And a Happy New Year to you, friend!
Alright, without gilding the lily... London was absolutely AMAZING! We had such a grand time there, and even Ray wants to go back. The city's charm is just too alluring.
Our bus ride there was long and tedious, full of inconsiderate people, but ultimately it got us there in one piece. It also gave us the opportunity to ride the ferry from Calais, France to Dover, UK. The wind was blowing like crazy over the Channel so the small ferry was tossed everywhere and more than one person was seasick- but we managed to sit in the center of the boat and make it through unscathed. It was fun waking up Monday morning and looking out the window to see the White Cliffs of Dover.
Once we landed, it was another 2 hour drive in the rain to London. This time when I woke up we were crossing the London Bridge! I wish every nap had such marvelous endings... We picked up our tour guide who gave us a tour of the city from the bus, which thankfully kept us out of the rain. He dropped us off at our hotel where Ray and I crashed for a few hours. We'd slept very fitfully on the bus and wanted to have energy to stay up through midnight on NYE.
When we woke up we went out to explore Piccadilly Circus by night. We had a good time seeing the signs of all the shows that were playing; we even tried for Phantom of the Opera tickets, but they were sold out. No night in London would be complete without fish, chips and mushy peas, so we of course indulged in that. Delicious! That was really the extent of our first night.
On Tuesday morning we woke up early to eat breakfast, and get to the British Museum just as it opened. We spent about 2.5 hours walking around the museum looking at mummies, ancient texts, and famous sculptures. I love that most of the big museums in London are free, I think that added even more excitement to the visit.
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| Super windy in front of the British Museum. |
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| Ray looks so great in this picture. I love it. |
Here we are with the Rosetta Stone replica that encourages visitors to touch and feel the amazing etchings.
After the museum, we took the Underground to Victoria Station where the Apollo Victoria Theater is so we could pick up our tickets for Wicked! We then had some extra time to walk to Big Ben and back.
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| It had started raining, obviously, and my lack of sleep caught up with me. Here I am in all my glory of grumpiness. Note to self: in 2014, be happier! Life is good, even when it rains. |
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| Of course, nothing can darken Ray's spirit. Good grief I love this man. |
Now, I may be biased, but I think the next part of our trip was the best. It was most certainly my favorite. After nearly a decade of listening to the music and wishing and waiting, I finally saw Wicked! Words don't describe how happy I was. I cried every other song for the entire first act. Again, lack of sleep may also have played a part in those tears.
After the show, it was time for dinner, a walk through the Winter Market in Hyde Park, and then spot finding for fireworks! We showed up at Westminster around 8:15, and it was already swarming with people. Waterloo bridge was full and closed. We began walking towards Embankment to get a spot along the Thames so we could see the full show on the London Eye. Unfortunately, the security police kept pushing people further and further down and then began telling people there were no river seats left. So we made it back to Westminster and stationed ourselves in front of Big Ben and a big screen that would show the fireworks. It was fun hearing the new year rung in by Big Ben, and then watching the fireworks explode over the buildings
and the full show on the screen. It was a marvelous firework show. We were both very impressed.
Maybe even more impressive, is that this felt like the least pushy, hassle free New Years we have done. Disneyland was worse, and Taipei felt intensely more crowded. I'm not sure of numbers for London, but it really didn't seem bad.
It started raining again right at Midnight, so we could only take a few pictures before putting away our new camera to avoid damaging it. Yup, whether you could tell by the pictures or not, we did finally get a nice camera. We got the Canon T3i Rebel as a Christmas present to ourselves. We love it so far!
2013 was an incredibly fun and challenging year, we look forward to what 2014 holds. More travelling, more learning, perhaps more school, maybe even another move? We're feeling that anything is possible this year! So bring it on, 2014!!!
