Lots of Visitors!

Our good friends, Josh and Angie, got here bright and early on Thursday morning. Josh is Jordan's best friend from college, and he was also a groomsman in our wedding. He is the one who is living in our house for us while we're here in London, which has been such a blessing! Angie and I played volleyball together at Whitworth for 3 years, since she was a year younger than me, and have maintained a great friendship ever since. So Jordan and I decided to play matchmaker, which is something we rarely do, and now Angie and Josh are dating! :) 

Now that you have the background... 

Josh and Angie were troopers from the time they got to our flat, determined to beat the jet lag, and wanted to hit the ground running! Our first stop was the Tower of London, which is something Jordan and I had been saving to do for when visitors were here. The Tower is one of London's oldest standing buildings, and has been used for everything from a castle to a jail. Most people know it as the place where they held executions, most famously for Queen Anne (aka: Anne Boleyn.) For those of you who don't know a ton of history (like me), go rent the movie The Other Boleyn Girl with Natalie Portman -- this movie explains a ton of England's history with a little Hollywood mixed in. :)

Right across the river from the Tower of London is the city hall building, which is one of my favorite buildings in London. It is totally modern, and shaped like an egg -- I just think it is so cute and random!

Also by the Tower of London is the well-known Tower Bridge. Although we walked across it and went up in the towers with Kelli last week, we weren't able to get any pictures from far away. It really is magnificent!

Josh and Jordan of course had to seek out all the war weapons and torture chambers within the Tower. Is this just a universal boy thing?! At any rate, these two have way too much fun together. :)

Not only did they seek out all the weapons, they volunteered to participate in a demonstration in front of everyone to use this ancient catapult! They actually had a "guys vs. girls" competition, and Angie volunteered for the girls team. Yes, you guessed it, I was the mom holding everyone's bags and taking pictures. :) It was pretty hilarious watching all of them partake in launching this catapult in the Tower of London... with water balloons, of course. I actually took a video of it, which is at the end of this blog post, so check it out!

Here are Jord and I in front of Tower Bridge. If you can't tell, it was windy, rainy, and COLD...

Angie and Josh currently hold the record for how late they stayed up on their first night here, 9:30pm! Jordan and I made it until about 3:45pm, and Josh and Johanna made it until about 5:30pm. I was seriously impressed!

The next day we split up and had some girl time/boy time. :) The boys went to the Imperial War Museum, while Angie and I did some shopping and got sundaes at Harrods. Yes, I do realize I just posted this exact same picture a week ago. And yes, I do realize this is two gigantic sundaes in one week. What can I say... I choose my friends wisely! :)

Jordan's parents and grandparents arrived that same afternoon, so we met up with them afterwards at their hotel and helped them get settled in so they could rest that night and get caught up on sleep. Josh, Angie, Jordan, and I had a big double-date night planned -- we got dressed up, and went and saw the play Wicked, which was unreal! It was unlike any of the plays we have seen so far -- the most amazing sets and talented performers. We are starting to realize that it's pretty impossible to see a bad performance in London, since London's theater reputation is said to be as good or better than New York's broadway performances. You really do get the real deal here!

The next morning, we all met up with Jordan's parents and grandparents to go on the London Eye, which is the highest viewing point in London. Basically, the Eye is a giant ferris wheel that takes a half hour to go around once, and each of its capsules holds up to 25 people. I can't remember exactly how high it goes, but it's somewhere around 450 feet tall at the highest point. It's an awesome way to see London!

Even though a couple people in our group aren't too fond of heights (I won't mention any names...), everyone managed to enjoy the ride. The Eye really moves so slowly and quietly that you almost don't feel like you're moving at all!

Here is the capsule in front of ours at one of the highest points of the ride overlooking the whole city.

Jordan's parents, Russ and Brenda, enjoying the view...

The view of the Thames River on our descent from the London Eye...

Here is a photo of the London Eye as we were walking away from it. It's really hard to comprehend how big it really is through pictures. I have another photo of it from a previous post that shows the whole thing; click here to see it. 

After the Eye, Angie and Josh went to do some more exploring while Jordan and I went with his parents to track down their rental car. His parents and grandparents are staying in Bedford in a timeshare for the rest of their trip, which is about an hour north of London. We got them situated and on their way to Bedford, and met back up with Josh and Angie for their last night in London. Josh treated us to an amazing dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was so nice of him! And as a side note, Jordan and I are starting to LOVE Indian food! Yummm...

Then we wandered down to Piccadilly Circus to see all the billboards lit up at night. Piccadilly Circus is like the Times Square of London -- it is such a crazy, fun atmosphere down there!

