2012 ended just as perfectly as it began, with Sam and I being together! We woke up at 5:00 am on New Years Eve to catch a flight from Aarhus back to Stansted. We had lunch in the airport, headed to our car and drove to Epping. Epping is a town on the outskirts of London that has a tube station which runs all the way to central London. Sam and I found a long queue (that's how the British people say line) at the tube station and after about five minutes we realized it wasn't a line we needed to be in, so we forged ahead and were able to get onto the train. It was so relaxing, for me, to get onto the tube without having to deal with a little black dog. I didn't have to talk to strangers or try and hold the squirming dog still on my lap. I asked Sam if that is how parents of real children felt when they had time alone. We arrived to Rachel and Josh's flat at about 2:00pm. I think Rachel is really glad that we can navigate from the tube station to their flat on our own now! We hung out at their flat, got some coffee at Costa's, and I was able to shower before their friends came over at 7.
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| On the tube...dog free! |
Rachel made delicious appetizers and their friends (I am not going to attempt a name spelling, but the husband's name is Daniel) from Islington came over. Their friends are from New Zealand and they were a lot of fun to get to know. We headed to a pub near the firework show around 8:00pm and it was great to hang out somewhere warm and have a bathroom before it was time to watch the big firework display. We walked to Lambeth Bridge to watch the fireworks. We got their around eleven, established our spot and entertained ourselves with picture taking and blowing our horns. We weren't right under the firework display but we could still see Big Ben and the London Eye. The firework show was ten minutes long and it was amazing! The best part is that the crowd left pretty quickly and we got pictures with The Eye in the background and we didn't have any trouble getting back to Rachel and Josh's flat, unlike some of our friends in London who spent three hours on the tube and didn't make it back to their hotel until 4am!
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| The Horns |
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| The girls |
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| Big Ben and The Eye |
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| Fireworks |
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| Fireworks and The Eye |
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| Fireworks and The Eye |
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| The Eye and all the boats |
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| Happy 2013 |
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| Big Ben, The Eye and all the firework smoke |
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| At the pub before heading to the firework show |
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| We went to Poundland a bit late and couldn't find New Years hats so we got Happy Birthday hats, Josh tore the Happy Birthday off his hat but Sam left his on. Random people told him Happy Birthday at midnight, we sang to him and a random guy from India came up to him and asked to get a picture with him...so I am pretty sure there is a picture of Sam in this hat on some random guy's facebook. |
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| Its like being in New York except with Big Ben and the London Eye |
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| Does it look like we had been up since 5 am and traveling all day? I am glad we made it to midnight! |
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| Fireworks |
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| Fireworks |
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| More Fireworks |
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| Even More Fireworks |
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| I could never get tired of this view |
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| Fun fact- Sam and I have been together on New Years Eve and given each other the midnight kiss for the past 6 years. We can't say that we have been together on every single holiday for the duration of our relationship thus far and we probably wont be together for every holiday in the future due to the nature of Sam's work, but for now we pride ourselves in always being together on New Years Eve! (P.S. If you screw up our track record AF, I will write a strongly worded letter to you...) |
We spent out first day of 2013 sleeping in and exploring London, after a late lunch of course. We headed to an art museum on a beautiful sunny day. The art museum had a visiting rain exhibit, where it was raining inside but as you walked through it the rain stopped around you and you didn't get wet! Sounds neat and it was free! However, we waited in a queue for one hour. As Rachel put it, we waited one hour, on a sunny day in England, to see rain. I guess it just didn't feel right to see sun in London, so we had to find rain. However, I did not stay dry....I got very wet. I think there were too many people in the exhibit, so it wasn't working properly and it was hard to get pictures. We left the museum and headed on a walk around central London. There was even a service going on at St. Paul Cathedral so we were able to go inside for free (it normally costs about 15 pounds)! Then we had beers and dinner at a pub called, well we cant remember the exact name, but it had Cock in it. They sure like that word here, there is a pub near Chippenham called the Cock, The Famous Cock Pub in London, and a tube station in London called Cock fosters. Anyway, I digress, Sam and I headed home after our dinner and arrived back to our humble abode at 9:00pm. We facetimed with my sister and brother-in-law and then headed to bed to try and recover from all our adventures!
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| Sam pretending to be a redneck tourist and Josh pick pocketing him |
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| Rain Room...with too many people |
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| Its raining...its pouring |
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| Its Raining inside |
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| I'm getting very wet...your not suppose to get wet! |
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| Rachel and Josh playing in the rain |
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| Josh, Rachel and I with water all around us but not getting wet |
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| Rachel and Josh...they look dry but they are in the middle of rain...crazy! |
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| Rain! |
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| Sam and I in the rain |
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| St. Paul |
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| St. Paul |
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| Christmas Tree at St. Paul |
We spent this past weekend trying to catch up on rest. An electrician came and fixed our socket so our dryer was finally working, yay! However, I had about 12 loads of laundry to do...boo! Sam took down the Christmas lights on our roof and vacuumed. I worked on taking down both trees and all the decorations inside...what a job! After everything was cleaned up we rearranged our living room and so far I am loving it! I even talked Sam into buying an area rug...finally! Now I am working on a coffee table and new kitchen table that I found and like...we will see, hopefully we will purchase both before we move....Rome wasn't built in a day you know! We had planned to go see a castle out in Ipswich, but Sam was sick so I played nurse to him instead and we had a lazy Sunday. We are currently dog sitting for a couple in our Bible study who are back in the states for two months. So far it is going pretty well! Next weekend we will be celebrating Sam's 26th Birthday with our favorite city folk joining us in the country again, it should be a great time, I cant wait!
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| Meet India, the dog we are watching |
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| Tea for two...Sam and I's tradition every Saturday at La Houge Farm Shop and Cafe |
Thanks for reading! If my blog hasn't made you really want to come explore England yet...well then I am doing something wrong...what are you waiting for? Come on over! I am especially looking for visitor's in March or April...can I hear a Spring Break trip anyone? I could use the company while Sam is gone!
Love,
Amanda
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