Posts by ChelsieRae
Our last days in London, Shopping, Ethiopian Food
Yesterday we took two trains back to London and spent some time in the train station in Brussels. Don’t worry everyone…even though we didn’t stay in Brussels, we made sure to pick up some chocolate from there before returning to London. We arrived at St. Pancras train station around 1:30 in the afternoon and checked our luggage into the left luggage counter so we wouldn’t have to lug it around the city. What a great service. Only a few bucks and you can leave your baggage behind. Haha. Sorry my sense of humor is a little shot because of the cold I am coming down with.
We headed onto the Tube to do some shopping. Andrew missed the Hard Rock Cafe which he collects shirts from the first time we hit up London so we had to go back there. Plus there was some other shopping stops we wanted to make as well. After a few hours of shopping we went back to the train station to sit and watch people as well as collect our luggage. In the evening, we met Mickey at his new place so we could drop our luggage off. The new place is really nice (the old one was great too), but this one has a really open floor plan and a great view. Coco the cat seems to like it too as she is currently glued to the window intensely watching the birds fly by. She’s so cute.
After having a quick drink of water, we headed over to an Ethopian restaurant that Mickey has been wanting to try. We have never tried Ethiopian food so we were pretty excited. When the food comes they bring you a large round tray of this spongy thin pancake-like bread. They also give you additional pieces. The idea is for them to dump all the food into the middle of the tray and you pull off small pieces of the bread and scoop up the food with it. It’s very family-style dining. We had a lamb and a chicken dish as well as some delicious spinach. It’s like nothing we have ever tried before, but it was great. At the end of the dinner we ordered the coffee service where they bring out a small strongly-brewed pitcher of coffee and you drink it out of very small cups while eating popcorn. It was very strong, but a great traditional experience.
After dinner we walked around the area and saw some of the London canals. We were here for almost a week and we never even knew London had any canals. They were beautiful and quiet at night. Really peaceful. Then we headed back to get some rest.
This morning we are just taking our time packing up so we can head to the airport a little later. We did in fact need another luggage because of all the souvenirs we bought. Oh well, we tried. Mickey and Cheryl were nice enough to let us borrow one of theirs that they aren’t using so we were really lucky there. We will be home in no time and I will do one final blog post when we arrive. We miss you all and can’t wait for the sunny California weather as it’s been a little cold and rainy here. For the final time from Eurpoe…Au revior, Chelsie and Andrew
P.S. We have seen all the Facebook complaining about the heat in LA, but we still can’t wait. There’s nothing like Autumn in California eh?
Read MoreBig Eye Millenium Tate
Today was an incredible start to our London sightseeing. We began the day at Mickey’s favorite coffee shop called TomTom Coffee. Then we walked a few doors down to a great French bakery, Poilâne, where we got an amazing croissant. We were actually thinking about how good that croissant was for most of the morning. We will hopefully go back tomorrow for another. After that we set out and braved the subway or “The Tube” as they call it here. It was a little scary because I wasn’t sure that we were getting on the right train, but we hopped on, risked it, and everything was fine. As we walked out of the long tunnel that exits the tube, we caught our first view of the Thames River. Then we turned around and looked up and there was Big Ben, looking as majestic as you see in the movies. It was so beautiful. After snapping a few quick shots we moved on to the London Eye, the world tallest ferris wheel where we could see everything and where we kind of figured out how everything is oriented.
By this time we were getting hungry to we ate open-faced sandwiches at a french cafe, Le Pain Quotidien. Andrew had smoked chicken and I had crab and avocado. It was incredibly tasty, but the best part was the pear tart we shared at the end. Here in London, Mickey has a friend who works as a photographer and he suggested we go see an exhibit at the Tate Modern called “Exposed.” It deals with the voyeuristic aspects of photography and we both enjoyed it immensely. By the time we had seen the exhibit it was about 3:30 p.m. so we started heading back over the Millennium Bridge. Andrew has always wanted to go on this so he was very excited and took lots of pictures. We finished the day up with a trip to St. Paul’s cathedral and a walk in St. James’ Park before meeting Mickey and Cheryl for dinner at a restaurant Inn The Park. The food was good, except the rabbit terrine which Andrew didn’t care for, but ordered anyway to be adventurous. He said it tasted “organy” (i.e. like internal organs). Since our feet were aching, we took a quick (and a little crazy) taxi ride and now we are getting ready for bed so we can see lots more tomorrow. Au revior for now, Chelsie and Andrew
Chelsie with Big Ben in the background
In a pod on the London Eye
An amazing graffiti area. We did a whole mini photoshoot here becuse the colors are so vibrant.
Waiting outside the “Exposed†exhibit. I guess I’m being exposed in this one :)
Millennium footbridge
The infamous red phone booth with Andrew making a cell call.
Best Flight Ever!
We got off to a slightly (very slightly) rocky start with the delay and a gate change, but after that is was smooth sailing all the way. What a great flight! The least amount of turbulence we have ever experienced and, get this, I (Chelsie) slept 7 hours. Can you believe that? Andrew also slept a good chunk of the time too. When we arrived, we had dinner with Mickey and Cheryl at a great restaurant close to their flat and had sweetbreads for a starter. Sweetbreads are the thymus or glands in the neck of the calf. They were delicious and Mickey perfectly described them as pork shops with the texture of blubbery chicken nuggets. Andrew also had duck and I had cod. Both pretty good. After dinner we visited a private park that is only accessible to people who live on Mickey and Cheryl’s square. It’s great because once you are inside the gate you feel like you’re not in the city at all. I was supposed to post this right after we got back from dinner, but I fell asleep with the laptop on my lap. Looks like so far we are adjusting to the time difference beautifully. We awoke this morning at 6:00 a.m. ready to see London. Au revior for now, Chelsie and Andrew
Chelsie snoozing away on the airplane
Bikes you can rent for free in the neighborhood
Chelsie, Cheryl, and Mickey walking to dinner
The restaurant we ate at (oops, Chelsie's out of focus...you get the idea though)
Flight Delay and Other Airport Fun
So here we are at LAX. Our flight is delayed for about an hour so now our 5 hour airport stint just turned into a 6 hour airport stint. Still not too bad though because we got upgraded to premium seats with our own charging stations. Andrew is really excited about that. I think they also give you socks. Who knew fresh fluffy socks would sound so good at this point. Everything else looks good. Lots of friendly Brits in the airport and we already ate dinner. It’s fun to people watch. Hopefully tomorrow we will have something more interesting to share with you all.
