My Month in Europe: London Day Two

This was hands down my very favorite day of the entire trip!

Well, this day and our day in the Alps, of course :)

After the day before where we were introduced to London, I already felt myself falling in love with this place, but this day just made it official!

I spent the day with these lovely people...

...and they definitely were part of the reason it was just such an amazing day.

We all had the same list of things we wanted to see, but we really just wanted it to be a relaxed day that we could enjoy.

Because we were all so laid back, we were able to enjoy every part of the day, and we ended up seeing so much more of the city than we even anticipated.

Prepare for an overload of photos!

We started off at Buckingham Palace, which is beautiful!

Of course I had to throw a Euro in the fountain, even though it wasn't the Trevi in Rome :)

From there we knew we wanted to get to Big Ben next, but instead of consulting maps we just walked in that general direction and enjoyed what we came across!

We walked through St. James' Park, and it was so delightful!
It was the perfect fall day and that park is just gorgeous.
It was there that we got our first view of the London Eye.

I really loved the homes and the businesses around St. James' Park.

It reminded me so much of 101 Dalmatians, even though I haven't seen that since I was a little girl.

We found Big Ben, and we also found the perfect spot for a few cliche telephone booth photos :)

That one is quite possibly my favorite from the entire trip!

I love those people and I love that city!

The parliament building was huge!

We were all so surprised at just how massive it was, because you only ever see photos of the Big Ben tower.

We stopped to ask this police officer some questions about the parliament building, and we couldn't resist the opportunity to take a picture with him!

Just across the street from the House of Parliament is Westminster Abbey.

Unfortunately we were there too early so they weren't open for tours yet, but I did happen to snap one little photo of it!

From there we went into St. Margaret's Church at Westminster Abbey. 

It was so stunning inside!

We then walked around a little more and saw some of the things pictured below...

I snapped a photo of that gorgeous girl as we were riding a famous red double decker bus through town to the London Bridge!

It was a really cool way to see the city from on top of the bus, and it made me really notice the beautiful architecture of the buildings.

Riding across the London Bridge was rather anticlimactic, as it is just your typical bridge, but we did get a great view of the Tower Bridge which we were headed to next.

After getting off the bus we stumbled across this cute little market in the business district right on the water.

I bought this ring at that market from the sweetest woman.

I love having tokens like that from the most random places :)

We ate lunch outside in the business district and our view was this...

The Tower Bridge!

We tried endlessly to get a picture of all of us with the bridge in the background, but it just wasn't working out so I asked a very good looking businessman to take one for us.

I may have been hoping he'd ask for my number... :)

We walked across the Tower Bridge and over to the Tower of London, which was just absolutely stunning!

I would have loved to go inside and see more of it!

They had this ceramic poppy memorial set up to honor soldiers killed in the great war.

A really good article about it, which you can find if you click here, says, "Blood swept lands and seas of red is being installed at Tower of London. Each of the poppies represents a Commonwealth soldier killed in the Great War. 

It was a really amazing thing to see!

From there we got on a boat that took us back to the other side of the city where we started at.

While on the boat we passed under the famous bridge in the beginning of the seventh Harry Potter :)

Recognize it?!

At that point it was a lot of walking and train rides to get to Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station!

We were pretty tired, as you can tell...

Sorry Madi! :)

Platform 9 3/4 was fun and we got some cute pictures out of it!

The gift shop was even better, and I definitely had to keep from spending money on a lot of pointless Harry Potter souvenirs!

After that it was more train rides and walking to get to Abbey Lane!

We tried and failed miserably about five times to get a half-decent picture, but due to a ton of groups waiting and the traffic, we quickly gave up.

We ended the evening by trying to find the Aston Martin dealership on Kensington High Street, but we couldn't find it so we ended up just walking around.
That shopping district is every girls dream.

We were right outside of Hyde Park and near Notting Hill, where the movie is based off of!
That part of the city was absolutely gorgeous, and one day when I'm wealthy I think I may just need to own a home there :)

It was a beautiful and relaxing evening filled with a lot of beautiful cars, running into a BYU alumni, and really good food!

