We warned the ladies coming in behind me and they were laughing and laughing and they said "Dan we will just wait outside until you're done!" Then the women started clapping when he came out! So funny!
2. This British dude told us that we had really white teeth like Donny Osmond because we were Mormon and don't drink coffee or coke! I guess they LOVE Donny over there!
1. Cocoa Maya- THE BEST
chocolate boutique ever!! Oh my! I have dreams about this place-really! They have a little kitchen in the back of the store where they make all the chocolates by hand and boy are they good!! Yes that is actual gold brushed on those hearts.
1. Ok so I have two number ones. Warwick
Castle. So beautiful and cool (and so morbid how they tortured people—those are chain pants that they hung you up in and just let you rot).
Bottom Five5. Meeting the
Mafia while eating at Ranoush Juice (which was awesome btw-thank you Lauren!!) freaky! Not just the mafia, but also
the roast they cut the meat off of. Looks gross,
tastes good.
4. The
Tate Modern-a museum full of modern art that I just could NOT get into!! It just looked like someone gave three-year-olds glue and paper. Most of the things I saw were just weird... and weird. Give me a fancy food place and I can dissect and "be moved" my the dish, but modern art....I guess it just isn't my thing. Here is one we saw........really?
This one was HUGE and those blue and yellow things are bunk beds.......
There is a crack in the cement....and that is the art. I'm sorry but to me you don't have to have a lot of talent to put a crack in cement...am I missing something?????? Ian, Lora maybe you can shed some light????
3. Men in bootylicious shorts jogging everywhere.....what the??? The girls—they were pants-wearing folks, but the men.....akward.
2. When we went to St. Paul's Cathedral.....it was
Ash Wednesday....and we happened to be there for services-the lady sang the prayer-they wore purple robe things-and the smoke smelled....weird! We had to leave before they did communion and offered us wine.
1. Finding our last hotel.....it was the last tube stop so it took like an hour to get out of the tube. Then we got in so late that the buses had stopped running and there wasn't any taxis in sight.....so we started walking.......then went back to the station when we couldn't find the hotel. Talked to a lady who helped and and told us there was a bus that came twice an hour that we could take to our hotel! We were somewhat relieved. We waited, got on the bus, driver let us off at our hotel.........Who knew there were TWO Holiday Inns on the SAME ROAD!!! So we started walking AGAIN. An
hour and a half later we arrived at the correct Holiday Inn. I was not a happy camper :( And the stupid electricity burned up my hair straightener......as you can tell by my hair in the oh so lovely pictures
Here's some more pictures I'm sure you are dying to see :)
Here is Bree asleep under the seat on the airplane......so cute! She was so wiped out! My family wore her out. And the picture with the glasses-priceless! The uncles dressed her up!