Josh and Angie left really early Sunday morning to go to Spain, and then later to Scotland before they go back home. It was sad to see them go, but we were so glad they were able to come visit us!

Jordan's parents and grandparents found their way back into London, and we all headed down to Westminster Abbey for an Evensong service that afternoon. Afterwards, we did some wandering with Jordan's parents around Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace.

I made Jordan's parents do the cute, red phone booth picture. :) I think this is almost a right of passage when you come to London. 

It is Monday morning now (even though the date of this post says Sunday because I started it yesterday), and Jordan is taking a final exam as I type this. He has one more on Friday, and then he's done! We sent Jordan's parents and grandparents out to Windsor Castle for the day, and then they are going to meet up with us tonight to see Oliver, which is the musical of Oliver Twist. I was in charge of buying the tickets this morning, and I am super excited because I was able to get us box seats for the same price as 2nd level seats! I have never sat in a box seat for a play, and I am always secretly jealous when I see the people in the box seats. :)

We have a day trip planned to Dover tomorrow with the whole gang, and then we will be staying out in Bedford with them that night. Lots of fun to come!

Here is the video of Jordan and Josh volunteering for the catapult demonstration at the Tower of London. You will hear me gasp after they pull the ropes because Jordan actually fell down... he claims that he was just giving it a 100% effort. :) Enjoy!

Kelli's Visit to London

My good friend, Kelli, was here visiting us this past week, which was so much fun! Kelli played basketball at Whitworth, and we were roommates for our last two years of college. We really haven't seen each other since she moved to Bellevue a couple years ago, so it was awesome to reunite in London, of all places! :) 

It was a new experience for me playing "tour guide" in London, especially because Jordan usually figures out the directions whenever we go somewhere. But I managed to pull it off, and I think we only got lost once -- it was Kelli's first night here and we were trying to find the theater to see Grease. We made it just in time for the show, which ended up being awesome! Other than that, here are the main highlights from her trip...

We did a shopping day and then went to High Tea at Harrods, which again was so amazing and such a fun girls' outing! I think this is becoming one of my favorite things in London. :)

Here is Kelli, sipping on her tea. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Kelli is a 6-foot-tall blonde who is super tan and beautiful... needless to say, she stood out in London! :) 

The second night Kelli was here happened to be St. Patrick's Day. So, naturally, we went to one of our favorite pubs, O'Neill's, which is an Irish pub, and we were all decked out in green. It was pretty funny because you could spot every single American in the pub because we were the only ones wearing green, not the British people. Apparently that is an American thing?! 

It was a lot of fun to spend St. Paddy's Day in an Irish pub in England that was playing traditional Irish music and was packed with so many fun people! Although, don't worry Shamus and Breanne, Jordan and I both agreed that we still miss O'Doherty's back home. :)

Kelli really wanted to see Paris since it is so close to London, so her and I took a short overnight trip while she was here. I'm pretty sure this gave Jordan a great excuse to go golfing while we were gone, although he claimed to be "studying for finals". Anyway, Kelli paid for my train ticket and our hotel room as a "thank you" for letting her stay with us all week in London -- can you believe that?! She's so sweet! 

I will say, I was so thankful to have just been in Paris with Jordan the weekend beforehand so I had my bearings and felt comfortable getting around. I know it sounds dumb, but I get really stressed out if I don't know where I'm going, and it made me realize how much I depend on Jordan for this! It is just so different in France because usually I have no problem asking people for directions if I'm lost, but when you don't speak the language it makes everything way more intimidating!! It ended up going really well and we had no problems finding our way around Paris while we were there, thank God!

Here we are on the second level of the Eiffel Tower overlooking Paris!

We did end up making it back to London, although I had another nightmare experience going through customs to get back into the UK. I won't get into it, but let's just say there was instant pitting out involved. And a moment of sheer panic that I was going to be stuck in Paris. And then a bag full of peanut M&Ms to relieve all my nervous energy afterwards. Talk about stressful!

We took Kelli down to see Tower Bridge, which is the famous bridge in London that most people from the states call "London Bridge" by mistake. So, in honor of the song that everyone knows ("London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down...") we decided to hold up the bridge. :)

It was really neat to walk across it, and we also got to go up into one of the towers to a viewing gallery overlooking the whole city! 

Of course the main "attraction" Kelli wanted to see was the sundae shop at Harrods. Kelli is like me when it comes to sweets, which is why I think we're such good friends. :)

This sundae was DELICIOUS. I know, DUH! I can't remember exactly what it was called, but it was some kind of hazelnut/Nutella ice cream sundae. I'm sorry if you're getting sick of seeing pictures of desserts on the blog, but there are probably many more to come. :)

And please don't be alarmed when I get back in May and you don't recognize me because I weigh 200 pounds. 

