Divorce, Travel, and Blogging Buddies!

#1's initial reaction to the announcement of the pregnancy:
Me: Okay, kids, I know dad's not here, but we decided we need to tell you something.
#2: What is it?
Me: I have an announcement!
#3: What is it?
Me: Later this year, we are going to have a huge change in our family! A huge change.
#1: Are you and dad getting divorced?
Me, gaping at my oldest daughter for a few seconds.
Me: What!? No! We're having a BABY!
#1: Oh! Yay!
#2 and #3: Yay!
#4: grunt
#3: I wanna brother!
Me: Why would you think we were getting divorced? We're not getting divorced.
#1 shrugs: Okay. So what are you going to name the baby!? Let's make a list!

She made a list.
I didn't say anything else, but her reaction made me very nervous. Especially since Brandon and I are definitely not getting divorced. Why would she think we were? I told Brandon later that day about what #1 had said and then we both realized she had heard us talking that morning. We were stressed about finances (who in the country --world! --isn't stressed about finances right now?) and it was about 6:30AM, we were in our bed, and I was crying (I'm an emotional wreck pretty much all the time now, and I'm blaming the pregnancy --not just my depression. Besides, my depression makes me apathetic and UN-emotional. The pregnancy has reversed that it seems, except it's awful because I'm always bursting into tears. Sigh). #1 must have overheard us discussing and me crying --and, well, what 7 year old (20 year old?) hasn't figured their parents would divorce over even less than that?
I took the time to explain to her after school that sometimes people cry, and sometimes people discuss and argue, but the point is that we figure out a way to get along, apologize, compromise, etc. and then it's okay. She seemed satisfied with my answer, and I really hope she understands that it's okay to make mistakes, as long as we fix them. Because gosh-darn! We all make mistakes --especially in marriage --and I refuse to perpetuate the myth that marriage is perfect. I honestly believe kids who think marriage is perfect, or never see their parents argue, grow up to freak out when their own marriages aren't perfect. Talk about pressure! And despair.
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Speaking of marriage...
...Brandon was supposed to be home today, but his company wanted him to stay an extra day in London for some more meetings, and so he's coming home tomorrow night. What's one more day after 2 weeks, right?
But then he has to go back on Feb. 8th for a week --which wouldn't be a big deal, but the 8th is #4's Second birthday, and the 11th is #2's Sixth birthday.
Sigh, sigh, sigh.
This is okay, though. It really is --I don't want you, dear reader, to think I'm upset with my husband. Because this is just what has to happen. The client is in England, so he needs to be in England to make it work, capische? Is it inconvenient? You betcha. Would it be easier if he didn't travel? Fo' shizzle! But then I would never in a million years had the chance to go to London when I did. How can I complain about that? And he's good at his job and they need him --I can't complain about that, either. It's called Job Security.
So, we'll deal. I'll miss him, but I know he misses me (and the kids) just as much, so it's all good.
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Last night I met Alison Wonderland! Whoo-hoo!
Alison had a book club for her ward and the book they read was Spires of Stone by Annette Lyon. Annette and Alison are blogging buddies, and so Alison asked Annette to come. How fun would that be? To have the author of the book come to your book club? But the best part? Annette and I are blogging buddies, too! Plus, we met in November (and have exchanged emails, etc.) AND Alison and I are also blogging buddies, but we have never met. So Alison invited me to tag along, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled. Excited. Stoked. Giddy with joy. Okay, I wasn't "giddy", but I was quite content.
So, Annette and I drove up together, picked up Alison, went out to dinner, headed back to Alison's place and had an enjoyable book club. Five ladies came (besides us), and it was fun to listen to their questions and Annette's answers. I think I even giggled once or twice. Or chortled? Maybe guffawed? I know I laughed quite a bit...
After book club, Annette and I stayed longer to talk with Alison. Time went by way too fast and we finally had to leave (apologies to both Annette and Alison for my desire to just stay there all night!). It was a fab night!
And that Annette? So fun. Talented, funny, easy to talk to, and fun!
That Alison? Just as awesome as you would suspect from her blog. Except awesomer!

And now it has me in the mood to do something in March. I'm gonna have another Blogger Get-together thingy-ma-jingy. March sounds good, right? I don't want to wait too long, but let's get out of winter a little bit first. I'll let you know what I decide.

