I found a cheap flight to London, but to make my flight cheap I had to fly in on a Thursday evening and leave early Tuesday morning. I was afraid I would wear out my welcome. Kristin was worried I would be bored because she was only able to take Monday off, but not Friday. As it turned out, my Friday was wonderful. While Kristin and her husband Jeff went to work, I stayed at their house with their two small dogs Hank and Tucker. I am an animal lover, and I have been deprived of having a dog to love. Usually I was able to get my "dog fix" by visiting my brother or my parents... but as it is I haven't been around a dog in awhile. I was more than happy to have two dogs to pet and snuggle up with, and this comical pair were more than happy to oblige. At our house we do not have cable. We have the options of getting AFN (a military type cable) or a British run satellite which has English speaking programing (and some US shows). However, we've just never felt the need to get either of these. We don't necessarily watch that much TV, Josh has a large collection of movies/seasons of TV shows, and you can pretty much find any sort of TV show you could want online now-a-days. Kristin and Jeff have both AFN and satellite at their house. Stimulation overload!!! As I said, I would not consider myself a person who watches a lot of TV. However... on Friday I was more than happy to sit on the couch with the dogs and watch hours of TV. Very relaxing.
On Saturday Kristin took me to the village of Ely (pronounced Ee-lee). It is a small village which has an amazing cathedral. Kristin and Jeff had stumbled upon this place by accident once while trying to get home. As you are driving you can see the cathedral from a long ways off. You don't realize how big it is until you get into the village and up close to it. The village of Ely is small, and it's hard to believe such a small place is home to such a HUGE and impressive cathedral. It was interesting to see the difference in architecture and style of an English cathedral versus a German or Belgian cathedral. The inside of the cathedral has a beautiful rotunda which only goes upwards in one area of the ceiling. You don't realize from the outside that it does this, and it is a beautiful surprise.
After the cathedral, we had lunch in a pub (my first time in England, first time in an English pub). Kristin had the standard fish and chips, but I tried another pub staple of steak pie with chips (chips being fries). It was delicious! The strangest part of being the pub was being able to understand what everyone was saying around us, and being able to order food without any communication problems. I guess I've gotten used to having blinders up since I don't understand much of what is said around me, and I'm used to barely being able to communicate with staff at a restaurant or store. Suddenly it was a rush of human interaction and stimulation! I think talking with the bartender at the pub was my favorite part of our lunch.
Saturday was a beautiful sunny day (the whole weekend was great weather), and we celebrated this weather by having a BBQ. Kristin and Jeff live on base, so I was able to meet some of their friends who came over to hang out. Good food and fun times.
On Sunday Kristin and I went into London. We decided to go on Sunday because we thought there would be less crowds. To take the train from where Kristin lives into London takes just a little over an hour. From there, Kristin was my guide at navigating "the Tube" (London subway) to get us around. We wanted to cram as much into one day as possible, so we decided to do one of the open-top bus tours around the city. It was a great way to see a lot of the major sites, and I had a great vantage point of getting some pictures.
After completing our tour, we walked through a park to Buckingham Palace. I didn't realize the Palace is only open at certain times of the year for people to visit, and you must have a ticket to enter. Currently at Buckingham Palace they have Kate Middleton's wedding dress on display, which is (apparently) popular to see. Monday was the last day the Palace was going to be open for awhile, and all the tickets to get in were completely sold out. The line to get into the Palace stretched around the gates and down the block. No thank you! I'd rather just take my pictures of the outside and call it good. A few blocks down from Buckingham Palace is the private residence of Prince Charles. As we were walking by they were changing the guards at their residence, so we stopped to watch. I'm sure this ceremonial changing of the guards is less exciting than the one at Buckingham Palace (which only happens every few days... another thing we missed), but it was still neat to watch.
We took a break from the tourist track and spent some time shopping. I like to go shopping. Or, I like to go shopping for certain things like books, housewares, shoes, souvenirs, presents for other people, ect. However, I find clothes shopping to be a chore. More than a chore, I just generally dislike it. I think it's because I'm tall and have a hard time finding clothes that work with long limbs and hips and a booty. The last time I went clothes shopping was back in May with my cousin (before I left for Germany) and the only reason I went was because I had to get new jeans as I tore holes in my last two pairs of jeans (as in, the last two pairs I owned). I haven't found anywhere to go clothes shopping in Germany (which really hasn't bothered me in the least bit), and the last thing I want to do while on vacation in a new city is go shopping for clothes. But, I seemed to have struck it rich in London. Or maybe, London struck it rich with me. I discovered the heavenly world of Primark. Primark is a chain store in England which sells cheap clothing (it reminded me a lot of Old Navy... without the neon colors or glitter). We had a lot of fun shopping and each walked away with some treasures.
After our shopping we took a river cruise up the Thames (another great way to site-see), and then went to Piccadilly Circus. Piccadilly is like the Times Square of London. By this time it was dark outside and all of the lights were on. It was a site to see. There is still so many things in London I want to do and see. I really enjoyed my visit and can't wait to go back.
Kristin and I were both exhausted from our crazy one day trip in London. We agreed to sleep in Monday and take it easy. After lazing around and making a late breakfast, we went to Cambridge. Cambridge is not at all how I pictured it to be, but it is beautiful. All of the buildings are very close together (pretty much connected to one another) and hug the winding streets. There is a small canal (they call it a river, but I beg to differ) which makes its way through the city. There are over six colleges/universities in Cambridge. The campuses are closed to non-students, but from the outside they look beautiful. We wandered around Cambridge looking at the sites, and then did some more shopping. Apparently England does wonders for my wardrobe and wallet.
I only brought a small bag over to England with me. The airline I flew on only allows one carry on bag, and they are strict about what size and weight your bag is. Yes, I said weight. In the US I'm used to carry on size restrictions, but I've never had to worry about weight. I was worried about making these requirements (if your bag is too big or too heavy you have to pay to check it, and to check a bag at the airport on this airline is ridiculously expensive). I tried to pack my bag to go home with all of my new shopping treasures... and was sad to learn that it wouldn't all fit. Kristin offered to let me borrow a bag of hers, but then I would have to worry about how to get the bag back to her. Thank goodness we can ship things from one base address to another base address for free. So Kristin offered to box up my extra things and mail them to me. I'm a little embarrassed by the fact that I bought enough stuff that I had to ship it home rather than pack it. In my defense, my bag was REALLY small. Josh, thankfully, found this to be amusing. And again, in my defense, I am a sales/clearance shopping kind of gal and didn't spend as much money as you are probably thinking... I was under $60.
I really enjoyed my time in England. It was a lot of fun to see a good old friend, and I got to see a lot in a short amount of time. I didn't realize how much I was needing some time with a girlfriend until I got it. Kristin and her husband were great hosts, and as much as I can't wait to have a chance to return to England, I also can't wait for the chance to return the favor and have them come to Germany.
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