On Kelli's last night, we went to a bar downtown that is all made of ice! Seriously! Everything from the tables and chairs to our drink glasses was solid ice. It was crazy, but a really neat thing to see and experience. Jordan was able to go here with Josh and Johanna when they visited us, but I missed out, so it was a first for both Kelli and I.

You knew this picture was coming, so please don't tell me you're surprised. :) Of course I had to lick the ice! Who wouldn't?!

It's kind of interesting, but it makes sense, you are only allowed to be in the bar for 40 minutes and they make you wear this big thermal cape with gloves to stay warm. The temperature inside is -5 degrees Celsius! I can't even imagine working here... talk about your all-time worst jobs!!

Kelli went back to the states on Monday afternoon. It was so great to see her and show her our life here in London! The whole week she was here we had amazing weather, and I almost didn't let her leave because of it. :) Lo and behold, the last couple days since she's been gone it has turned cold again. Ugh!

Ever since she left, our life has been a little nuts! I had my final exam for my online class on Monday (Hallelujah, I'm done!), and Jordan started his finals on Monday as well. He had another final today, and then has two more next week before his spring break starts. Also, we have been getting ready for our next round of visitors! Our friends, Angie and Josh, get here tomorrow morning and will be here until Sunday. Also, Jordan's parents and grandparents are coming Friday afternoon and staying for a whole week. We are so excited to see everyone!

Jordan's Paris Videos

Here are the videos Jordan took in Paris! The first one is of this crazy street performer doing all these soccer tricks -- Jordan calls him "the soccer guru" and was slightly obsessed with him. :) The second one is of the inside and outside of the Notre Dame Cathedral. The last video is of Sainte Chapelle, the Eiffel Tower at night, the Mona Lisa, and us on top of the Eiffel Tower.

And, like always, you have the famous narration from Jordan. :)  Enjoy!

Weekend in Paris

I know, I know... I've fallen a little behind with the blog. Okay, a LOT behind! My friend, Kelli, is here right now, so I haven't had much computer time to spare lately. And you'll probably notice by the date of this post that I actually started it yesterday, and am finishing it today. Better late than never, right?!

Jordan and I had our weekend getaway in Paris -- we left last Friday morning and got back Sunday night. It was a great trip overall, although we were definitely glad to be back in London by the end of the weekend! I took a million pictures, like usual, so prepare yourselves. :) I had been to Paris once before, but it was literally a 10-hour whirlwind trip with my sister where we ran around and saw all the major sights and then went home. So having almost three days this time with Jordan was so nice!

The first day we got there we did a lot of walking around and exploring. There are a lot of "main squares" in Paris, and the one in the picture below happened to be right by our hotel. 

We found out quickly that Paris is a lot more spread out than London, and most people ride motorcycles and mopeds. We walked and took the subway to get around the city, which is pretty similar to London's subway system so we were able to pick it up really quickly.

One of our first stops was the Notre Dame Cathedral. Jordan fell in love with it right when he saw it. It is a lot more gothic than the cathedrals in England we've seen, and just completely unique. 

It's interesting because walking around the cathedral, it almost seems like each side of it is a completely different style. From the front to the back you could mistake it for two different cathedrals entirely.

This is the main entrance of the cathedral. You can go up in the towers, although we decided to pass on that one. We were able to go inside though, which was really neat.

Here is Jordan in front of the gates to the Sainte Chapelle. We also got to go in this smaller cathedral, which is famous for its breathtaking stained glass. I have never seen anything like it -- you literally walk into the small cathedral room and you are completely surrounded by solid stained glass.

This was taken from inside Notre Dame. Since it is free to go inside, many people pay a small donation to light a candle, which creates a really cool ambiance.

Our next stop was the Louvre, although we didn't actually go in it until the next day. The Louvre is considered by many to be Europe's best museum, and is most well-known for being the home to the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. You also might recognize it from the movie The Da Vinci Code with Tom Hanks. :)

It's pretty crazy because the Louvre is this HUGE, old, ornate building, and the entrance is comprised of this totally modern, glass pyramid.

So, oddly enough, the reason we ended up at the Louvre our first night was to meet up with one of my good friends from high school, Eric Williams! Eric and I had chatted on Facebook a couple weeks prior to our Paris trip and realized we were both going to be in Paris at the same time, so after 4 or 5 years of not seeing each other we were reunited in Paris, of all places! How crazy is that?! We ended up going out to a great dinner with him, which was so much fun. 

From there we decided to walk towards the Eiffel Tower because we wanted to see it at night. We had heard that the Eiffel Tower is stunning at night, and it certainly did not disappoint! It really is a beautiful sight.

