We made it – we survived the apocalypse!
Whew! Now I don’t
have to worry about finding out if Cam and Mitchell will ever get a baby on Modern Family, or finishing The Passage trilogy, or die wondering if
anyone will ever start producing Twinkies again. Seriously, American junk food companies, get
on that!
We had grand plans for New Year’s Eve. Well, I did.
Dad and me – we were on the same page.
Everyone else, not so much. David
wanted to stay home and finish up our week-long Walking Dead marathon. He
bought me Seasons 1 and 2 as a stocking stuffer so we forced the fam (including
Mom) to watch a few episodes before bed every night… and even with all of the
axes/shovels/gunshots to the head, Mom got hooked. So she and Elizabeth were with David.
In the end, we compromised.
I signed us up for a fun-filled day of activities and by 5:00
we were too exhausted to even think about fighting through the crowds of
thousands on the tube and along the river to watch the fireworks from
Embankment. So we went home, made Frito
Pies, watched the Walking Dead, pausing
it at 11:59 to spend a half hour watching the fireworks in our neighborhood and
on TV while sipping our special Fortum and Mason champagne we’d been saving for
a year.
We spent the morning of NYE on a Charles Dickens walking
tour. We met at the Christmas Tree in
Trafalgar Square and spent the next two hours wandering around central
London. We saw the foggy street that
Dickens was walking down when he got the inspiration for Scrooge’s creepy door
knocker in a Christmas Carol. We saw the church his father and mother were
married in, which we walk past all the time on the Strand and never knew about. Dickens’ former office is now a coffee shop
and the factory where he worked as a boy is London’s token TGI Fridays. I’m sure the person eating the basket of
onion rings near the window was asking himself why 20 people were standing
outside staring at him… kind of took away from the history of the tour.
Besides Charles Dickens, we learned a lot about London in
general from the tour. Along the Thames,
there is a bust of the man that cleaned up London’s sewer system, saving
countless lives. It sounds like a low
job, but by cleaning up the river, he prevented who-knows-how-many epidemics
from springing up. To give you an idea
of how disgusting London was a mere hundred years ago, the smell got so bad
during one hot summer that MP’s were passing out during Parliamentary sessions.
We also saw the entrance to the Ministry of Magic from Harry Potter, one of the Turkish
bathhouses Watson visited in the Sherlock Holmes’ novels, and an alleyway
outside a theatre where one of the city’s most famous actors was stabbed to
death after a performance.
In London, people don’t really put up Christmas lights on
their houses or flats. So instead of
driving around looking at the lights (like we would do in the states), in
Europe you walk along the streets to see the lights and store displays in
places like Harrod’s and Harvey Nichols.
We started at my office on Oxford Street and made our way to Carnaby
Street.
From there, we walked to Regent Street and through Picadilly
Circus to see the store windows at Fortum and Mason.
The day after New Year’s, David had to go back to work. We woke up a bit earlier than usual also and
headed to Buckingham Palace to witness the Changing of the Guard. I’d never seen the Changing before (I know!)
but I had seen the parade during the Queen’s birthday last summer, which was a
lot better.
Usually in December and January, it’s pretty quiet around
the city. But this year with the
Olympics, Queen’s Jubilee, and mild winter, there has been a constant flow of
tourists. The tube was really crowded,
especially during rush hour, and it was Mom’s constant fear that she’d get
stuck outside the closing doors and have to make her way home alone. For those of you that don’t know my mom, she
has a terrible sense of direction. One
time we found ourselves running to get into one of the Underground cars and as
we were flying down the stairs, Mom was crying out, “This is my worst
nightmare!” Oh, Mama, you’re so
silly! We would never leave you…
We got to the palace about 20 minutes early and it was so
crowded that we had to stand across the street. After a couple of marches and songs from the
band (including the theme to Mission
Impossible – what?!), we made our way to the gates, but we were still a few
rows back and didn’t get the best view. Dad will just have to make another trip over here to see it again
up-close! ;)
An hour later, we were walking through Hyde Park to get to
Kensington Palace. David and I had been
before when it was being renovated, but now most of the wings are open so there
was a lot more to see. My favorite is
still Queen Victoria’s apartments. This
summer, they’ll also open a Modern Royals exhibit featuring gowns worn by
Princesses Di and Anne.
Elizabeth kept her eyes peeled for a glimpse of Kate
Middleton, but unfortunately she wasn’t home.
I think she spent that week with her family while William was on duty in
Wales. Sometimes she takes their dog,
Lupo, for walks in Kensington Gardens or you can see them leaving/entering the
palace in their car, but we had no such luck.
Sorry, Elizabeth!
We didn’t do it during their last visit, so during this
trip, we had to have traditional afternoon tea.
We booked a slot at the boutique hotel Montague on the Gardens and got
dressed up for our sitting. When the
staff first brought out the trays of finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts,
the Kurzwegs were fooled into thinking it wasn’t nearly enough food. But after a couple of hours, we were all stuffed. As you finish each tray, the waitress will
bring out more. And with the unlimited
tea, it was more than enough. Elizabeth’s
favorite was the raspberry macaroon and she was thrilled when she found out she
got as many as she wanted.
On our final day, we used my Secret London guidebook to take a walking tour around St.
Paul’s. I picked up this book at work
during one of our book fairs and it’s been great! The book contains over 20 miles of walks
around the city and they uncover lots of little-known places off the beaten
path. That’s how we found Windsor Castle
pub in Notting Hill and on Friday, we had lunch at a pub on our route called
The Olde Mitre.
The pub dates back to
1546 and inside, in the corner of the bar, is a tree trunk that Elizabeth I danced
around as a little girl.
Mom and Dad dancing just like Queen Elizabeth
The total walk was around 2 miles and on it we saw the
Newgate execution bell, a crypt chapel beneath an old Roman Catholic church, a
Victorian livery hall, and a medieval building preserved inside the basement of one of London’s top law firms.
In the Catholic crypt
Dad admiring the medieval home inside a modern office building
With all of the walking we did over two weeks, it wasn't a
surprise to find Elizabeth’s boots were completely destroyed!
Mind the Gap!
American shoes do not stack up against European ones,
because almost everyone in America drives (instead of walks) to get where
they’re going. Elizabeth is one lucky
lady, though, because Mom and Dad bought her new Hunter wellies to get her
home!
Just like Kate!
It was a great trip, and we were sad to see everyone go. We had a lot of fun celebrating the holidays
with the Houses and Kurzwegs! To see all
of the pictures from their visit, click here.
