Christmas Break Part 1: London, England
It was a magical trip all around. I knew there would be times when it would be a bit stressful, but overall, it was far more spectacular than I ever imagined!
Okay, so on the 12th of December, Laura Jacques, Katie Freeland and I started off walking toward the bus stop—one part of the journey we were very familiar with. From then on, it got a bit rougher. We took the bus to the train station and after a bit of trouble. and triple-checking we boarded our train to Pisa. Two hours and a short jaunt later, we found ourselves at the Pisa International Airport and burning up inside our many layers of clothing. Reason? We were flying Ryanair; the cheap-ticket-yet-you-pay-in-other-areas airline that requires that you bring only one piece of tiny hand luggage, or check your bag for 35 Euro at every flight. We chose hand luggage and therefore, were forced to wear multiple layers of clothing so that our bags would be the specified miniscule size.
So we stood in various lines for various amount of time to do various things and eventually we got on our flight. By this time we were quite hungry, but food on the flights costs a fortune as they have to make their money somehow, so we couldn’t do that. Therefore, once our 2-hour flight landed in London Stansted Airport, we could only think of getting food. But first there were more lines to stand in, more questions to answer, and more general food-prevention.
Thesis here: Flying is a hassle.
Once we got through everything, we found Laura’s family: the Fish. Aunt Jayne and Uncle Steven I believe,… although I could be wrong on that… Anyway, they immediately bought us Burger King! We wolfed everything down while trying to answer their polite questions in our own American accents and not copy theirs.
After a battle with the parking ticket machine which ate our ticket and asked us for twice as much money as it was supposed to, we were on our way to Watford, England.
It’s an adorable town. I liked it a lot. Our first morning there we accompanied the Fish to the grandparents house where we met both the grandparents, and the sons: James, who was older, and David, the younger one. (We were staying in their rooms, so they’d been booted to their grandparents’ house.) From there the whole lot of us walked into town and to church where we sang our first ENGLISH HYMNS. It’s amazing how your own language makes such simple things so Christmassy.
After church (they’re Anglican) we left the sanctuary for the room next door where they were serving coffee, tea, and biscuits. We were thrilled! After being introduced to several friends and devouring our coffees, James took us on a tour of the Harlequin (the local and decently impressive mall) and David and his parents went to…test pianos? Later we all met up at a very nice pub which I believe was called Moon Under the Water. James served us our first “proper English tea”, and once the entire family had arrived, we sat down to Christmas crackers and a dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, sprouts and Yorkshire Pudding. We silently but thoroughly observed the family as we had no idea how to correctly hold our utensils nor how manage our peas, because they eat with the fork in the left hand, and the knife in the right. It was rather hysterical actually, and though we managed to hide our laughter, more than once our peas fell back to the plate.
The next day we slept in a bit and went down to a wonderful breakfast of toast with Marmite. YUM! Then we headed back into town and found our way to the Harlequin. It was strangely refreshing to be in a mall full of English signs and we wandered from store to store for hours, finally purchasing hats and mittens at the H&M. Then, as the sun set, Laura found a place to pierce her ears, and I got a haircut. That night, back at the house, we decided to indulge our girlishness and watch The Holiday, so as to satisfy our Christmas Spirit.
The next morning, after another delicious breakfast of blackcurrant tea and Marmite on toast, James took us on our first tour of London, and thank goodness he was there, because otherwise we would have perished in the tourist death-trap that is the London Underground. He led us from one maze-like tube station to the next. We visited Kings Cross Terminal and stopped to eat lunch in a small pub overlooking the main square of Covant Garden. There we ate Cornish Pasties; a very delicious lunch, kind of like potpie in calzone form. Once our stomachs stopped giving us grief, we wandered into Green Park on our way to see Buckingham Palace. The place was gigantic and surrounded by large gates, but fewer guards than I expected. We took several pictures, and would have probably stayed a bit longer, but the biting wind was driving us on, so we quickly visited Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, the Prime minister’s house, saw the London Eye, Parliament buildings, Westminster Bridge, and the River Thames. Then we walked a bit and reached the London Tower and a wonderful view of the London Tower Bridge. As dusk fell and the already frigid wind got a bit colder we opted to end the evening in a Starbucks. All in all, a very successful day of touring London, even if we DID have to come back during rush hour. But the very end had not come yet, as we were invited that night to the grandparent’s house for yet another delicious Holiday dinner, complete with Christmas Crackers. After a more successful round of correct cutlery use, we played the boys at a game of scrabble and laughed the evening away.
Our second day of touring was much like the first. After a very late and Marmite-less breakfast we headed back into London and again to the West Cornwall Pasty shop. We shopped for a while in the Covant Garden Market, and then hopped the tube and visited St. Paul’s Cathedral. By this point, the promising day had decidedly turned bitter, and icy rain was pouring down, so we once again sought refuge in one of the many, admittedly large Starbucks in the London area. With such a dismal day, we did little else outside, and travelled back to Watford, again during rush hour. Back at the house we watched a bit of TV or “telly” if you will, and ate a hearty dinner consisting of lamb with mint sauce, Schloer to drink, and sticky toffee cake with custard for dessert. Quite a fine meal!
The next morning we woke exceptionally late, with the plan to head into town and to the Harlequin, followed by a nice tour of the local park, guided, of course, by James. Unfortunately, the weather did not permit our frolicking and every time we donned our jackets and mittens, the snow would rush threateningly down. This, the family thought quite ironic seeing as how we spent the few first days in Watford wishing for a White Christmas, and they spent them telling us that it doesn’t snow for Christmas in England. (We win.) So, instead we spent a lovely and relaxing day inside for the most part, although the warmth was interrupted for a bit when we went to visit Laura’s Auntie Adina and husband, Douglas. That night, as our last evening together, we played a bit of Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit, and found the boys geekily knowledgeable. Aunt Jayne kept throwing in her answers (It’s the dribbly one!), but in the end I somehow managed to squeak the win. Really, I don’t understand how. They knew EVERYTHING. Perhaps I’m just an extra lucky guesser… Whatever the case, it was a good evening which ended all too soon in our eyes. But early hours were required for departure, so we said our goodbyes to the boys and headed off to bed.
No shock, I’m sure, but morning came all too early and we found ourselves trekking along the snow-covered sidewalks to the closest tube station. From there we had to switch lines a couple of times which we weren’t prepared for, so thankfully the father was there to help us, and once we reached the train station, he also made sure we had our tickets and were able to find our platform. From there it was up to us.
It wasn’t a long journey to the airport, but being as bundled as we were (again) we found everything to be a bit overheated; the actual airport most of all. The lines were a pleasure as usual, but after a two hour delay, we finally found ourselves on the plane and flying off to Norway!!!
