We miss Target, History Days, and a LOT of Walking!

I've been meaning to post this picture, but needless to say, things have been a little busy! We were able to stay with Julie, Joel, and Beau for a couple days in Seattle before heading to London, and Johanna was also there with Tyler and Chase! It was a full house, but lots of fun. The night before we left, they surprised us with this cake... so cute! And SO GOOD! :)

Since so many people asked about where my clothes were going to fit in our TINY place... of course, everyone's top concern... Jordan forgot to video our biggest closet that has room to hang clothes as well as 3 full drawers. Not to mention, under our bed/couch, there is a trunk for us to fit all our coats! Quite honestly, we have plenty of room for everything, miraculously! After moving in though, we realized there was a lot of stuff we still needed. We are close to a lot of grocery stores, so food wasn't a problem, but honestly, good luck finding "household goods" like hangers, towels, blankets, and pillows. We were honestly beginning to think maybe people in London just didn't use those things! Where the heck is a Target when you need one?! Even when we'd ask people where to find household items, we'd get blank stares, or simply a response of "I have no idea." Great. In the end it was probably a good thing because we ended up wandering around quite a bit, especially for a blanket, but we finally did find one. We were a little worried we were going to end up breaking down and buying a tourist blanket with a UK flag or something. :) We deliberately wandered into Picadilly Circus, which is like the Times Square of London! So many people, so much to do, and so ALIVE! We have a feeling we'll be spending quite a bit of time around there in the future. 

A little cheesy, I know, but we had to take the classic red telephone booth pictures. I still think they are so cute! Although, I must say, they smell terrible!

My husband, the poser. :)

The last couple days have been SO COLD. We aren't quite sure if it's because you're outside so much longer or if it's actually just that cold, but at any rate, we decided to try and do a lot of "inside activities." First we visited the British Library, which is literally a block from our flat. There are some amazing historical documents there, such as the original Magna Carta, original handwritten Mozart and Beethoven sheet music, and my personal favorite, an entire display on the Beatles with actual lyrics and songs written out on scratch paper by the band members! It made me think of my Dad. :) Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside.

Next stop was the British Museum. Jordan is way more into history than I am, but we both found all of this completely fascinating! The museum is HUGE, first of all. Right when you walk in the first wing there is the Rosetta Stone... now, if only I could explain what it is! Well, here's a picture. 

Surprisingly, the wing that intrigued me the most was of the ancient Egyptian times. They have some of the original statues, like this one of a Pharoah, that was from Moses' time and even before! It's so surreal to stand next to these statues and try to wrap your brain around how old they are...                                                                                                                                                          

Okay, we debated whether or not we should put this one on here, but decided that since it's history we would be okay. :) To date, this is the oldest mummified human remains ever discovered - they approximate all the way back to 3500 B.C.  A little gross, but cool!

Two "great" men... Alexander the Great (an original statue from his time), and Jordan the Great! :)

We were dying laughing because we saw a group of elementary school kids on a field trip at the museum, and we thought how funny it was that we used to go on field trips to the Cheney Cowles Museum in Spokane for our field trips in elementary school... I think these kids in the UK are getting a little better grasp on history considering they are seeing things that are over 5000 years old, compared to 200 years old. :)

Finally... we made it into "downtown" London today; well, the more well-known part of London I should say. We toured the National Gallery, which houses original famous paintings from Van Gough, Monet, Leonardo Da Vinci... just to name a few! Again, pretty fascinating to see the original paintings when you've seen prints of them your whole life. Obviously, no pictures allowed in there either, darnit! The National Gallery is located right on Trafalgar Square, where we caught our first glimpse of Big Ben.

Walking through the streets of London...

I still love the double-decker busses! And if you look hard in this picture, you can see the London Eye in the background. We are planning on going on that, but it is not open in January.

Here it is... Big Ben! We didn't get the river view because we were on the opposite side, but we're pretty sure we'll find time for that in the next 4 1/2 months.

This one's for you, Mom... Westminster Abbey. Again, not the best view, but we were a little rushed and FREEZING. Not joking. We had planned to make an afternoon of sight-seeing, but decided it would probably not be worth having to have our fingers and noses amputated. 

We are excited to figure out a schedule and routine once Jordan starts school on Monday. It's so nice not to feel pressured and rushed to see everything since we have 4 1/2 months left, but there's still that subtle guilty feeling if we're not out and about every second. We are also trying to figure out our identity a little bit... are we tourists? are we not? We're trying our best to blend in. :) So much is different here in comparison to Spokane. Actually, we're not quite sure the two cities can be compared. We have been walking a TON, and really are starting to like it, but it's funny to think that in Spokane we complained when we got a parking spot downtown that wasn't within 2 blocks of our destination. Well, at least we'll burn some calories while we're here! :)

We are loving our adventure here so far, and will try our best to keep you all updated! Cheers!

P.S. This picture is for Lindsay (and Cilya & Nick.) It will only make sense to you three. :) Let's just say that I pretty much bumrushed Jordan out of the way and made him take this picture. CHIVES. No more words are necessary.