Check Seeing the Queen off my life list…

I must apologize for my lack of posts lately. I was up to like three a week at one point but now I’m getting lazy with less than three weeks left!

I’m going to start with most recent happenings and work my way backwards through the week because my parents came to visit (!!!) and we had an amazing time and I need to spend time doing that!

Anyway, so, as you yanks know, yesterday was Thanksgiving but alas as I heard one of our british professors remark…we here in Britain have nothing to be thankful for. So, I had class on Thanksgiving…not only did I have class but I had a 12 page paper to turn in. Happy Thanksgiving! So to celebrate, KT and our friend Kristen went to get some free pumpkin pie from SU where they pitied the poor souls who had class on whats normally a national holiday. Then we headed over to The Swan where i had traditional English pie (think chicken pie) and some mash for the holiday season. For Thanksgiving dinner…i had vegetable soup in a pub called Shakespeares head. Interesting. From there, I went to see the Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House. It was truly incredible. I really loved it and I’m not a ballet person at all. It was perfect for a holiday away from home and def. put me in a better mood. The costumes were amazing, the dancing was unbelievable and the music is well..the music from the nutcracker. So amazing. Then I came home and video chatted with my  family including: one mom, one dad, two siblings, one aunt, one cousin, two grandparents and one poodle. It was almost like i was there. God Bless Technology.

Today, I celebrated Thanksgiving with a traditional meal with some friends who had invited me to help them consume their food. As usual, I got there late…but about 5 min before eating time…they will never know if that was on purpose or not. In my defense, I WOULD have been ontime if not for some chatting back home and stupid tube traffic. I was standing on their stoop when Dave called me to make sure I wasn’t dead. Happy thanksgiving. They had an amaazzing amount of food and random parts of some peoples families were around. It was a great way to celebrate I think. Great friends, great food, legally drinking …you know how it is. We had the typical conversations about where Britain could REALLY be considered a part of Europe and how dolphins are really the bullies of the sea and how free willy beats flipper hands down (Lies). So, the usual. It was amazing and it made me feel a little less sad that I had missed dinner with my own family.

Okay, now we’re going to take things back a little to the 16th of November when my parents (yay!) arrived in London. I ran (literally) over to their hotel on monday night around eleven when they finally got in to hang out and then head back to my place to sleep. They went off to the British Museum in the morning and then met up with me outside of Faraday–where I informed them that I needed to work on aforementioned 12 page paper–and sent them off to check out the little italian church. When we reconnected finally I took them to my favorite pub, The Jack Horner, which is on a corner. Clever. They got their first traditional english pies and wine…I got a burger and a beer. Which dad made me order myself because he said it was emasculating to make him order a “Halfpint of organic honeydew beer”…whatever. I brought them back to see my flat and then took them to the Thames river and the Tate Modern. We were done in…just over an hour which I think shows our lack of appreciation of modern art. I mean, we were watching an artistic movie…and suddenly a naked guy appeared. Dad squeaks out…A BUTT!…and I dissolve into giggles and have to leave. Amused. The thing we did like was the table and chairs that were three times the size they were supposed to be. Like took up a whole room…mom said she felt like loki walking under the table.

For dinner we went to this amazing greek place called TAZ. Mom and I loved it…dad had texture problems…but we ended up getting all these different tapas style things like hummos, yogurt and spinich, something with beans, something with artichoke…and you dip the delicious bread in it…awesome? Yes.

Wednesday was pretty awesome. If I do say so myself. I wanted to show my parents Parliament, one of my favorite buildings in London, check previous posts for pictures. But when we came out of the tube we couldn’t get anywhere near it because of the barriers.

**Side story** When we were trying to figure out what was going on. A little boy walked up to a bobby and proceeded to ask him if he had a gun. The bobby replied that no he did not but others did. Cue mystified boy walking away and American tourists laughing. Sorry to interrupt. Carry on. **

Anyway, we heard music and stopped to watch and see what was happening. After about 10 min, i finally asked a cop what was going on as the streets were all closed, there was a ton of people and even more police/bobbies, He replied with magical words: Its the opening day of parliament. For those of you who don’t know this…the Queen opens parliament. She was on her way! So we waited for abotu 45 min in the cold and sometimes rain but we got to see the queen. Am I the best tour guide ever or what? Picture? Yes. Please view.

The Queen!