Until then, dear reader, adieu.

London: Day Seven and Day Eight

Day Seven wasn't nearly as exciting as the rest of the week, but it was much needed for me, my body, and the little fetus moving around inside of me.

Brandon and I got up, got ready, and walked to Church. We attended the Hyde Park Ward, which was right next to the Victoria and Albert Museum (and across from the Science Museum and Imperial College). We sat next to our friends (the couple we had gone out with the night before), and attempted not to fall asleep in Sacrament Meeting. Sunday School was held in the Chapel, and so was Relief Society, so you know what? I didn't move from my spot. Not once. The weirdest part? Not one person said hello or introduced themselves to me in Relief Society. Not one. (My friend was in the Young Women's, and so she wasn't there.) I only noticed it because it's strange --it's rare to enter a new ward without being noticed by somebody. My surprise should not be mistaken for being upset, though, because it didn't really bother me. I just found it strange. Later I realized that the Hyde Park ward is extremely international and transient --perhaps they thought they saw me before? Or knew I wouldn't be back? Or were offended I kept nodding off during the lesson?
Heh.

So, after church, Brandon and I walked to a little Thai restaurant. The food was great! And hooray! My appetite had come back with a vengeance and it felt good to eat again. After we ate, we went back to the hotel and napped for 3 hours. Three hours! Oh, it was nice. When we woke up, we thought about where we would go for dinner, but Brandon had some work to finish, and I was still so tired. My body was jut finished with walking around. So, without any remorse for not visiting Hyde Park (and seeing the Peter Pan statue), we ordered room service and stayed in the hotel room the rest of the night.

Day Eight came too fast. My flight was leaving by 8:40AM, and Brandon couldn't come with me to the airport, so that meant I needed to get up extra early. I was packed, showered, and ready to go by 6:30AM, and Brandon was going to walk me to the tube station. However, when we walked outside, it was pouring buckets and buckets of water. That was when I realized how lucky we had been with the weather all week! We never got rained on (it mostly rained at night or early in the morning). But this rain was crazy --I had no idea how I could walk in it with all my luggage and still maintain my sanity. However, a miracle presented itself: Parked all alone in the hotel's drive was a taxi. The driver was just sitting there, waiting for anyone to come by. Brandon ran over and talked with her about price and distance, and she pulled up. Whoo-hoo! I got to ride in a black London taxi!
When we realized that I was actually leaving, it was strange, and our goodbye was something akin to a movie scene: Taxicab, pouring rain, international travel, kissing over and over (yes, but it's not like we were making out!), etc. It was perfect, actually! And boy-howdy, was I glad that I rode in the taxi --I realized that the rain was worse than we had thought, and she said some of the tube stations had to shut down already (because of flooding) --there was a chance I would have had to find a taxi, anyway! Missing my flight wasn't an option, so it was good to get there on time.
My flight from London to Houston was awesome. The flight was half-full, so I ended up getting an entire row to myself. Ah! Pure bliss! I read a book, slept, watched a movie, ate, and all in good comfort. The flight from Houston to SLC was not as comfortable, but I did get two seats to myself. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't, so I just read. When I got to SLC, I still had to take a shuttle out to Eagle Mountain to pick up the boys. I arrived and the battery on my van was dead. Sigh. We got it running, and by the time I got home and all the kids in bed (the girls met me at home), it was after 10PM (but 5AM London time!), so I crashed. And you know the rest! Sort of...

So, there you go. My awesome trip to London was a smashing success! And even though I got sick and such, it was still worth every minute. I loved it! I can't wait to go back one day, and next time? I'm going to see the whole country. And Scotland. And maybe Ireland...

London: Day Six

This was the day I had been looking forward to all week! Brandon had rented a car and we were going to the country! The English countryside, people, the English countryside!

But I woke up feeling worse than the night before. I hadn't gotten much sleep because I was so uncomfortable, and so finally, around 9AM, I sent Brandon to the pharmacy for some...umm...fiber. Yeah. See, I had indigestion, but the reverse kind, and...well...you get the picture. It was misery!

Brandon brought me the stuff, I took some, showered, got dressed, and it worked! The stuff he brought me worked!

A little too well.

