non-"london", london monuments

During our short week in London we saw some of the other sites you're "supposed" to see.  Some I saw on my own, some we saw multiple times and some we just happened upon.

BIG BEN
Big Ben refers to the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster.  You may remember how excited I was to hear it chime in the New Year.  If you want to hear it again (like me) head on back to the New Year's post with the video (here's an easy link for you).  I think the picture of us looks fake but I like it anyway.  I had problems getting the actual clock part to show up in the photos (no matter what camera I used).  The dark picture is the best one of the actual clock part.

ST PAUL'S CATHEDRAL
Since we're talking about New Year's, this next site we stumbled upon as we were trying to walk home from seeing the fireworks.  There were so many people hanging out on the steps, drinking and just enjoying the night.  I love the effort and eye for detail they used back in the day and they seemed to spare no expense on this Cathedral.  I mean, seriously, look at the doors on this place - we had to stand in front so you could really understand the sheer size of them.  I would have loved to go inside - guess I'll have to go back some day!

BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Seeing Buckingham Palace gave me a feeling I didn't expect - it made me feel proud and nostalgic.  Very strange since I'm not from England.  Maybe I have some ancestors from England?!?!  I guess I need to get busy on my Ancestry search and find out.  In case you're not familiar this is where the Monarchy lives.  Unfortunately we did not see the Queen and didn't not get our invitation to the upcoming nuptials (I keep checking the mail though).  I practiced a proper curtsy just in case we met the Queen - is that even how you greet her?!?!  I loved, loved this location and could have just sat outside the gates for hours!

WAR MEMORIALS
Unfortunately I did not catch the official name of these spots but that does not change how much I enjoyed them.  One of the spots reminded me of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in DC wall of names.  The difference was people had attached flowers and crosses they had written on in London.  Click the up-close picture of this so you can see it larger and read what was written.  I was so moved by it!

We actually did leave London to visit some friends so check back to hear about that adventure.

"london" monuments

On our trip of course we had to check out all the sites with London in the name - you know - the LONDON Eye, LONDON Tower and of course the LONDON Bridge.

LONDON EYE
I've already shared some pictures with you - that's where they did the New Year's Eve Fireworks Show.  It's essentially a ferris wheel you can ride - we didn't though.  It's beautiful with the lights on the trees leading to it.  I still can't get over the fireworks shooting off of it!  In the up-close picture you can actually see where they added some already - although we didn't realize at the time that's what they were doing when we stopped by that night.

LONDON TOWER
This is a rather large structure in close proximity to the London Bridge (which you can see in the background of the first picture).  It's beautiful in its simplicity but has some rather intricate pieces to it too - notice the unicorn in one of the pictures.  I also loved the little figurines we could see through one of the windows.

LONDON BRIDGE
I loved, loved the colors of this bridge.   I find it very fascinating that such a famous bridge could be so unrecognizable.  Is there anyone in the world that doesn't know the children's song "London bridge is falling down"?  It's second nature, but until I saw the bridge on our trip I had no idea what it even looked like!   The UK definitely needs to do a better job of promoting itself.  All the pictures of the bridge look so hazy - but that IS London for ya!

They also have sites to see that don't have the city name included - check back tomorrow for those!

christmas decor ala london

Sean was in London the last two months of 2010 for work so he wasn't able to enjoy all the American Christmas decorations.  His complaint was that there really weren't any decorations up over there.  Well, you know us Americans (I can say this cuz I am one!), we always have to overdo everything and Christmas decorations is definitely no different.  We have decorated trees inside and decorated trees outside and wreaths and snowmen and Santas and lights and who knows what all else.  Since I had so much fun taking pictures of all the decorations around the States I just had to find some in London - and that I did - and amazingly beautiful ones at that (Sean must have been looking in the wrong place!).

I'd like to receive this package - what about you?

or this one on the Tiffany's box

But of all the decorations I saw around London this was, by far, my absolute "favourite"!  It was found in a little pub.

startin' off the year with a parade

I've been in plenty of parades in my 37 years but have never been to a "major" parade - you know, one that has more people watching the parade than are in it.  When I realized there was a parade on New Year's Day I told Sean we just HAD to go.

There were balloons…

floats…

AMAZING costumes…

funny things…

and British things.

However, there was way too much of this…

this…

and this.

Almost all the participants in the parade, other than the floats, were Americans.  Being an American it's not really what I want to see in a parade in another country.  I thought the part that was British was the best part and sent such a great message.  Each of the London boroughs submitted an entry with a theme to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the parade.  The borough that won received a donation to the charity of the mayor's choice.  They collected change from the spectators for the charities, too.  What a great way to start off the year!

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I was a little tired last night when I posted about new year's eve and failed to tell you all the fun stuff about the experience of watching the fireworks in London.  First of all, make sure to crank your volume when you watch the video so you can hear Big Ben chime in the new year (my favorite).  You can see how they counted down the time on the building to the left of where the fireworks start.  You can also see how they shot some of the fireworks from the London Eye.  SOOO COOL!!!

The other amazing thing was the organization that went into getting people to the viewing areas.  Pretty much all the streets were shut down except the ones they wanted you to walk down to get to the viewing areas.  Even though there were estimated 250,000 people there watching I didn't think it was that bad getting out of there - only 2 hours (took like 20 minutes to get there as a comparison).

We got to our spot just before 9:00 PM.  They allowed people to bring in alcohol!  We didn't have any with us (Sean wasn't feeling well from our pub experience the night before - more about that later) but there was plenty around.  We even met a lovely couple from Nottingham that shared their champagne with us for a midnight toast!  They were so nice and we spent the majority of our 3 hour wait chatting it up with them.

Getting home we walked most of the way and gave a little new year prayer at St Paul's Cathedral.   We braved the tube for the last part - experience in itself.  Sean nearly lost his hand in the door and almost didn't get on - I had to tug on his hand - he says his feet weren't even touching the ground as he finally got on because the mob just carried him on.

ringin' in the new year with sean and ben

BIG Ben that is!!!

If you have never let Big Ben ring in the new year for you...I highly recommend it!!!  A-MAZING!!!  That is if you can brave all the crazies.

Took us 2 hours to get off the bridge and back to our "house" but I would do it again in a heartbeat!

What New Year celebration is your favorite or have you always dreamed of going to?

christmas in kansas

This year we went to Kansas to celebrate the holiday with my family.  It's been quite an adjustment with the addition of so many people over the last couple of years.  It had been 11 years since our family had grown (with the birth of my nephews) - we've now added two spouses and a child.  Two new spouses added two additional families to try to fit into the holiday season.  It was quite a chore finding a time for everyone to be in Kansas at the same time.

In looking through my pictures from the holidays I realized I didn't take many at all.  I guess I was too busy enjoying myself and the company of my family.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

I hope you all enjoyed your time with your family as much as I did!