I See London, I See Bath, I Saw Livvie's Underpants!

One of the coolest things about living in Europe is being able to jet to another country to visit relatives. After my trip to see the Boman's in Sweden, I thought it would be a blast to travel to London to visit my cousin Liz, her husband Sanjay, and their sweet daughter Olivia. The Aggarwal's graciously opened their "flat" to me, and I had a great time exploring London again (with a day trip to Bath, of course).

I arrived in London on Tuesday, June 23 in the evening, and made my way to Liz and Sanjay's apartment in North Greenwich. My first excitement: being able to understand EVERYTHING that was being said around me! How fun!

Wednesday morning, Liz, Olivia, and I ventured out into the city for my first day of sightseeing. Although I had been to London a number of times while living in Bath (most notably for a MoPo Politics tour with Dr. Leslie Mitchell (sigh!) and a Jack the Ripper tour with Mark, ending with an overnight in the Victoria Bus Station), there was still plenty that I wanted to see. However, with an almost-two year old, sight seeing can be a bit difficult, so we approached the day without a great deal of plans. But Livvie was a total rock-star and lasted the entire day, without a nap, and in an excellent mood! After an incorrect bus, we made our way to the neighborhood of Notting Hill, setting for one of my favorite movies. After wandering around the neighborhood and seeing many houses with blue doors, but no Hugh Grant, we made our way to Harrod's Department Store where I had to pick up a very special box of tea for a very special Gettysburg professor. After a quick lunch, we made our way to the National Gallery to see some of the amazing paintings and then on our way back to the apartment took a couple pictures of Big Ben and Parliament.

(Big Ben)

(Livvie playing in the park across from Liz and Sanjay's flat)

After a quick play in the park with some of Olivia's friends, and a delicious dinner of quesadilla's, we hit the hay. On Wednesday, I got up early to head to Bath for a day. For almost four months in the fall of 2006, I called Bath my home and I was sooo excited to be going back. Once there, I first stopped at Nelson House to visit Claire and Su in the office, catch up on life, and wander through the building again. Then Andy and I went out for lunch at O'Neil's (Irish pub where we spent part of last night in Bath). After finishing off a pint of Stella, I wandered up to 29 North Hampton Street, and, since I am a proud creeper, knocked on the door and asked if I could look around. The kid who answered responded with a bored, "Sure, but don't steal anything" before going back to his computer. (Side note: When I was part of ASE, we didn't have internet access in the houses. While I am sure we complained about it a lot, I'm glad we didn't because I don't think I would have gotten to know my housemates as well, otherwise. And certainly not as much time would have been spent at the Kitchen Table.) In the kitchen of 29NH, I met a fellow, friendly Gettysburger who filled me in on life in Bath in the summer. He currently lives in Bath and will be going back to Gettysburg for his senior year...I was pretty jealous :) I spent the rest of the day re-exploring the city, having a Benacinno at the infamous Ben's Cookies, listening to the music in the square by the Abbey, and thoroughly enjoying the day. My day in Bath was fabulous, but it will never be the same without my Bath lovers: Byn, Schreink, Theo, and Xtina.

(Bath Abbey)

(Pulteney Bridge)

On Friday, I had the whole day to explore London on my own, so I headed out early in order to maximize my tourist time. First stop, Westminster Abbey. I don't know how I missed this every other time I went to London, but it was fabulous...and gorgeous. Although tons of famous people are either buried here or have memorials, my hands-down favorite was seeing the memorial for Lewis Caroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, my favorite book.

(Westminster Abbey)

After spending some time in the Abbey, I moved on to Soutwark where I visited the cathedral and ate at the fabulous Borrough Market. After a bit of searching, I found where the original Globe Theater was located before it burned down, and then found the new theater. Next door to the theater was the Tate Modern, although I had seen it before, it is one of my favorite art museums, so I popped in for a bit to see the exhibits. Definitely worth it! After the Tate, I crossed the Milennium Bridge to stop by St. Paul's Cathedral. Although Baroque is not my favorite church-style, it was still pretty cool to see. Especially going to the top of the dome and looking down on the inside of the cathedral. The view from the top was pretty awesome too.

(St. Paul's Cathedral)

(View from the top of St. Paul's--Millenium Bridge and the Tate Modern)

Next, I made my way to the National Portrait Gallery. Honestly, when I read about it the last time I was in London, I thought it sounded lame...who wants to go to a museum of just portraits, those are always my least favorite part of other art museums. But Liz said her parents loved it, so I decided to give it a try. And they were right, it was incredibly fascinating. The portraits ranged from the cast of Harry Potter to Princess Di, and there was a whole section on the Tudors, which was pretty interesting since I recently read The Other Boleyn Girl. I would definitely recommend the museum to any visiting London.

After a completely exhausting day of touristing, I headed back to home-base where I had dinner with Liz and Sanjay, and then headed out for drinks and a movie with Liz and her friends. All-in-all, a perfect end to a fabulous trip! After about two hours of sleep, I had to get up to start my looong travel back to Gatwick Airport where I caught my flight back to Berlin. Working on only a few hours of sleep, I had a Berlin weekend planned, but that is for the next post!