Sigh.

But it was okay! Because I was so determined to see the stuff I wanted to see, and Brandon had gone to the trouble of renting a car. So we left after 10AM and headed West.

I slept part of the way, but seeing the landscape change from busy streets and crowded buildings to spread-out farmland and sheep-filled pastures was wonderful! Brandon was a genius with the car and I only freaked out a few times when he drifted towards the wrong lane --remember? They drive on the Left instead of the Right. It was an adventure!

Okay, maybe I freaked out a little too much. Meh.

Finally we reached our destination. What was our destination? Behold! Our destination:

Stonehenge was awesome. It was actually smaller than I thought it was going to be, but it was awesome nonetheless. It was terribly cold --the wind was very sharp --but we still managed to enjoy our walk around it (the audio tour was way cool). Seriously, it was awesome!

After we finished the tour, we decided to grab some food. Luckily for me, my appetite was starting to come back (and there were toilets nearby!). We ate our lunch in the car because there were only outdoor tables (we just ate at the little counter/cafe place at Stonehenge) and like I said, it was soooo cold!

Our next stop was a bit harder to find. Brandon entered in the address on his phone, but he decided to take the long way so I could see more villages and country roads. We got lost a few times (try reading GPS directions on a cell phone while driving in a foreign country sometime), but we finally found the place:

What? You don't know this place? How could you not know this place? This is none other than JANE AUSTEN'S HOUSE.

Yes!
This is where she lived with her sister and mother for about 8 years, and where the majority of her novels were written. I had to come here! Had to! Of course, they wouldn't allow cameras inside the house (which is a museum), so you'll have to do with outdoor pictures (although they were doing renovations, so we couldn't see the outdoor buildings, but we got in for a cheaper price!). It was so wonderful! I saw letters from Jane, pictures, dishes, tables/desks (like the one she wrote on. The one she wrote on!!), and all kinds of things from those years. They had more memorabilia of Jane's relatives than of Jane herself, but this was because Jane had no heirs to pass her stuff onto (neither did her sister), but her brothers did. It was seriously so cool. That's all I can say about it.

In the gift shop, I bought a copy of Northanger Abbey (I've never had my own) and a book of piano music from the A&E Pride and Prejudice and the Hollywood Sense and Sensibility. When we went outside, I picked a blade of grass for a friend (I had promised!) and Brandon smeared dirt on the front page of my book. Hooray! I now have dirt from Jane Austen's house. Morbid? Obsessed? Perhaps. But now every time I see that smudge, I'll remember where it came from.

So cool! Oh, here are the pictures:

After Jane Austen's house, we had just enough time to drive back to London to meet some friends. Brandon had a mission companion from Sydney (Brandon served in the Perth, Australia mission) and hadn't seen him since the mission (12 years?) but found out that he and his wife were living and working in London. In fact, Brandon ran into them at church (the Hyde Park Ward) his first Sunday in London. They invited us to go out to dinner with them Saturday night (which was day six, obviously). So, we met them at their flat. They live right along The Thames in Chiswick, and it was easy to find. We walked to an Italian restaurant and had a great dinner (where I could actually eat without feeling sick!), and then afterwards we spent more time at their place talking. They have lived all over the world as expats and it was fun to hear about their travels. Great people, these people!

Once again, we got back to the hotel extremely late and crashed into bed. The next day would be my last in London...

Year of Tens: London Edition (Day Five)

Friday, January 16th, 2009 was our Ten Year Anniversary. Because I was in England, there was no "Year of Tens" blog post on that day --in fact, I'm feeling just shameful for taking so long to write about it. But since it occurred in London, I figured I couldn't very well skip ahead before telling you all about the first part, right? Right.

So, we were married 10 years ago in the Idaho Falls Temple. But instead of going on and on about our marriage (go here if you want to read more about it --my feelings haven't changed one bit for the man I married), I'll just tell you what we did to celebrate in good ol' England!

Ah, yes. Day Five. The beginning of a glorious weekend, and aside from getting sick (oh, yes, I did), it was still glorious.

After rising, showering, brushing, preening, and all that other stuff you do each day, Brandon and I enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. Then we packed up our "gear" (the camera) and headed towards Leicester Square. There we found a discounted tickets booth (there are literally dozens of them) and bought ourselves some tickets to that night's performance of Wicked.

