Vikki's Visit

Friday, March 29, 2013

I am having trouble keeping up with this blog, having too much fun with our company. I don't know if I'll have time to write details about everything that we've done since Feb 19th, but I wanted to at least summarize Vikki's visit.

Erik and I went to pick her up at Heathrow airport. She arrived, out of customs a little before noon, and Erik took her suitcases back to the flat so she and I could begin our adventures. We each had purchased a 3 day London pass so wanted to see as many things as possible. We also wanted to keep her awake so she'd get used to the time change quicker. Here's what we did in the first 3 days:

Westminster Abbey, Thames River cruise, Fish and Chips in a pub, Tower bridge, Double decker bus ride to Trafalgar square, National Art gallery, Lunch and brass rubbings in St Martin in the Fields, Kensington Palace, High Tea in the Orangery at Hyde Park, (the boys went to the movie "Hitchcock" for free using our passes and we had Sarah James, a young adult church member from Wales, over for supper), Tower of London, St Paul's Cathedral, and All Hallow's church. Whew, we got our money's worth.

Saturday and Sunday the 5 of us went to York, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. York used to be Jørvik, settled by the Vikings and they were having a Viking Festival while we were there. It was awesome! Saw lots of medieval crafts and artisans and costumed Vikings and mock battles and real competitions too. York is a completely walled city and we got to walk on a bit of that wall too. We got to Edinburgh in time to find our hotel and eat at Nando's chicken-we all slept in the same room, a fun sleepover. Sure saved Vikki money and we had fun. Our hotel rate got us authentic Scottish breakfasts the next morning. I even tried the black pudding and haggis, not too bad mixed with eggs and toast. Erik loved it, of course!

Sunday we were surprised to wake up to snow covering the ground. It melted pretty quickly, but made the mountains pretty. I was so happy to see mountains and hills and grass. London is so flat and mostly all stone and concrete. We spent most of the day in the castle, which was so interesting and awesome!!! We ended up with a 9 hour train ride home instead of 4 and a half. There was a death on the tracks ahead of us and that stopped all the trains for about 2 hours. Then by the time, 1 a.m., we got to the tube, it was closed, so we stood in line for another hour or more waiting for tazis. We got home at 3 a.m., Vikki should get a refund on her ticket, but we haven't seen the money yet We still had fun, standing in the cold snowy night being silly.

Monday we went to the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and to Trafalgar square and St Martin in the Fields church for a free concert. We also saw the National Portrait gallery. We went to Covent Gardens and Harrods' and Piccadilly Market.

Tueady, Vikki and I headed off to Paris for the day. We enjoyed ourselves and saw Versailles, Nortre Dame (got to see the brand new bells they will install for the 850 anniversary celebration going on this year) and the Rodin Sculpture museum, and the Eiffel Tower (Vikki went to the first level with me, even tho she was freaked out, good for you Vikki!) We were proud of ourselves for figuring out the subway systems and finding what we wanted to see. It was a very long day, with lots of walking, but now we can say we've been to Paris! I bought macaroons in a McDonals McCafe! So inexpensive and so yummy!

Wednesday we did some shopping and Ryan, Vikki and I went to Matilda, the musical. It was very entertaining!

Thursday we all headed to Heathrow, and Vikki flew home, and we flew to Frankfurt, Germany to start another adventure.

Thanks so much for coming to visit, Vikki, it was awesome to be with you. You are so funny and have such great stories to tell. You also said lots of funny things while here. I was explaining how they pray for the queen and the royal family at Evensong in Westminster Abbey and you wondered why they don't pray for them during the odd numbered hymns! Erik asked you if you would try some Cornish game hen and you said, "yes, I'll try gamish hens!" You also wondered why i kept looking for a rotisserie in Paris (patisserie!) We love you!