Travel Tuesday: London

Something just occurred to me. As I was looking back at old pictures from the last few years of travel, I realized that I never blogged about two big trips from 2012: London and Budapest. How did that happen?!

It must have been on one of my blogging breaks, but I can't believe I never went back and wrote about either trip. What a shame. They were both awesome. 

So, in an effort to rectify that little misstep on my part, today's Travel Tuesday is brought to you by our trip to London in May of 2012. 

Our car had broken down just a week before the trip, and I remember very clearly the look I gave Dan when he told me we'd have to bike the five and half miles to CERN before hopping on the tram to the airport - with our luggage. 

Now, it was only for a few days, and we travel light, buuuuutttt....yeah. 

So we climbed on our bikes around 4:30 AM, in the pitch dark, with miner's lights on our helmets, and rode to CERN. We then hopped on the tram to the airport. It was a pain in the butt, but I was so proud of us for doing it. I felt very self-sufficient (and a little sweaty) as we waited in line for the plane.  

Once we got to London, we made our way to Hampstead where we were staying, and began a great four days in London. There was a bit of a heat wave going on, and I hadn't brought any shorts. Of course the majority of clothes I had brought with me were also black. I have to say, not my best packing. We did a lot of walking along the Thames, went to the Damien Hirst exhibit at the Tate, went to St. Paul's Cathedral, had brunch in Hampstead and went to The Heath. I finally went to Harrod's and had tea. This was also just before not only the Jubilee for the Queen, but also the summer Olympics, so London was very festive while we were there. We walked through a lot of parks, and saw Buckingham Palace as well. I climbed onto a lion at Trafalgar Square (they're bigger than I thought and it was way more difficult than I had planned on), and we ate our weight in fish and chips. A few beers, a few Pimm's, and some whoopie pies and burritos at Eat St. in King's Cross. It was a great trip.

I think it's time for another one. 

A la prochaine friends...

Honey 

London [re]bound Part II...

Following the excitement of Borough Market on Christmas Eve Day, we spent a lovely Christmas Day at my brother-in-law's house with his family. We spent the day lounging and had a big turkey dinner with stuffing and cranberry sauce and all the delicious fixins. The day after Christmas in England is Boxing Day, so the streets were overly crowded with shoppers trying to find Boxing Day Deals. We decided to skip the shopping crowds and head towards Hyde Park for the Christmas Market and Winter Wonderland.


[Entrance to Hyde Park.]





[Smug reindeer.]



[Scary fry!]





[Bavarian Village - London.]

After exploring the Bavarian Village a bit, we came upon a haunted house...


[Scary Christmas!]




[Working on plans to plunder the Christmas Market...]

And there were pretzels...





[He's right behind me, isn't he?]


[Homeboys.]



See this mug? I have been pining over mugs like this all winter season. The bigger Christmas markets give them out (with a 2€ or 2 poundish "deposit") for your drinks, and you can either return them for the deposit or take them home with you. I was so happy that they had these mugs at the market (and even happier to fill them with delicious warm beverages)!


[This ones for you Caos.]


We picked up a few really cute wooden ornaments at this little stand that reminded me of the ones we used to hang on our Hanukkah tree when I was little...




[Singing moose.]




[Roasted chestnuts.]

After getting our fill at the Christmas market we went looking for a pub to warm up in (there's only so much that outdoor space heaters can really do) before heading back to the house. The streets were crazy still with Boxing Day shoppers and because the Tube workers were on strike.




By the end of this day's adventure I had officially caught the cold that was hindering the Duggan household, so we unfortunately missed our planned sightseeing day on Monday. However, there will be many more trips to London to do sightseeing and exploring, and now I've got an idea of more places I want to see and things I want to do. Thanks to Jerry and family for being such wonderful hosts and making us feel so welcome in your home. Can't wait to come and visit youse again soon and get more hugs from my little nephew!