When Mom and Dad told us they were going on a mission, I set my mind to visit them-with or without David. By some miracle, I was able to book our trip to England! He literally had one week off of school-I watched the flights and we booked it. I was exhausted getting everything organized to go, major stress. Once we got on the plane the excitement started to settle in. The flight there was awful! We were jammed in a corner against the bathroom! When we got to England and walked to the bus station, we had just missed a bus to Warwick, so we waited at the airport for 2 hours, the bus was even running late. Then we hit rush hour traffic out of Heathrow, our 1.7 hour bus ride turned into 2.5 hours. I was so relieved to see Mom and Dad pick us up from the station. It was so nice to be home-home is wherever your mom is right?
We slept awesome and the next morning Mom and Dad arranged a little get away for us, we traveled to Burford to begin our electric bike tour of the Cotswalds. It was hands down my favorite part of this trip. Our guide took us 33 miles through the back roads of multiple little towns. It really felt like I was in a Jane Austen movie. We would make stops at churches and for food. Our guide Peter knew all the history of every little town.
Our bikes required little energy and got going pretty quick! It was mostly cloudy and only rained the last leg of our journey. The green rollin hills we beautiful in every way, truly like walking into a picture.
We ate dinner at the Mermaid in Buford and checked into the hotel. I made a point to try English food. I ate fish and chips a couple times. It was a little bland but delicious for the most part. David order the lamb.
This set him off on a bad night of the stomach bug-it was BAD! All night long. So, we hung out at the hotel until they kicked us out hoping David would feel better- but not so. Our day at a palace and Oxford changed and we headed back to Warwick. He felt bad but it worked out.
So with the remainder of our day, Mom took me to the town square where all the shops are, then we headed to Stratford Upon Avon, then the movies! We saw Shakespears home, ate a cornish pasty, walked the river Avon, and check out the theater. It turned into a lovely day with Mom and she did an excellent job driving on the left side of the road! The movie we saw "tolkein" took place in Oxford so I guess we didn't need to go there after all.
Swans are everywhere! Its just a normal thing in England
Dad liked staying home to watch over sick Davy. This is there little flat on the third floor, and this is Dad's favorite spot.
Sunday was stake conference. We were all very sleepy. It was in a theater at a local college and there were about 150 ish people. I was a little sad because I wanted to go to the branch-specifically primary, but it was nice to see Mom and Dad with all their friends at church.
After church we went on a county side drive to the Oldest standing LDS chapel. It's called Gadfield Elm. This is the spot where Wilford Woodruff baptized hundreds and also is one of the areas Gordon B. Hinckley served. It clearly is a special place for the church. The lock on the door made you answer certain questions about the gospel to receive the code-I almost failed but David and I got in. It is still used for special meetings and the land is used for church activities. Even the drive there was absolutely beautiful.
Mom and Dad have a small park right behind their flat and then a bigger one down the street. It was so green and beautiful! The trees were huge and flowers grow freely. They walk the park daily, how lovely. Mom also made us a delicious Sunday roast dinner and we played cards. At 9:30 I called it quits.
The next day we spent at Warwick Castle. It was very cool to be there-it truly is 1000 plus years old. We climbed every single step. I was a little nervous about getting claustrophobic inside those tight stair cases but I did all right. I did get a little freaked out in the dungeon looking at the tiny confinement
pit! Eek! There was an incredible falcon show and we saw knights and archers. I truly felt like I was in a King Arthur story.
We ate lunch at the conservatory. It's a lovely garden where peacocks run freely. They would NOT each any of my seeds or bread. However-they LOVED an old chocolate chip cookie on the ground.
On the walk home we decided to check out St. Mary's church which also is 1000 years old! At ten minutes to closing David talked us into climbing the tower-after that I decided I was done climbing towers for the day. The castle and the church are just a walk away from Mom and Dad's flat.
Before we left Warwick, we checkout out Mom and Dad's office, church building, and local grocery store. I just love how you get the same feeling in every church building you go in. I loaded up on crumpets and custard to take back at the grocery store.
I was sad to say goodbye to Mom and Dad. They got us all set up with the train into London and they themselves were off to a few weekend assignments.
We had a rough start at first trying to figure out the subway and walked a little bit to get to our hotel. We almost missed it! It was this tiny sign, we walked in and it was a dark small hallway. Up the stairs we finally found the lobby. Our room was tiny! These picture are literally the whole room. Out our window we looked into Kensington Garden. London was crowded, loud, and non stop. Quite the change from Warwick.
Hyde Park Peter Pan Statue, the park was Huge and beautiful-so beautiful.
It was rainy in London, David kindly let me have the umbrella.
Churchill War Rooms. It was easy to spend a long time down there, David loved it and I actually was the one who said let's go. It was very cool and we felt like we were in WWII.
Big Ben was under construction-too bad but oh well!
Westminster Abbey. It was stunning and fascinating. They don't let you take pictures inside because it's a church. This was a hallway outside. We were so pooped out after Westminster, I remember I told David I had to sit and eat. We found a fantastic Italian place and it was a nice break.
Les Mis. I was so tired but it was wonderful and so fun to see it with David.
I love the tower of London. We started the tour, our guide was hilarious, but I was tired and we walked around on our own. I kept looking everywhere for those famous Ravens, at the end of our time walking down a stair case I almost ran one over. Those things are big.
Tower bridge.
At Phantom in Her Royal Highness Theater-incredible!
Hyde Park Chapel, another special church history spot. It was very close to the Natural History Museum which was very cool-and free. We hauled through the museum but hit the important things.
Our subway got stalled on the way to changing of the guards, talk about claustaphobic-it was wall to wall people, but we at least walked past Buckingham in the rain.
Westminster
Kensington Palace, right by our hotel.
It was nice to hug our kiddos-that was the longest I had ever been away from them. Here they are enjoying crumpets. I was soooo tired. For five days after we got home, I would crash on the couch at 6 pm and be wide wake at 2am. It was a wonderful trip but London offically pooped me out. I remember feeling not well in London. Poor David didn't get much of a break, right back to work and school. He said to me "I need a vacation from my vacation". I would LOVE to back to Warwick and just hang out with Mom and Dad-that would require much substituting so we will see.
Incredilbe trip, it was so nice to go somewhere big with David. He is a wonderful travel buddy and always takes care of me. It feels like a dream now.
