Trip to London

For the past few months, I've had a burning desire to go to England and see the English countryside. I've seen it in all the movies... from the older settings like in Pride and Prejudice to newer ones like Harry Potter... and have since had an increasing urge to go and see all its beauty for myself. I took a trip to London in 2005 with my family, but through all the media, I have realized there is much more to England than just the big city.

All that being said, I took a short trip to England last weekend, Thursday through Sunday, and was finally able to encounter the incredible English countryside I've been longing to see. I actually flew into London Thursday evening and spent the night with my sister's old roommate from college (Andrea), her husband (Dave), and their adorable ten month old baby (Georgia). We spent the evening chatting and catching up after not seeing each other for what we worked out to be possibly four whole years.

The next morning I got to sleep in (first time in awhile to do that!!) before Dave, Andrea, Georgia and I headed out to eat lunch/afternoon tea at the Orangery. The Orangery is a place my family visited on our first trip to London and has remained one of my top favorite places to eat ever since, so you can imagine my excitement to finally be able to return after six years. It's a gorgeous restaurant on the grounds of Kensington Palace, with a beautiful view of the gardens from the sunny and elegant tea room. We ordered the traditional orange tea with a three-tiered platter of tea sandwiches, scones, and bite sized desserts. It was really filling and really delicious. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal together, but I definitely learned a thing or two about taking ten month old out to eat when Georgia started picking up everything on the table and throwing it on the tile floor and then squealing through the echoing room (mind you this is English tea where everything is proper). Needless to say, Dave and Andrea took turns outside with Georgia while the other finished eating.

After eating our delicious meal, we wandered around the gardens a bit before Andrea and Dave headed back to the house for Georgia's nap. And then began my walking tour of London.

Since I'd already toured London before, I didn't really feel the need to go in anything again, but I most certainly wanted some good pictures of the city. So I figured I'd walk. I got off the tube stop around Oxford Circus around 2 pm, and didn't get back on the tube until 11:30 that evening. In the meantime, I saw Picadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery (which I walked around in for about an hour), the Thames River and the bridges going over it, the London Eye (twice), Parliament and Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the Mall, and then everything again for a second time so that I could take some pictures at sunset. I ended my foot tour around 9:00 at a yummy sandwich shop in Trafalfar Square called Pret. As I sat on the curb eating my sandwich and completely exhausted from all the walking, I noticed a bunch of young people my age hanging out outside a pub across the street. Naturally I had to go over and join them :)

I actually ended up meeting a group of graduates from Cambridge who were all meeting up that night as a sort of "reunion" and had some really great conversations with them. I got to know a lot more about English people, although they ensured me that talking to a group of Cambridge graduates would not give me an accurate impression of true English people...

My night ended swiftly when I realized I only had ten minutes to figure out where the tube station was so that I could get it before it stopped running for the night and still make the train back to Dave and Andrea's. For once in my life, I made it... right on time :)

The next morning Andrea and Dave and I set out to Portobello Market in Notting Hill to check out a different side of London. The market was absolutely packed... barely any room to walk or breathe... but there was a ton of cool antique stuff for sale as well as newer creations of local artisans. The best part was the location, right in the heart of one of the trendiest and most picturesque areas of London, complete with pastel colored houses and posh ritzy dwellings.

I had to make another run for it to catch my train again, so unfortunately my last few moments with Andrea and Dave and cute little Georgia were cut short. At least we had time to get some frozen yogurt before I left though... something I have dearly missed! We said some quick goodbyes as we ran through the train station and then I hopped on my train right as the doors were closing.

I'll never learn ;-)

I enjoyed the relaxing next two hours as I alternated between sleeping and staring out the window at that amazing countryside. I was on my way to Nottingham... that's right - Robin Hood's territory. Nottingham was my original destination when I was coming to England, but London was just a nice little side stop along the way. Before planning the trip, I contacted Steve Holmes and his wife Lynn to see if I could stay with them for a night and see a bit more of their country. If you remember, Steve Holmes was the entrepreneur that came to teach us about business a few weeks ago, and he and Lynn were more than happy to have me over.

