A Foggy Day In London Town?

The Parentals & I in front of the Tower Bridge

A foggy day in London town? No, not really. It was more like Mr. Sun (Mr. Golden Sun) smiled down at the Chews. The weather was trying to make up for the last (miserable and wet) London adventure seven years ago. The weather was crystal clear blue skies with puffy marshmallow clouds. But when my parents leave Wednesday it's going to start pouring. Mother nature is looking out for the Chews!

We left at the butt crack of dawn on Wednesday to get to the Luton airport (an hour outside of London) The flight was painless (as it was only an hour long) Easyjet airways has a system where they have a first come, first serve policy. It was intense. The queues were pretty hefty--but luckily we were special, and had priority passes (where we passed the queues! SCORE!) When we got off the plane, waiting for our luggage I caught sight of the BEST thing ever. A little boy of three was wheeling a suitcase. Not just any suitcase. No, this was much more than a suitcase. It was a TARDIS case! It was the best thing my eyes have ever beheld (well, maybe with the exception of the Great Wall, oh and maybe James McAvoy). It was AWESOME. I was so tempted to snuff the little kid and make off with his tardis (except that would be a) horribly cruel and b) I would have to kneel to wheel that suitcase as it was made for little people. It wouldn't have been a clean get away).

We made our way to London and immediately went exploring (after a hearty Chinese lunch). My godfather, Charles' wife, Sai Pin was our incredibly able tour guide. She took us to the Thames (where Little Ben resides). Since it was such a gorgeous day we thought we might go to the London eye (the giant enclosed Ferris Wheel) but it was literally, £15.50 (what a laugh!) We obviously looked elsewhere. We instead went on a boat ride up (or maybe down?) the Thames River. A crew man of the boat told us that he was not a tour guide, but would try to give us a little taste of the history regarding the buildings along the Thames. For someone who claimed not to be a tour guide, he was pretty darn good. He was hilarious. We saw the remake of the Globe theatre, the London Tower, Tower Bridge, the gherkin (the financial rocket shaped building) and many others. We attempted the Westminster Abbey (where the G-dawg, Chaucer is buried in Poet's Corner) but it was too expensive. Instead, we sent my mom in (who managed to obtain an unused ticket) to take photos of the wondrous church. Unfortunately, photos were not permitted, so not being a religious person it was not worth the £12 to look at it myself. It was a glorious first day in London town.

London Eye with Pretty Clouds!

Little Ben

Westminster Abbey

The next day we went to Borough Market (an open market with a variety of stalls set up selling scrumptious food!) My dad was in heaven. It was quite an experience. We proceeded to walk by the Thames, seeing the ship Francis Drake sailed around the world in (It took him three years, and a crew of 80 on the teeniest boat ever. They must have slept on top of one another). We went into the Tate Modern (just the the gift shop!) and walked across the scariest bridge. It was made entirely of metal and does not seem stable (in fact, they had to close the bridge down when it was first open, because so many people were on it that it began to wobble and shake. Yikes!) My dad and I walked up the 582 stairs to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral (which took a ridiculous 35 years to build, but it was absolutely stunning) It was a bit of a hike! But it was breath-taking!

Saint Paul's Cathedral

Pops & I on top of the 582 steps!
Francis Drake's Ship!

Friday, we went to Primark (the target of the U.K.) and I was expecting to kneel down on my knees and kiss the ground. The prices were beyond reasonable and quite inexpensive (but for some reason I didn't go CRAZY, as I would at Target) We saw my godfather's office and ventured to Buckingham Palace (where we found a rogue beefeater!) The palace itself was nothing to write home about, but the gates guarding it were intricate and extremely interesting. Later that night after some GOOD Malaysian food, we went to go see the 39 Steps. If you have seen the Hitchcock movie, you know that it is far from a comedy, but the production was rip-roaringly hilarious. I loved it. If you can get tickets (in London or New York) I highly recommend it.

Buckingham Palace

Saturday we ventured to Stonehenge. They are definitely not just any ordinary stones, they are amazing and organized in such precision. What made it even better was the clear weather! Wicked stones!Stonehenge!

On Sunday we went to Oxford. Oxford was also beautiful. I saw Ashley (for a millisecond) and it was LOVELY! She's being worked to the bone. 700 pages of Middle English. Painful! After Oxford we ventured to Woodstock which is the Duke of Marlborough's massive estate. There we came across Chaucer Lane. Oh Chaucer.

Prettiness in Oxford

Well, that's how I feel about you, Geoffrey!

Well that pretty much wraps up the whirlwind adventure in London (where I did no work, boy, am I screwed) Overall, London is quite nice (especially the diversity!) but I would have been overwhelmed if I went there. Edinburgh remains more beautiful architecture wise. Hope you've all been swell!!!