This day was truly a great day!

I fell head over heels in London, and since getting home I have had more than one day where I desperately just want to go back.

A piece of my heart will always be in London!

My Month in Europe: Stratford-upon-Avon and London, Day One

Our travel day to London was incredibly relaxing!

We had a rather long drive, but we broke it up by stopping at Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare is (allegedly) buried.

We walked around the town, saw some of the memorials, and went into the church where his burial site is.

We also had lunch at a place called Rose & Crown, where people have been dining since 1596.

I had the best garlic bread I've ever tasted in my life there!

After Stratford-upon-Avon, we drove another few hours to get into London!

I was already in heaven as we were driving into and around the city.

I won't lie when I say that London wasn't top on my list for the whole trip.

I was more excited for Switzerland and Italy, but London ended up being the highlight of the entire trip along with Switzerland.

That night we went to the Hyde Park LDS Visitor's Center where we spent some time with some of the missionaries, and we also had a business visit.

From there we checked into our hostel... which ended up being one of the worst experiences of the entire trip. More to come on that later... :)

The next day we had a City of London walking tour.

Our guide was Greg, and he does all of the P.R. for the City of London.

He was so knowledgeable and I really liked learning more about the city from his business perspective.

The architecture was so cool!

It was crazy to be walking around downtown along these beautiful cobblestone streets where the Vikings walked, with incredibly historical buildings sitting right inbetween these massive new-age business buildings. The first one pictured up there is "the egg," and the one after that is "the cheese grater."

It's been so fun to watch movies and shows such as Sherlock since getting home because I recognize so much of the city!

At one point we went inside the Parrish Church of St. Stephen Walbrook, which is this stunning round cathedral.

Inside there were three men setting up and rehearsing for a performance later that afternoon.

It was Benjamin Williamson and James Akers, Counter Tenor and Guitar.

Their rehearsing was beautiful! I couldn't help but sit and just listen for about ten mintues.

I wanted so badly to go back that afternoon for the performance, but at that point we were on the other side of the city.

I really loved stumbling upon different performers of all types throughout the whole trip.

Once I found out I was going I wanted to find some sort of performance, whether it be classical, ballet, or opera to attend while I was in Europe, but unfortunately I just couldn't work it out.

Thankfully though, I had my fair share of musical encounters, whether like the one above, or a simple (but absolutely amazing) street performer.

Later that afternoon we headed over to BBC for a business visit and tour.

Now, I've never watched Doctor Who, but I took the below picture for the benefit of my cousins who are crazy about it :)

I almost met Ed Sheeran right outside of this building!

We were waiting for our group to go in for the tour, and we had some time, so myself and a couple of people set out to find some gelato... I'm telling you, that stuff is so delicious and addicting.

As we were walking away we heard about 20 girls screaming so we looked back but obviously couldn't see that the whole commotion was about Ed Sheeran because they had swarmed him by that point.

I'd like to think if I'd have known it was him I would have quickly ran over and told him I'm quite possibly one of his biggest fans, but... I think gelato still may have won my attention :)

The unfortunate part is that we never did end up finding gelato.

Such is the life!

After BBC we had some time to do some shopping and grab dinner before heading off to see Wicked!

Lindsay, Madi, and I all spent way more than we should have shopping, and then we had a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant near BBC.

For dessert I ordered this delicious creation...

It was a pastry filled with mascarpone and raspberry filling, with a white chocolate and raspberry sauce on top.

Oh my it was so good, and was just a little taste of what I'd experience in France!

Finally we went to see Wicked!

I saw this on Broadway in New York in high school, so I was definitely excited to see it again.

Little did I know that it would be about a million times better than when I saw it in New York!

The woman who played Alfaba that night was the understudy, whose name is Emma Hatton.

At the risk of sounding like a crazy lady, by the end of Defying Gravity before intermission I was in tears because of her incredibly powerful and pitch perfect voice!

Afterwards we went out to the side of the theatre to see if we could meet Emma and Savannah Stevenson who played Glinda.

