Finally! to London

Somehow we managed to live in Oxford for three months and never make it into London (other than to go to the airport!). So, the week before term started, we hopped on the Tube (that's a bus) and made our way over to the big city.

I would say you can't wait around for good weather in this country to see the sights- often it's wet and, being the wintertime, cold. But I often make fun of the rain over here. What I mean is, it's generally not raining so much as misting, drizzling, or some combination (think "mizzling"). Even though rain was forecast, I wasn't surprised or concerned.

But the weather was definitely not mizzling this particular Thursday- it was raining pretty steadily. We were determined to see some places, though, so we made our way through the wet streets to our first stop of the day (which happened to be Buckingham Palace).

There were a lot of people standing outside the Palace, and soon we were being shooed into certain spots for, well, we weren't sure what. Changing of the guard maybe? I seem to remember Rick Steves saying something about that happening at 11 a.m. 

Waiting for- something- in front of Buckingham Palace

Unfortunately, because of the weather and our particular location, this was all we saw:

Yep...that was pretty much it. The above video and Horse Guard you see below was all we really saw. An Australian couple standing nearby told us that had it not been raining so hard there would have been "trumpets and fanfare" for such an event. 

(Note to self: visit on day when not raining. Also, find new place to stand so as to see this.)

The Horse Guard 

Since the weather wasn't great, we opted for an indoor activity and made our way to the National Gallery in touristy Trafalgar Square. We rented an audio tour which took us around all their must-see paintings, and by the time we were done a few hours later it had [mostly] stopped raining. 

The rest of our day was spent walking around the city and then we finished with an evening concert. We saw the London Eye, a slow moving Ferris wheel with enclosed capsules that passengers can ride to get a view of the city; the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (well, I suppose we only heard Ben); had a snack at Covent Gardens while listening to a woman sing opera; and enjoyed a concert at St. Martin in the Fields Church

Overlooking Trafalgar Square from the steps of the National Gallery

Statue of George Washington on American soil (literally)

A performer at Covent Garden

View from inside the market

Trafalgar Square at night

Big Ben (which is the name of the bell, not the tower)

The London Eye (left) 

Brandon in front of the National Gallery 

Inside St. Martin in the Fields church (yes, there is a really weird glowing ball in the window)

National Gallery, left; St. Martin in the Fields, center

Second Cow College?

It'll be no surprise to you that we're excited Auburn University won the National Championship this year. (Brandon got up in the middle of the night to watch the game, and, at 5 a.m., woke me up to watch the very end.)

I was also really glad to see most of the name-calling come to an end. Facebook status updates featured people's thoughts about "$Cam Newton", but also oldies and goodies concerning the "cow college" -- a term associated with Auburn University since there are fields nearby with grazing cattle.  I have always wondered why people choose to use the term "cow college" as a put-down for Auburn.  I guess some associate local agriculture/farming with unintelligence? (Even though our friends the Sanders make it look easy to run a farm, there's no question it takes not only manpower but brain power.)

Well, I was in a local bookstore the other day checking out postcards when I  came across one of Christ Church, a particularly well-known college here at Oxford.  Upon further inspection I noticed something in front of the beautiful spires of the college...

We're continually proud of our association with cow colleges.

Germany- the Rundown

Happy 2011!
Yeah, I know, we're already pretty far into the new year. I have been a bad blogger, but hope to make up for it. New year, new resolutions, right?
All that said, we hope you've had a wonderful start to the new year. We enjoyed a great Christmas in Alabama and made it back to Oxford on New Years' Eve right in time for- bed. (Call us boring if you want- I call it jetlagged.)
We had a great time at home, packed full with seeing our families (including our sweet niece!!) and friends.

But I haven't even finished telling you about our trip to Germany! Because our six day trip turned to seven...

Our plan was to visit Wayne and Caryn in Berlin for 6 days before flying back to England. We've already posted a few blogs about visiting Luther's church and eating brats. All was fine and well until several inches of snow fell on England in the course of a few hours.

South London on Dec 19 - photo from the DailyMail

But it seemed as if Brandon and I were going to be OK- we weren't flying into Heathrow, but Stansted, a smaller airport outside of London. The whole week, even though flights were being cancelled left and right at other airports, Stansted was open. So when we were given the offer of riding along with the Fenwicks' to pick up their daughter (who was stuck in London on her way home from California), we said thanks but opted to stay in Germany. We had already paid for the bus from the airport to Oxford, and we would have to buy new tickets from London back to Oxford and lose the others. Plus, I was a little nervous about the twelve hour drive from Berlin to London. So we stayed.
(Was that a hefty bet? Yep. But this year is about learning- in lots of ways.)

We went to eat with Lara, their younger daughter, at a local American eatery. It was really great to hang out with her and hear how life looked as a teenager in Berlin.

A Berliner Pilsner at the '60s American restaurant

The next day, we got up at around 5 a.m. to pack and catch a train to the airport. As Brandon was getting ready, I checked to see that our flight was....

CANCELLED

Not good. We tried calling the airline, but only got recordings in German. Without many options, we took our stuff and went on to the airport. 

Upon arriving we confirmed that yes indeedy, the online information was right. (Not that we doubted it, but hey, one could hope). We were not getting on that particular flight... but could we get on another one? 

Not that day. RyanAir offered us a flight the next day to another airport- East Midlands- and we took it. As we trudged back to the Fenwicks' home in the snow, we prayed that our flight would go out the next day. We were supposed to fly back to Alabama on the 22nd, and if we weren't there for the flight and it was scheduled, we'd lose a good bit of money rescheduling the dates. 

Well long story short (or at least, shorter), we did make it back. It took trains, planes, and automobiles, but we arrived in Oxford on December 20th around 8 p.m. I've never been so glad to be on English soil. 

Please don't misunderstand- we did have a great time in Germany. Here- look!

This was in Potsdam...

Enjoying a new dessert...kind of like a healthier funnel cake

And more from Berlin...

 Checkpoint Charlie

In the Pergamon museum 

 Learning the underground...

 At Sachsenhausen, a former concentration camp site

The Berliner dome at night

Tea with our hosts and their new friends

Thanks again to Wayne, Caryn, Amey, and Lara for giving us such a warm welcome.