Elisa comes to town: Hampton Court Palace

Pete's friend Elisa (the other American woman in his life!) recently came to London on a long-anticipated trip and stayed with Pete. It was great to spend time with her and do lots of touristy stuff. Pete did more than I did but I got to spend a number of days with them too and we had a blast!

We spent a gorgeous Saturday at Hampton Court Palace, which is part Tudor and part Baroque (Baroque renovations to the original Tudor castle were never completed).











































Practicing for the wedding registry ...












They have a really interesting audio tour and everything is really interactive. Including these robes you can wear. (Am I really marrying this guy?)

10.10.10

Pete and I are getting married! And on the best date ever!

&

This amused me.

(Taken in Christchurch, Dorset this weekend).

Ricky Gervais!

My friend Sarah got me tickets to see English comedian Ricky Gervais for Christmas, and the show was last week. She couldn't go so I took my buddy Joe. It was at Wembley Arena, a venue that sits 12,500 - massive! I was super excited to be there. And Joe was his usual aloof self.

Thanks Sarah!

There are some things about England I will never get used to

I was wandering around Tescos (supermarket) tonite trying to find eggs. Someday I'll remember that in the UK, eggs are kept on regular shelves in the regular aisles and not in the refrigerated sections. That will never seem right to me.

The British Museum: much less boring than expected

I've lived in London for over a year and a half but don't have much in the museum-department to show for it. But my great-aunt ("the academic", as my grandfather used to call her) more or less made me go to the British Museum so I could see the Greek Elgin Marbles and also the Rosetta Stone.

To quote her, "The English were great thieves in their day." Indeed.
We had a great time - thanks Auntie Chuckie!

Just some everyday sights

The other day there was a fire drill in my (11 floor) building so we were all outside for awhile. My office is right on the Thames and I sat on the steps of the Tate Modern Museum and looked over the Millenium Bridge to St Paul's Cathedral, and took this. Not so bad.



Walking home from the Tube the other evening, I took this pic of the church across the street from my house. (You'd almost never know it's in East London).

Easter

Here are the Easter baskets I made for Billy and Rosie, Pete's niece and nephew who are deprived English children growing up in a country that doesn't do Easter baskets!


OK not so deprived. Here's how I made out.

On the buses

I love getting to know London. But without a car, I'm pretty much at the mercy of London public transport. I've spent a lot of time especially in the past 8 months or so taking purposefully long routes on buses, for fun.








Here's an example of just some of the routes I've taken home after work (routes in red). Sometimes I'll take as many as 5 buses to get home and see some things in between. Click the picture to see it bigger.



And here's a wider perspective on my journey home.


I do the same thing with trying out shopping areas and getting home from train stations etc. While Pete likes to get from A to B with as little to-do as possible, this city still holds a lot of newness for me and I think it's really fun exploring it.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day in the UK is two months earlier than at home.


Last Sunday we took Pete's parents out for ice cream to that place we love in Ilford. Then walked around a little, went back to their place, played a board game and had a nice dinner provided by my darling boyfriend.












Happy Mother's Day Carol!