Also, at the top of every hour, the Eiffel Tower basically becomes a big sparkler. Seriously! It has these sparkling lights all over it that flicker for 10 minutes. This picture doesn't really show it very well, but it's the best one I was able to get. Jordan got a video of it that turned out pretty well -- we'll post it on the blog soon, so stay tuned! 

The next morning we got up early to go up in the Eiffel Tower. The tower has three levels you can view the city from, and Jordan wanted to go all the way to the TOP level, which is 1063 feet high... so that's exactly what we did. :) Honestly, my pictures don't do it justice -- it truly is a massive structure, and so impressive! Someone told us that the Eiffel Tower is three times the size of the Space Needle, if that gives you a better idea.

Here is the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower of the Seine River that runs through the middle of Paris. Everything looked SO SMALL from up there!

Seeing the Eiffel Tower is pretty incredible, hence all the pictures. :) Again, it's one of those experiences where you've seen pictures of it your whole life and then when you actually see it in person it is almost surreal. The Eiffel Tower was by far Jordan's favorite thing in Paris, and arguably his favorite thing he's seen since we've been in Europe.

To see more pictures of the Eiffel Tower, click here. I took quite a few. :)

Next, we made our way back over to the Louvre and attempted to tour it... which is totally intimidating since it is SO BIG! People honestly say that it would take a week to see the whole thing, and I believe it!! We basically picked a few main things we wanted to see and everything else along the way was a bonus. 

Here she is... the famous Mona Lisa. Everyone says how disappointing it is to actually see this painting in person because it is so much smaller than you'd expect. I hate to say it, but it's true. And they don't even let you get up close to it, which is kind of a bummer.

This just gives you a feel for how far away they make you stand from the painting, and how many people are constantly crowded around it. Seriously, most people come to the Louvre just to see this painting!

Another famous thing people come to see is this statue of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, also called the Venus de Milo.

Here is another view of one wing of the Louvre. Yes, that is just one wing. The area surrounding it is a really neat park with a lot of ponds and cute garden cafes. 

If you look in the background of this picture, you can see the Eiffel Tower poking out in the skyline.

We walked from the Louvre down the famous Champs Elyees Avenue, where all the high fashion shopping is, and it took us all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. This monument is dedicated to all the soldiers who died in a French battle back in the days of Napoleon. It is also a lot bigger than it looks in pictures, and it kind of made us realize that the French seem to like their big, tall monuments! :)

You can actually climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, but we opted out. We figured nothing probably compares to going to the top of the Eiffel Tower!

The next day, our last day in Paris, we visited Napolean's tomb and the War Museum in the morning. Not really my idea of fun, but Jordan liked it. :) This incredible building with the gold dome is where Napolean is buried. I have never seen such an ornate burial place!

From there we headed a little farther out of the city towards the Moulin Rouge. Again, this is the type of thing that is fairly anti-climatic when you see it, but oh well. I loved the movie Moulin Rouge, so it was fun to see where the original one is.

In that same area, there is a fun marketplace with food and a ton of street artists. It was a really neat area, and so great to walk around since it was probably 65 degrees that afternoon!

We also got to see the Sacre Coeur, which is a really unique church up on the hillside overlooking Paris near the marketplace. This church looked Spanish to me, and was unlike any I'd ever seen.

There was this crazy street performer down by the church who Jordan became completely obsessed with. He was doing unbelievable soccer tricks, and at one point climbed to the top of this light post with a soccer ball on his nose. Pretty nuts!

So that pretty much gives you the quick rundown of our Paris trip. To be totally honest, it wasn't our favorite city in the world. Don't get me wrong, we definitely had a great time, but we just weren't totally impressed. I know, it's a terrible thing to say. Who doesn't love Paris?! What is wrong with us? 

There were parts of it we really loved -- crepe stands on every corner, really cute buildings, amazing food, a LOT of big things to see, and pretty much the carb capital of the world. I love carbs... Jordan teases me and says I am a walking carb. :) But there were also a lot of things we didn't like -- everything seemed really dirty and stinky (especially the streets), everyone and their brother smokes, everything was outrageously expensive (we paid 3.80 euros for a bottle of Coke!), there were so many beggars and aggressive street salesmen, and not to mention the whole issue of the language barrier! Not speaking the language makes everything a little more difficult and shakes your confidence a little, although we were lucky enough to have a couple English-speaking waiters during our restaurant experiences. Overall, I think the city just got so hyped up to us beforehand to be this ultimate romantic destination; which, it was romantic, but nothing I would feel confident calling "the most romantic city in the world," as most people know it. I think going to Paris just made us realize how much we really do love and appreciate London! :) 

To see all of our pictures from Paris, click here.