london.

April 12, 2012

london.

Oh Europe, you were too good to us. I will do our Europe trip in three posts: London, Paris, and Rome- we have way too many pictures and too much to say to combine it into one.
**disclaimer: all pictures do not do anything we saw justice**
Our trip began on March 1 as we hopped on a plane from LAX and headed to London. We arrived at about 11:30am on March 2 due to the time change. No problem for the Santiagos! We went straight to our hotel to drop off our things and headed out to experience the city!
The Imperial War Museum was our first stop. It was interesting to be able to look at another country's perspective of the wars. Life size tanks and planes. So huge!

The Tate Museum. An old electrical building turned into Modern Museum. We had dinner on the top level with an amazing view of the The Thames River, Millenial Bridge, and St. Paul's Cathedral. This was my favorite meal of the whole trip- Pumpkin Ravioli stuffed with Butternut Squash with a Sage Creme Sauce. Yum! Michael got a steak with "chips" (french fries) and bone marrow! The highlight of the museum was being able to see Monet's Waterlilies. It is one of my favorite paintings and it was so cool to be able to see it in person. It's so big!

After the museum we took a stroll across the Thames River by way of the Millenial Bridge. That glowing building is St. Paul's Cathedral. The air was slightly misty and foggy making the building glow and absolutely breathtaking.

{oh hey}

Of course we had to visit our friend Big Ben. He's pretty tall.

Westminster Abby. Of couse I watched the Royal Wedding- such a cool experience to be in the cathedral where many of the Royal Family have been married.

St. Paul's Cathedral. Of course we walked to the top of the dome. I love the perspective you get from the top. This is where the Bird Lady in Marry Poppins sang "Feed the Birds." I sang it in my head.

{that's me}

{metro. tired/blistered feet}

The London Dungeon. Very bloody. A very interactive tour explaining stories like Jack the Ripper, torture, hangings, and other gross stuff of the like. Interesting though. I clung onto Mike's arm the whole time. It was dark and scary!

{funny poster in the metro station}

Fulham Futbol Game to see Michael's favorite player Clint Dempsey! "Come on Fulham, Come on Fulham!" My favorite chant. Oh and also the score was 5-0 so everyone started chanting "we want six!" and it sounded as if they were saying "We want sex." That was a favorite too. The stadium was built in 1905 and we got to sit in the original seats!

{it was pouring raain!}

Harrods. Largest department store I have ever seen in my life. This place was the epitome of a department store. Clothing, groceries, fine delicies, bakery, ice cream parlor, travel, stationary, restaurants, beauty, parfume... just to name a FEW of the departments. You could seriously get lost in there. We went to a little pizza restaurant inside where we had the best pizza! Interesting fact: on the bottom level there is a type of shrine to Princess Diana and her then boyfriend who was the owner of Harrods. There is also a piece of wood that is 30,000,000 years old- that's old.