Yes.

That Wicked.

But we had a lot to do before that night's performance, so we didn't dawdle. Instead, we took the tube to Green Park and crossed the park to Buckingham Palace.

Yes.

That Buckingham Palace.

The Changing of the Guard would occur in about 40 minutes, and I knew we needed to get there early to have any chance of seeing anything. I turned out to be right, too. It wasn't thousands of people, but it certainly was a crowd:

To be honest, the guard changing was cool, but not anything amazing. I think it was hyped up for me, and so I wasn't as happy with the results. But that's okay. It was still cool to see the Palace, the guards, and to see (if you look at the flagpole) that the Queen was actually in residence that day! Oh, how I wanted her to come out and just spontaneously start waving at us on that famous balcony! Yeah --like that would happen! But I was still happy to be there:

And Brandon was ecstatic (*snort):

Here are some other pictures of the event (we had a good view of the soldiers and band marching to and from the palace, but not a very good one of the inside where they actually changed places. Brandon got as many good shots as he could):

After Buckingham Palace, we decided to get some lunch. We found this place called Cafe Rouge right across the street from St. Paul's (obviously, we took the tube to St. Paul's, since that was where we were going for the afternoon). It was crowded and very French. We finally got seated (with a great view of St. Paul's out the window) and we ate a lovely lunch. Afterwards, we went through St. Paul's.

I don't have any pictures of that day because I had already taken a lot of the outside on Day Three (see Day Three!) and you aren't allowed to take photos on the inside. But it was beautiful! And they have the coolest thing: You walk up 247 (or so) steps to the gallery --this is basically a tiny walkway around the dome (it's so high up!) and if you sit on the benches along the walls of the dome, you can whisper to either side and hear the person all the way on the other side. It totally worked! Anyway, besides how exhausted I felt after walking up and down those stairs (I had to rest for at least 15 minutes afterwards --man, I'm a wimp!), I loved being in the cathedral.

Around this time, we decided to go back to the hotel. I was starting to feel really, really sick. In fact, I can't even really remember what we did between St. Paul's and dinner. Maybe I just was sick? I felt awful, because we still had big plans for the night and I didn't want to ruin them. So, I tried my best to suck it up and got dressed up.

Brandon took me to this Italian restaurant he had gone to before, and it was lovely! But I couldn't eat a thing. Not one thing. I tried bread --I could only take a few bites. I ordered a simple spaghetti dish --I could only take a few bites. I was having such a hard time even just sitting there. I felt so bad for Brandon and the waiter --I'm sure they both felt awkward and weird around me. I explained to the waiter that the food was delicious but that I was unwell. He understood (thank goodness!), and of course, so did Brandon.

After dinner, we took the tube to Victoria Station and walked to the Apollo Victoria Theater. Brandon had sprung for some pretty good seats, and they were easy to find.

Now, I don't know what it's like on Broadway, but wow! I was so blown away by the CASUAL atmosphere of the theater. People were wearing whatever they wanted (dressed up, dressed down), and they were selling beer and soda and popcorn and ice cream in the aisles and at some concessions stands. And yet, even in this casual atmosphere, everyone --EVERYONE --knew how to watch. They were attentive, polite, and applauded (heartily) at all the right spots. I guess I was surprised because whenever I've been in such a casual atmosphere in the States (theater-wise), the audience lives up to the casual expectations. It was so refreshing to see how people could be so...mature. That was it! Mature. I loved it!

As far as Wicked goes? Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. I was enthralled and just loved it! Brandon really loved it, too. Since I've read the book (not something I would recommend), it was fun to see how they changed the story. I thought it was done very well --and the surprises at the end? Fantastic! So in love with this musical!

Ooh! Funny anecdote:

The lady's toilets (you never call it a bathroom --bathrooms are for baths. Toilets are for toilets!) were on one side of the theater and had about 15 stalls. However, with thousands of women needing to use them? Yeah. This is the one part where I wish we were more like men! They are soooo lucky when it comes to toilet use. Sigh. Anyway, I didn't get to use it before it started. But I was prepared during intermission. Although I was feeling sick still, I bolted from my seat and hauled butt down to the toilets. I was about 30th in line! Boo-yah! It was hilarious to see so many women running for the toilets. So. Funny.