Shes the one on the right far side. After…seeing the freakin queen…and various members of parliament along with the royal guards and also a horse ambulence etc. we headed over to Westminster Abbey where everyone whose anyone is buried. It was interesting. There are so many things that just don’t quite fit in the abbey like they just said. One more dead body and plunked it in there any ol’ way. I really enjoyed the Oliver Cromwell was buried here for like a minute before the king came back to power dug him up decapitated him and hung him. No big deal. True story. Thats what happens to people who overthrow and kill kings. The interesting thing was his daughter was buried in the church with him. Her grave was left untouched. Also buried there is Chaucer (awesome) and some rando other writers enmasse. That was def. my favorite part. Also basically any kind/queen/lord whoever is there to. Not as cool as St.Pauls in my opinion but still pretty sweet. Then I had stupid class and my parents headed over to Harrods which apparently I need to go check out. We met up for dinner and I took them to see Picadilly Circus and we ate at a place called Adams Ribs where none of us got ribs. Surprised? No. But its kinda like Times Square so I think they enjoyed the pretty lights.

Thursday they set out to see St.Pauls and I was supposed to go to class but luckily…it was canceled and I got to sleep in. Woo! I met up with the parentals at my favorite pub on the Thames called the Founders Arms where we had an amaazzing lunch before heading off to go on the London Eye. Walking alone the Thames is always a blast and they have a ton of awesome street performers…many are a little bit freaky but what are ya gonna do.

Lizard Things

and a police officer wearing a tu tu

Creepy? Or Genius? You decide.

Then we went on the london eye!! Love parent sponsered outtings.

The pods

My mommy is beautiful

Scenes of London/Parliament

I think that last one looks extra london-y like Mary Poppins style

After that we headed towards 10 Downing St. but got distracted by the Churchill Mueseum which was one of the most fantastic museums I’ve ever been in I highly recommend checking it out. Basically it consists of the war tunnels that Churchill hung out in and planned the war when London was being bombed. It was all about the people who lived there and churchill himself. So you get to walk through the tunnel and then theres a huge museum part about churchills life where i learned my favorite quote…”We are all worms. But I do believe I am a glow-worm.” Love it. Then we headed out to Covent Garden for dinner with Hannah and KT which was really fun I think.

Friday was an epic day. We rented a car to drive to Bath and see the Roman Baths. This is fun because dad had to drive a stick shift, on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road. And because I didn’t think about it…he started out in center city London. In this car:

#1 Badass Dad

Look. Hes crushing it with his foot. Itty bitty.

So, after a hair-raising two hour drive.

we finally got to bath.

Btw. I have the #1 dad ever. Though I’ve never seen him quite as flustered as he was driving. I suppose I should have rented the car not from center city london but at heart I’m still alittle girl and daddy can do anything. No big. He did it. And we only went around parliament square twice. Hey kids, theres big ben!…Hey kids, theres big ben…again!

So we went for lunch at the famous Sally Lunns which had incredible buns and tea and soup and eh british sandwiches. Lame sauce.

Then we headed out to the Roman Baths you can google it for more info but basically it was a roman bath/temple/pilgrimage site they discovered under the city of Bath.

Roman Baths

After this we wandered around the city for a while (The Jane Austen Center was closed ) and then headed back home to London. Dad was so traumatized we went directly to the pub for a drink. Love my parents epic amounts!

Saturday I took my parents to Camden Market. Please see earlier post for description of the market so we wandered around for a bit and then grabbed lunch at Jack Horner. Nom nom nom. I went home to work on my paper and mom and dad hit up the british museum. We ended up at the restaurant at their hotel…just us. In the dining room all alone. It was bizarre. We had tried to go to the British Museum Restaurant but it was closed. How rude.

Sunday we went to the Tower Bridge Exhibit to learn all about the bridge. Pretty interesting and plus it was pouring so good timing. For those of you who don’t know what the tower bridge is a. read a book 2. its the one that everyone thinks is the “London” bridge.

 

We're adorable.

Happy 29 years

Then we walked along the Thames for a bit.

My parents then experienced what its like to live in a building filled with college students when your lobby smells like weed 24/7. Win.
We ended up at this amazing restaurant called Gaucho? for dinner with amazing wine and conversation (where i found out I apparently came from a line of bad ass feminists?) The restaurant is decorated entirely in cow-colors and is actually classy..not like..plastic cow heads more like the furniture is covered in cow fur? Its fun. More fun is that its a steak place. Cruel humor.

Then we said a sad goodbye .

Anyway, it was a great week where I got to do touristy things under the guise of being all cool and guide-like.

Cheers,

Kc