Last week in London

After nearly 3 months, Bobby time in England is finally at a close. He flies home tonight, I can't wait to have him home! I'm sure our tandem bikes have also missed us. I am going to miss spending time in London, though. We've had a wonderful time exploring the city and eating all the lovely ethnic food that we can't get in Copenhagen. We did get to venture outside of the city. We visited our friends Nick and Clare in their home in the lovely southern town of Lewes.


 

Just north of University of Sussex, Lewes was only 1 1/2 hours from London via the train. Nick was kind enough to introduce us to his town. Lewes is in the middle of the South Downs, and there were many chalk cliffs in the area, like the one in this photo.









There is even a castle in Lewes! Built in 1069 by the First Earl of Surrey, the castle saw action during the 1264 Battle of Lewes. The battle was between the English barons and the royalists. The result of the battle eventually led to the confirmation of the magna carta!

Lewes also had some other lovely sights, including the 1839 Church of St. John sub Castro (quite a name, I know!).

Here, Bobby and Nick walk along one of the beautiful alleys near the castle.

Lewes is not a large town and is quite rural. We took a walk along one of the downs and were accompanied by many grazing sheep. These sheep had some crazy fleece, and many of the sheep were rubbing against trees and fences to rid themselves of the excess fleece. Luckily, none of them attacked us, even though Bobby was provoking them. You know Bobby, he just can't help himself.


It was an incredibly windy day, and the wind was all the more powerful going over the downs. Here, Nick and I attempt to fly away! We all had a lot of fun running and jumping into the wind. It felt like walking on the moon.

After our fun weekend with Nick and Clare, Bobby and I headed back to London. We arrived back on campus to find ourselves surrounded by hundreds (possibly even thousands) of Vespas! The Vespa World Days 2012 was taking place in London during that weekend, and all of the riders were staying at Queen Mary University with us. We saw riders who had ridden all the way from Austria, Germany, and Italy.

We did a few touristy things during our last weekend. We spent several hours in Harrod's, goggling over the caviar (some small bottles cost over 1000 pounds!), chocolate, cookware, and china. Somehow, we managed to leave the store without having spend a single pence. Now that is what I call self control.

I also went to the original Twinings tea store. I was expecting something more similar to a museum, but it was in fact just a store, selling the same tea you can find in the grocery store. The location was pretty fantastic, though. The store, opened in 1706, is right across the street from the Royal Courts of Justice.


Now that Bobby's time in London is over, we can start enjoying the Danish summer. That is, if the summer ever comes to Denmark...

Blog post by Bob

Blog Post by Bob

I saw this the other day and laughed out loud.

London with friends and Carla's trip to the States

Before you begin reading this post, I should warn you that it's not very good! During the entire three weeks in which the below events took place, our camera battery was on low. We were thus quite stingy with taking photos, and it's just no fun writing a long post without accompanying photos! Ok, you've been warned :)

Several weekends ago our good Danish friends Thomas and Thomas spent a long weekend with Bobby me in London. Our weekend was filled with lots of laughs, lots of walking, and lots of great food. Thomas and Thomas are quite the foodies (they have been to a number of Michelin-starred restaurants around Europe, including Copenhagen's two star restaurant Noma, which for the third year in a row has been voted the best restaurant in the world) and we always enjoy trying new restaurants with them. While in London, we enjoyed a 9-course dinner at The Ledbury, recently voted number 14 in the world and recipient of two Michelin stars. While the restaurant was pretty good, it wasn't the best meal any of us has had, which was a bit disappointing.

Another restaurant we tried was NOPI, which was pretty good. But, believe it or not, we also managed to do some sightseeing in between our meals! We went to London Towers, where the Beefeaters work and the royal jewels are housed.

And, of course, Tower Bridge.

We saw a lot more of London with Thomas and Thomas (or, as we like to call them, T&T), but in the interest of time/not boring you to death, I'll move on to the next trip. After our long weekend with T&T, I flew to Los Angeles, where I got to spend a few days with my Dad and the lovely Gloria (we ate lots of seafood and had a fun BBQ) before heading over to my Mom's. The reason I went to LA was for my Mom's graduation. She received her Master's in Public Administration and I am very, very proud of her! Here is the graduation girl with my brother and me.

After Mom's graduation ceremony, we enjoyed breakfast with my grandparents, Aunt Gwen (pictured here with Mom and me), Joseph, and Jordan. After breakfast, Mom and I were off to the airport!

In order to properly celebrate Mom's graduation, she and I took a girls' trip to the Hawai'ian island of Kaua'i. We had a great time there: we enjoyed plenty of Mai Tais,

beautiful sunsets,

stunning views

gorgeous tropical flowers and plants,

awesome natural wonders like this blowhole,

and wild chickens. Yep, chickens. They were everywhere.

After getting sun, fun, and family time in the States, I flew back to London, where Bobby and I, along with millions of others in the city, celebrated the Queen's Diamond (60th) Jubilee. If you squint really hard, you can see the Queen's blue hat in this photo!

At least the flyover was easier to see.

What trip to London would be complete without tea and scones?