Savannah is a member of the church and in one of the single's wards, so we had a little connection there.

When I met Emma (above), I told her she had me in tears with her performance of Defying Gravity, and she said, "Oh, well I didn't mean to make you cry!"
She was so sweet and I'm quite glad that she was the one playing Alfaba that night!

Overall, it was an insanely long and busy day, but it was so much fun.
From walking the business district, to touring BBC and seeing Wicked, it was a great first day spent in London :)

My Month in Europe: Lake District, England

This day started off by attending church in Chorley right near the temple housing in Preston.

We went to the Chorley first ward and I loved it!

In Relief Society the sweetest little woman sat in front of us, named Audrey. 

She's almost 90 years old and is such a proper little firecracker! Audrey is a recent convert to the church and her son is the bishop of the ward.

We complimented her on her scarf and she immediately lit up and kept saying things like, "I just love pretty things!"

At one point she told us about the skirt she was wearing and said, "I went to adjust the waist of my skirt this morning and I wasn't sure if it was my skirt or a skin flap, so I just left it alone!" We all laughed so hard and she was just soaking it up. 

She kept telling us that she loved that we were smiling, happy, and "sparkling" girls.

She was just such a sweetheart!

My other favorite part of church were the men...

Let me tell you, European men know how to dress, and they definitely know how to dress for church.

Every single man was wearing a full suit, jacket and all.

It was so odd coming back to the states and seeing men wearing oversized white shirts without a jacket. I'd move to Europe just for the perk of the well-dressed men ;)

After church we headed right off to Lake District for the rest of the day.

It was beyond words how beautiful it was!

The first lake we stopped at was very obviously a wealthy vacation destination.

The shopping reminded me a little bit of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but still with that English charm.

The second lake we went to was where William Wordsworth lived a lot of his adult life.

Once I heard we were headed there I knew that I had to look to see if I could find something for my dad, who has quite the affinity for poetry. 

I spent the majority of my time in this district at the gift shop right next to Wordworth's home looking for the perfect gift.

I was lucky enough to stumble on a rare first edition copy of poetry that Wordworth collected and assembled as a gift for a "lady friend" painter that lived in the town. 

I couldn't wait to give it to my dad :)

I snuck away for a little bit of time alone walking through the grounds of Wordsworth's home, Dove Cottage, and around the lake.

It was so peaceful.

I loved the contrast between the busy touristy feel of the first lake we visited and the serene countryside of the second lake.

I would love to bring my parents back here and let them experience Lake District!

One day.

:)

My Month in Europe: English Countryside

After our walking tour of Preston (see previous post here) we headed out to the English countryside where we saw some quaint little towns. 

I had the hardest struggle wanting to sleep but so completely loving the views of the countryside.

It was just absolutely beautiful.

We started off in Ribchester where my dreams came true with the cutest little houses complete with flower baskets outside of every window. 

So perfect!

Ribchester was very small and it almost felt like taking a step back in time a few decades, complete with farms as far as the eye could see :)

We then ventured on through Green Hurst, where we drove past Stonyhurst college.

Guys, go google Stonyhurst college right now.

I literally thought we had stumbled upon one of the Queen of England's summer homes or something.

We even saw some rather good looking rugby players ;)

Imagine attending a University like that!

Next up was Downham, a village in the town of Lancashire.

Within minutes I decided I could easily retire there!

Just to the right of this little river is the famous tree that Elder Holland calls "his tree." 

I have searched endlessly to find the talk where he mentions it, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

If anyone knows what I'm referring to, I would love for you to send me a link!

I loved the quaint feel of Downham.

Every person or couple that walked by had a dog walking with them off of a leash, everyone said hello, the stores only took cash, and it was so incredibly quiet and calm.

I am so happy we were able to see some of the English countryside, and I know if I had gone to Europe on my own I never would have seen these places.

Thankfully we did, because those small towns quickly became my favorite.

After getting back on the bus to head back to the hotel, we were all out within seconds.

A war had started with people taking selfies with sleeping people, and this was the first one where I got caught :)

This may have been the winner of the whole trip, lucky Katy :)