Loving London

Heavens, life is so busy!  School has started, I'm taking ten RN-BSN credits through the University of Utah, and I'm frantically struggling to get my life in order before I begin full-time work as a Labor and Delivery nurse in two and a half weeks.

Crazy as it all is, I am SO very glad that Talia and I escaped to Europe together.  I'm even more grateful that we revised our plans to see the Eras Tour in London when the concerts were cancelled in Vienna.  It was a bit of extra stress and some extra expense, but Talia's smiles are priceless.  We will cherish these memories forever.

So, getting there.  Thanks to Wizz-Air, we were able to get some cheap budget airline flights that went directly from Salzburg to London Luton airport.  Helmut graciously gave us a ride to the airport.  I'd forgotten how very close the airport is to Siezenheim!  Helmut took this picture of our plane from his balcony as we took off, along with the caption "Pfiat di"--local dialect that roughly translated, means God bless.

Before we left, Talia gave the Nittmanns a quick preview of her beautiful dress.  She sewed the entire thing herself without a pattern after ordering some fabric and beading online.  This girl never ceases to amaze me with her creativity and dedication!

This is the Evermore Willow dress that she modeled it after.  Beautifully done, Talia!

Arriving at Luton, we discovered that the airport is quite a long distance from London itself.  After riding a coach bus for over an hour, we finally made it into the city.  Hello Big Ben!  Meet the Wheelers.

Dorli and Helmut had suggested that we ride the boat ferry to Greenwich Village.  We had great views of all the important monuments as we chugged past along the Thames.  Fortunately neither London Bridge nor Tower bridge fell down as we slipped under.

This picture cracks me up because the architecture makes it look like you can press "play" on the photo.

By this point in our trip, Talia was quite done with me constantly taking pictures.

Once we made it to Greenwich Village, we were greeted by the Cutty Sark, one of the last British tea clippers.

Greenwich is this adorable maritime port town with lovely green spaces and plenty of cute shops.  Hungry, Talia and I were quite excited to try some traditional pie and mash (we passed on the eels.)

Afterward, we walked up the hill to the royal observatory where there are beautiful views of the city.

From here, you can even cross the Greenwich Line or International Prime Meridian, longitude 0° 0' 0".  All the time zones in the world are calculated from this very point.

Plus, we found a great market where Talia got these adorable mushroom earrings.

After Greenwich, we made our way to the AirBnb, or so we thought.  Turns out that London has multiple flats addressed 53 Woodstock Road.  This one was not it.

Never fear, a twenty minute double-decker bus ride and we made it to our actual apartment.  Whew!

 The next morningwe got up early so that Talia could take us on a fantastic run that she did last year while in London with her Uncle Ben.  We started at Notting Hill and ran through Kensington Gardens, pausing at the rose gardens.  

We admired the lion and unicorn at Queen Elizabeth Gate in Hyde Park, then continued on to Buckingham palace.

I spy a Beefeater!  What really amused me, however, was the stash of music stands in front of the palace gate.  Priorities.

Running through the streets of London early on a Saturday morning is glorious because you avoid all the crowds.  Here we have Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Houses of Parliament basically to ourselves.

Winston Churchill sends his regards.

I spy the London Eye.

A couple more shots, just because it's all so lovely.

Crossing the Millennium Footbridge.  Talia thought Tom Cruise had filmed a Mission Impossible scene here, but a quick fact check on the Internet suggests it was the Blackfriar bridge instead.  However, this in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Deatheaters do storm the city from this location.

London has much more cool modern architecture than I realized.

The Globe theater, visble in the left corner, is far more classic.  So fun to think of the history here!  Although perhaps it wasn't precisely in the same place--I found this plaque farther on commemorating the spot where the Globe theater stood back in Shakespeare's day.

At last we made it to our tasty destination: Borough Market.

We arrived just a few minutes before it opened at nine and indulged in jamón ibérico (in Brooklyn's honor), almond croissants, freshly squeezed lemonade, and a couple incredible donuts.

Running has never tasted more delicious!  Before heading home we continued on to Tower Bridge, then stopped off at Camden Market.

The cute shop owner told Talia this beautiful leather jacket would be free because her mother would buy it for her.  Guess he didn't know me too well...

But hey, I did take her to Europe to see Taylor Swift!  Here we are filling up on veggies and samosas before the concert.

I was going to post pictures of the Eras tour here, but it feels like the concert deserves a post of its own.  In the meantime, here's a sneak preview.

Like I said, the smiles are priceless.