Christmas Eve -
Adam and Alana arrived Christmas Eve morning and we quickly headed to Southbank to take in the views of Parliament and Big Ben from south of the river. As noted in a previous post - it is one of our favorite views of the city. Southbank also has a small Christmas market that we wandered through for a bit and used to take shelter from the rain. Rain is not uncommon for London, but the magnitude of the rain on Thursday was the worst that Shane and I had experienced. We decided that we weren't going to let the rain ruin our day and continued on our excursion heading across the river to explore Trafalgar Square and see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey up-close. We attempted to get some photos from the bridge with Big Ben in the background but the rain and wind had other plans for our photo-op. We thought our plan was full-proof; Shane holding the camera and me holding the umbrella above him to keep the camera dry, until a huge gust of wind blew the umbrella inside out and almost took me Mary Poppins style over the edge into the river. Luckily, I was able to hang on and crisis averted.
After seeing Trafalgar Square, we decided it was in our best interest to duck into a pub and grab lunch. We were soaked. To our pleasant surprise, when our lunch was over, the rain had stopped and the sun was out. We checked out Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. See below.
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
In front of Big Ben
Buckingham Palace Garden Gate
On our way back home, we took a detour one stop north to Hampstead to pick up some things for our Christmas Day dinner. Our butcher is located in Hampstead and we had placed an order for pigs in a blanket and a ham earlier that week. Alana especially enjoyed the butcher as it has an 'American' section. She has been on the search for chocolate chips, Pam and baking soda in Germany and was able to find them all in one place in London.
That evening we attended the Christmas Eve Crib Service at Hampstead Parish Church. The Crib Service is the children's service and the parish children act out the Nativity. If you've seen the movie Love Actually, this was almost identical. The children were dressed in homemade costumes, and the costumes were hilarious. There was everything that you would expect: an angel, sheep, three kings and there was even a cat, elephant and dog. It was adorable.
Crib Service Program
Christmas Day -
London shuts down on Christmas Day; the public transit doesn't run and almost all the shops, pubs, and restaurants are closed. The pubs and restaurants that do stay open require reservations and the menu is quite expensive.
We spent Christmas Day exploring the parks of London by foot. Primrose Hill is about a fifteen minute walk south from our flat and just south of Primrose Hill is Regent's Park. We may have been a tad ambitious on our walk through Regent's Park forgetting that the further we wandered, the longer the trek back. Martha was leading the way and she doesn't slow down for much of anything.
View of London from Primrose Hill
That evening, we made our Christmas dinner. On the menu was pigs in a blanket, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, green beans, ham, chocolate chip cookies and eggnog. Cooking Christmas Dinner on our own was a first for all of us. We are used to being at our parent's house and them handling the brunt of the meal preparation. For not having any idea on how to cook or cut a ham, our meal turned out quite delicious.
Christmas Ham
Christmas Bush
Boxing Day -
In London, the day after Christmas is Boxing Day, another holiday. Luckily, some of the public transit runs on Boxing Day and shops are open which made it easier to show Adam and Alana more of London. We headed to London Bridge to the view Tower Bridge and Tower of London. We walked along the Thames to Tower Bridge and then crossed the bridge to see the Tower of London. From the Tower of London we headed to the St. Paul's Cathedral.
Tower Bridge
In front of Tower Bridge
We purchased tickets at St. Paul's to the climb to the top and it was more than worth it! The climb up is divided into three sections: 257 steps to reach the Whispering Gallery (inside of the dome), 119 more steps to reach the Stone Gallery (vantage point outside at the top of the dome) and 152 more steps to the reach the Golden Gallery (vantage point outside at the top tower of the church). The views from the top made the climb worth it! It was another extremely windy day, and the Golden Gallery doesn't have a ton of the space at the top so I stayed as close to the wall as possible.
Alana navigating through the small staircase
panoramic view from the top facing east
panoramic view from the top facing west
windy pic on the middle tier
windy pic on the top tier
After St. Paul's, we found a pub that had the Liverpool match on TV. Liverpool beat Leceister City (first place team in the league) 1-0 so Shane was very happy. That night, we went out to dinner in Covent Garden, one of our favorite places in Central London. We had a delicious Italian meal while sitting outside in the square under heaters.
Last Day -
On the last day of Adam and Alana's trip, we stayed close to home and explored the Camden Markets. These markets date back to the late 1800's and have pretty much everything you can think of: antiques, souvenirs, street food, trendy and alternative fashion...and even erotica. After a couple hours of browsing, Alana and I decided to purchase some trendy brogues (shoes).
Thanks for visiting, Adam and Alana! We (especially Martha) already miss you!
No comments:
Post a Comment