London Vacation

Okay, so I haven't exactly been keeping up with my blog. Life has been crazy, to say the least. But I'm hoping to have a lot more time, at least for the next 3 months. I'll explain later.

Anyway, so last week I took a much needed break from the whole mommy-wife-gig, and flew across the Atlantic to visit my darling sister, Tracy in LONDON! It was fantastic!

I arrived late Saturday night, so pretty much all we did was struggle to haul my luggage (I brought 3 months worth, I'll explain later) through the airport, the train, and finally the streets of London until we arrived at her flat. Then we had a very late supper at this little Persian restaurant where they made fresh hummus and naan right in front of you. So good.

Sunday morning, Tracy thought it'd be a great idea to walk to church through Hyde Park. My feet disagreed. By the time we got in the neighborhood of the church, I had at least 7 blisters.


On Monday, we went with a group of her friends to the beach in Brighton. It was cold and rocky, but we still had a good time. We picnicked on the beach, browsed through the little shops in town, and cruised the pier.



We went to Windsor Castle on Tuesday, which was AMAZING. Apparently, it's where the Queen lives most of the time. I can see why. It's beautiful. We got to tour through a number of the state rooms, the Queen's Doll House and Portrait Collection, and St. George's Abbey, where Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and several others are buried. Charles and Camilla were also married there.

We also saw a few plays during the week, including Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and Les Miserables. They were all incredible, but I think my favorite was "Wicked." Maybe because I didn't know the story yet, so it was new and exciting to me. Not to say the others weren't fabulous, because they were.



On Thursday, we did the tourist thing. We visited Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery. Lots of walking. But all very cool.



So that's last week. I flew home to Sunnyvale on Friday, and was there long enough to get a few hours sleep before heading back to the airport, this time with Jared and Jason, for our move to JAPAN! (That's why I had 3 months worth of luggage in London.) We're supposed to be here for 3 months, but we'll see how things go. So we've been here a couple days. Jared's company got us an apartment here. It's small, but it'll do. It's about 600 square feet (and that's 2 bedrooms). But it has a washer (no dryer), a vacuum (no carpet), and something I'll bet none of you have - a heated toilet seat!