Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! We hadn't really given very much thought to Thanksgiving, so we hadn't made any real plans. As the day went on, though, we realized we really missed being back home. We had such a comfortable routine that involved us seeing both my family and Chris' family.  So, late in the day we decided to put together as best we could. I had a late meeting and didn't get home till late, so it was on Chris to make a quick run to the store. We ended up with a mix of Swedish elements in our dinner. We had turkey meatballs, gravy, dressing (not cornbread, there was no time for cornbread baking), mashed potatoes and lingon berry sauce. It was all quite tasty. I think next year we'll plan to have our new European friends over.

Tourists

Our first full day in London were we out of the hotel by 8 AM and ready to go! It was like we had a checklist of all the iconic things associated with London and we were on a mission to check them all off. First on the list was Big Ben. For those of you who know the iconic line from National Lampoon's European Vacation, we couldn't wait to see this

Look kids, Big Ben, Parliment

We really just couldn't get enough of these landmarks. We spent at least an hour walking around. We couldn't help but notice that the actual government workers weren't exactly thrilled to be dealing with all the tourists, and trust me, there were a lot of tourists.

Across the street and river was the London Eye. We opted not to go up in it due to the size of the line and how that compared to our total time in London (2 days).

Back across the river and next to Parliment was West Minster Abby.  As we walked past I asked Chris if he wanted his picture in front of it. He said, "not really." I said he had to because one day he may be gone and this would be a picture I could look at remember our morning together.  He found it a bit unnerving that I was taking "in case you're dead" pictures, but that's just logical I say.

It was at this point we realized that Bukingham Palace wasn't too far away and off we went.  There was a really nice park along the way.

In the park in front of the palace there is this map. If you can make it out, there are gates around the palace that point in the geographical direction of lands that were once ruled by Britain. I think you'll notice there is one obvious country missing. There's the Australia Gate, South and West Africa Gate, and the Canada Gate.

When we got there, there was a sign saying that the changing of the guard was everyday at 11:30. It was about 11:15, so we were in luck.

Until an armed guard came out and said, "Not today." Oh well.

For lunch we headed to Picadilly Circus (more on food later).

This area felt very much like Times Square. The buildings aren't as tall, but the flashy aspect was similar. There were also a lot of American stores here. The most welcome to me was Starbucks. Although there is a coffee shop every which way you look in Sweden, none of them serve decaf, but Starbucks does! I'm happy to report that I got a salted caramel latte, mmmmm!

Chris' Birthday

While I was at ISIS Chris enjoyed his big day with more sightseeing around town.  We had been told to visit Christ Church as it was an inspiration for the look of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies.  I think you'll agree!

Can't you just see Harry and the gang walking down this hall all in whispers?

Especially the dinning hall!!  Surely all those pictures on the walls talk right?

All these crests could be colors and symbols of the different houses.  It's surprising how lucky we've been in our travels to see some Harry Potter trivia.

We actually saw a few sundials while we were in the UK.  There's all kinds of instructions like adding hours or subtracting due to the time of year.  I'm happy we have digitals now =)

At the end of the day, we ran through town to catch a train and head to Paddington Station in London!