After the production, we stuck around a bit and waited --we were some of the last to leave. Brandon got a picture on his cell phone:

We got home late, and crashed. And although I still felt a bit sick, it had been a great day and a wonderful anniversary! I love you, Brandon --thanks for a fabulous time. :)

London: Day Four

Unfortunately for me, I did not see everything I wanted on day four, because I was oblivious to something I should have been guarding very carefully: My Health. See, you can't find drinking fountains in London, and I didn't think ahead --I kept forgetting to bring water! So until lunchtime, I didn't have access to liquids, and therefore, my joints starting hurting, my back started hurting...and being pregnant...? Well, you get the picture. But I still managed to have a good a time, so here's what I did:
Brandon was working again, so I headed out on my own. I went to the Westminster stop, and got some good up-close pictures of the Houses of Parliament and nearby (it was the other side --not the same angle as Day Two's):

My next stop was Westminster Abbey.
Holy. Cow.
That place was incredible. Simply unreal! I walked in and I couldn't stop gaping at everything. I could hardly move! Finally, a nice man approached me and asked if I wanted to do the audio tour (best thing I ever did, peeps). I relished every moment I spent in that place. For those of you unaware, Westminster Abbey is where the monarchs are coronated (I saw the throne that all the kings/queens have been coronated in since King Edward --we're talking the year 1308, people!), and where several of them were married (Prince Charles and Diana were married in St. Paul's --perhaps they could have stood a chance if they were married in Westminster...? Maybe...? Yeah, probably not).
Anyway, the place is just amazing. I think the most humbling part for me was seeing the grave (as in, the entombed casket where her body lay) of Elizabeth I. Man, alive! They also had what they dubbed as Poet's Corner, where several poets and authors are buried. Go to the wiki site and read about who else is buried there. It's so cool!
I was blown away by the enormity of the place and the richness of history. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside, so the outside ones will have to do:

After Westminster (and a few more shots of Big Ben:
),
I decided to find lunch. I walked down to the river and walked towards the Embankment underground station. I decided to just grab what was familiar, and that happened to be Quizno's. After lunch, I then took the long way to Trafalgar Square (walked up Villiers Street and then turned west on Strand to get there, instead of going up Northumberland). I decided to see the National Gallery, and if I had time, I'd go on up and see the British Museum. Both of these museums are free of charge, and I figured they were worth seeing! But by the time I got through the entire gallery (originals of Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt, etc.), I was worn out. Completely and thoroughly wiped. My whole body ached and I was exhausted. So, I took some good pictures of Trafalgar Square and the outside of the Gallery, and then took the tube to the hotel. Here are the pictures:

I was in bed by 3PM, and I took a 3 hour nap! I needed it, plus all the water I drank. So, this is the first thing you should know about London: You will walk. A lot. Drink your water! Especially if you are with child. Sheesh!
Later that night, Brandon and I went to the most adorable little French restaurant. The food was fabulous, and the dinner was wonderful. By this time, I noticed a few things about eating out in London:
1. Waiters/waitresses are not always kind, but they do their job.
2. You have to actually ASK for the bill. They won't bring it to you until you do.
3. If you want refills on water (even tap water), you have to ask.
4. They will never give you the stink-eye for sitting in the restaurant for four hours. This is how it's done! You eat, and talk...eat some more...talk...laugh...enjoy yourself --and you do this for however long you need to.
5. Like I mentioned in Day Two, all the restaurants are small and enclosed. You are very close to other tables around you...

...which brings me to another few observations about London:
1. Everyone is squished together --tightly packed in trains, tightly packed in grocery stores, tightly packed in restaurants, tightly packed on the streets, etc.
2. Even though everyone is tightly packed, they ignore each other. Completely ignore each other! It is easy to have a conversation with your dinner-mates without anyone being annoyed or trying to eavesdrop. Why? No one cares! They all just do their own thing, but they do it all squished together. Cool, eh? I imagine NYC is like this? But I've never been to NYC, so I can't make an honest comparison.

Man, I love London!

London: Day Three

DAY THREE:

I woke refreshed and ready for Day Three --the first day I would be out on my own without Brandon (he had to work). So, I got everything I needed (except I forgot water. That is a HUGE no-no --as I later found out. The hard way.) and headed for the underground.