They picked me up from the train station in the afternoon. I didn't have a clue what the plan was for the day, but I figured I'd just go with whatever and enjoy being where I was. We spent the next three hours or so just driving. And it was perfect. :) They took me all over Derbyshire where we were and pointed out all their favorite places and towns, even stopping to let me get out and take pictures every now and then. Oh and did I mention we were driving in a BMW convertible with the top down? It was pretty much awesome.

One of the places we visited was a very famous estate called the Chatsworth. The Chatsworth House has served as the setting for multiple movies including Pride and Prejudice and The Duchess, both starring Keira Knightley. It was pretty thrilling to get to actually be in one of the places I've seen in so many amazing movies! We didn't go inside or anything, but just seeing it from the outside was spectacular. It is massive and beautiful, and I can only hope to be able to take a trip back someday to see a little more.

Steve and Lynn also took me through their town and showed me some of the offices Steve had talked about in class while he was teaching us. It was really neat to get to see the actual organization that had once just been a dream on Steve's heart and a promise from God, right there built and functioning in Alfreton, England. They also stopped by the Hall that Steve owns which serves as a popular wedding venue. Since it was Saturday night, there was a wedding going on and I got to enjoy observing the bride and groom and wedding celebrations. And we just may have stolen a little ice cream on our way through ;-)

On our way home we stopped at a cute and inviting cottage-looking pub that was even cozier on the inside. I ordered an ale and couldn't have imagined a more perfect English experience.

After the pub, we went back home to get ready to go to a concert that evening. We dawdled a little too long and didn't leave ourselves quite enough time to eat dinner at the Fish and Chips place they wanted to take me to, so we settled on a chain fish and chips place called George's. As you probably know, I'm not much of a fish lover, but how can someone go to England and not have fish and chips? So I decided to try it anyways. And it was delicious. :) By the time we got to the concert, heaps of people were walking out, opposite from the direction of the concert venue. We had missed it, but no worries... there were plenty of pubs to offer a fun rest of the evening. We found one somewhere along the road (really not hard to do in England... they're kind of like Starbucks, on every corner) and went in for another drink. It was nice to stay inside out of the cold, but we relocated outside when we heard Elvis songs coming from a stage out there.

A man about seventy years old stood on stage performing all the Elvis classics, songs, dance moves, and everything. We couldn't believe it. We found him... the original Elvis. This whole time we had all thought he was dead, but really he was just hiding out in Derbyshire, England.

Before going to bed that night, we watched the movie The Duchess since it seemed relevant to our day. It was a beautiful movie and lots of fun seeing Chatsworth in a cinematic production.

The next morning Steve and Lynn's son Josh picked me up for church and we headed to the Arena Church where the Holmes attend. It was nice to attend a church service in English without any other language or translation, so I soaked up all the wisdom and worship I could while I was there. I also was really encouraged to see a movement going on in England, a place that has turned so dry, as the rest of Europe, over the past few decades.

After church, Steve and Lynn wanted to take me for a traditional Sunday English meal, which I should warn you really means tons and tons of food! We ate at a buffet that offered three different kinds of roast and meat, potatoes, carrots, beets, gravy, Yorkshire pudding, and loads of other foods I can't even remember. I pretty much felt like I was eating a Thanksgiving feast, and it was that delicious. Words cannot describe my fullness when I was done... but man is that English food tasty! Definitely not food you would want to eat in Phoenix or Spain though... much too heavy and filling for a hot summer's day!

Before heading to the airport, Steve and Lynn showed me around to a couple more places in the area so I could get a few more pictures. We took one more cruise with the convertible top down, and said goodbye when they dropped me off at the airport to hop on my plane back to Spain.

It was a short whirlwind of a trip, but it was just enough to let me see the beauty of England and make me want to go back again soon!

The Holmes' cute English house