I took the tube to the Tower of London. To most people (and me?) the Tower of London evokes an image of a big tower where people were imprisoned (you know, like all of Henry VIII's wives) before they were executed, head-chopped-off-style. But it is much, much different. The Tower of London has been around for almost a thousand years. It was the fortress and palace for the English monarchy, and so it served as that: Living Quarters for Royalty. The reason it became known as such a horrific place is because the armory was there, prisoners were held there, and executions occurred in the square.

Okay, so I spent the whole morning at the Tower of London, and here are some pictures of the place (this is just a taste of the hundreds I took; click on it to see it bigger):

I would go into great detail, but I'm not going to. Instead here are some interesting anecdotes:

*All the crown jewels are held in the Jewel House (under heavy, heavy guard) and so I got to see all the scepters, robes, dishes, and crowns used for coronations, weddings, etc. It was so cool!

*The Tower of London was built upon the old Roman fortress, and there are still some of the roman walls standing (pieces of them).

*My guide was awesome, and I failed to get a picture of him. All members of the Queen's Guard (the tour guides --seriously! The tour guides are SOLDIERS.) have served in the British military for at least 22 years and have received a medal of some kind (heroic, maybe?). So this means the tour guides --the tour guides --are SOLDIERS. I think this has a lot to do with the value of the place. Anyway, so my guide was one of these guys. He was hilarious, and very good. I felt a twinge of disappointment that I hadn't asked to get his picture, and 2 days later, I really regretted it: I was watching a film on Princess Diana at the hotel (late at night), and guess who was one of the guards (in the front) who carried her casket during her funeral?! Yes! My guide! I was kicking myself. Sigh.

*In some of the towers where prisoners were kept, there is still graffiti carved into the walls --hundreds of years old! It was so cool!

*The money spent to get inside the Tower of London was worth every cent. I loved it, there! Loved it! This was seriously one of the highlights for me.

After I finished the Tower of London, I stopped at a small fish and chips counter. Yum! Then I walked along the Thames (going east) and crossed the Tower Bridge (which was built under the reign of Queen Victoria in the 1880's and is not London Bridge!):

On the other side, I headed back west and got a few good shots of the Tower of London from across the river:

And then I continued to walk along, looking at cool things, like this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And then I saw William Shakespeare's Globe Theater:

Next, I crossed the Millennium Bridge and walked to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was so beautiful! I didn't go inside because I wanted Brandon to go in with me later (you have to pay to enter most famous buildings and cathedrals in London):

After pausing for some time in the gardens of St. Paul's, I finally got back on the tube and headed for Queensway. I got out, and walked through Kensington Park. It was huge! I wanted to see Kensington Palace (where Princess Diana lived), but it was closing down for the day, so I only got to see the outside --which was okay with me. I was spent! (I didn't realize how dehydrated I was until I got back to the hotel.) It was nice just walking through some of the Kensington gardens and the rest of the park:

By then, I was pretty tired, so I walked back to the hotel and slept for a little bit before Brandon called to say when he'd be home. That night, we went out with Brandon's colleague and his wife. They took us to a great traditional English restaurant called Bumpkin's (It was in Notting Hill!) The dinner was wonderful and the conversation even better. We stayed at the restaurant until 11PM! Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel.

London Trip: Day Two

Day one is here (but it's not that exciting).

Day Two! Okay, so I arrived in London at about 7:00AM. Of course, to my body, it felt like it was around midnight, so I was tired. I had tried to sleep as much as possible on the plane, but I couldn't force myself to do more than about 3 1/2 hours. After going through customs (lines weren't too bad!), I grabbed my luggage and headed to the exit. There, amongst all the other limousine drivers holding signs for their pick-ups, was this incredibly handsome man. He had the best grin and the most gorgeous blue eyes! He was holding a large bouquet of flowers and a sign with my name on it. I laughed and laughed and went over there to kiss him.

(Yeah, so it was Brandon --if you haven't figured it out, yet. Wha?! You thought I would be kissing random strangers in Britain?! Pshaw!).

We got on the tube and headed back towards London (I had arrived at Heathrow airport). Brandon kind of gave me a run-down of how the tube system works (and just for posterity's sake and your information, I think London is brilliant with their underground train system! Wow! They are all geniuses). For those of you London people, we stopped at Earl's Court and got out. The hotel was on Cromwell, and later we realized we passed by Alfred Hitchcock's former home (there was a plaque, but we had no camera at the time).

We left my luggage at the hotel, I freshened up (tried to look presentable?) ate some food, and then we headed out for some sight-seeing. We took the tube to Oxford Circus, where we walked down Regent Street (a very popluar street with amazing shops --if you have money! No, I'm serious --we're talking high-end, designer, "this-is-where-the-royal-people-spend-their-moolah" shops. It's very posh!). We took Regent Street all the way down to St. James Park, but before we got there, here is the first picture we took of me in London. Woo-hoo! Don't ask me what the statue is. I can't remember.

We then headed to the Horse Guards (an amazing set of stables and buildings that house the Horse Guards. What else?). If you look at the three pictures below, you'll see how I tried to get a panoramic picture in three shots of the place, and I did a terrible job (but you see what I mean, right?):

We went through that far gate behind Brandon and on the other side there were two of these (one on each side):

Next, we walked down Parliament Street. One thing I noticed about London (and would notice even more as the week went by) was how many amazing monuments there were to the soldiers of WWI and WWII. I loved them! This one, I especially liked:

As we came down Parliament Street and turned towards Westminster Bridge, I saw this:

And the other side of this:

I'm a sucker for old buildings, and London was full of 'em! The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben were simply amazing. The view of them got better and better as we crossed the bridge:

The Thames River is very busy (just like all the streets), and there are bridges everywhere. I took out the map of greater London area, and there were only 11 bridges that I could see. I'm sure there are more! I think I crossed four of them throughout the week...? Anyway, after we crossed the Westminster Bridge, we walked along the south side of the Thames, past the London Eye (that big ferris wheel):

We crossed back over on another foot/train bridge and got back on the tube at Embankment.

[OH! OH! And for all of you American Idol fans, did you see the guy who auditioned in Arizona? The blind guy? Do you remember how his shirt had the red sign and Mind The Gap on it? Well, that's a reference to the tube in London; the gap between the carriage (train) and the platform is usually awkward --sometimes it's a step down, sometimes it's a step up, and sometimes there's just a really wide gap. So the speakers come on and at almost every stop you will hear this beautiful British voice (female) say loudly, "Mind the gap, please. Mind the gap." I was thiiiiis close to buying a shirt like that! So, I loved it. The shirt on the blind guy, I mean. Oh, and his voice was nice, too. I was glad he got into Hollywood!]

We got out at Gloucester Road (once again, this is mostly for those familiar with London --you know, explaining all the stops and streets. You could google map it and find them too, if you want!) and stopped a cute Italian restaurant for lunch. I learned quickly that if I want regular old water, I either ask for tap (free!) or still (bottled). And it's not common to get a lot of it. Bummer. After eating, we went back to the hotel; Brandon left for work (he had taken the morning off) and I took a 3 hour nap. It was lovely!

After I woke up, I showered, grabbed the map, and headed out for some evening sight-seeing on my own. I headed East on Cromwell, and ended up going in front of the Natural History Museum. It looks like this:

I then went north on Exhibition Road, passing by the Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Imperial College, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Hyde Park Ward Building! The mission office, family history center, and chapel are inside --I went in briefly to check it out.

Then I headed west on Kensington Road and saw the Royal Albert Hall. This is where many symphony orchestras and musicians perform --which makes sense, since the Royal College of Music is around the corner:

After passing the Hall, I headed back south on Queens Gate, and then back west on Cromwell to the hotel. Brandon met me there and we had dinner at a fabulous little Indian restaurant. I just realized I called both of the restaurants "little" and I think I should clarify. Everything in London is "little". The shops, the cafes, the restaurants are all stacked together and if they need more room, they go up. Think NYC 5-floor walk-ups, but they are restaurants. Of course, I've never been to NYC, so my comparison may stink. Heh. Anyway, this fabulous Indian restaurant served us the most amazing Indian food (oh, sigh!), and then we went back to the hotel.

That night I slept like a rock, and it's a good thing, too, because I needed it for the next day!

To be continued...