London: In Pictures

A summary of our time in London through the lens of a camera.

London Bridge

 St. Dunstan in the East

 

Tate Modern

 

St. Paul's Cathedral 

Churchill War Rooms

Parliament

Big Ben

Les Misérables

British Museum and British Library

And all the random things in between...

First thing to do in London: Get outta there

We left Oxford on Saturday afternoon for London. By God's good providence (and I'm giving Him all the credit) I chose Sunday as our day to visit Stonehenge and Bath. I say that because, upon arriving at our hotel, we found out the London marathon would be happening the next day. Good timing. Had we been in London that day, we would have seen nothing but runners. (Which is cool- but not when you only have three days to spend there!)

So, we left early Sunday morning from Paddington Station to Bath.

Upon arriving, we headed straight to the Scarper tours purple bus that was waiting to take us to Stonehenge.

 

The countryside is covered with bright yellow fields right now. Apparently these are rapeseed crops.

I was a little surprised to hear all the same jokes as our driver pointed out landmarks along the way- but then again, most people don't take the tour twice. He was super nice though, and even  remembered me from the visit with my mom and sister (and told me to tell my mom "hello".) What a nice guy.
So, as expected, we pulled up to Stonehenge about an hour later. Yep, the stones were still there.

 

Luckily, it was a lot warmer this trip.

With audioguides to ears, we sauntered around the site and took pictures from all angles.

 

And after about an hour, we were headed back to the purple bus to return to Bath.
There's lots to learn about, other than the rocks themselves. Like, those who call themselves Druids and hang out posters that say, "Support the Druids bring back the ancient dead" or "Bring back the guardians to Stonehenge".

There's also rumor of extraterrestrial activity, due to "UFO sightings" and crop circles that have appeared in the area in the past. Ironically, there's also a lot of military training done out in this part of the country, too. Hence why you see signs like this:

Neat stuff.
We got back to Bath around 1 p.m. and grabbed some lunch before joining one of the Mayor of Bath honorary guides for a walking tour.

Our leader is the guy in the straw hat. This picture was taken right before we decided to duck out of the tour to explore Bath on our own.
But, he did answer one of my questions about why the waters of Bath "work":
- One reason why the waters of Bath truly were successful in healing people was a quite natural explanation. The women in that day wore make-up that contained lead. They ate diets rich in red meat and port (which had lead in it too) and never saw the sun. End story: most suffered from lead poisoning and a lack of Vitamin D. On coming to Bath, they naturally alleviated at least two of these problems.
Why a formerly infertile queen had a baby boy after visiting the Bath remains unexplained by science.
Anyway...
Up and up we went until we arrived here.

The Royal Crescent!

Even though it looks like one big building, it's separated into apartments. From the cars parked out front, I would guess all the people living here are "high class", as we like to say around NOOC. (Front to back: Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Mercedes...)

Its architect, John Wood, had a large impact. The Royal Crescent (and other places like The Circus, seen in the picture with the tour guide) inspired much of the architecture you see in Bath.

Once we'd made it back to where we started, we stopped for some ice cream and a pretty view of the River Avon near Pulteney Bridge

and then walked over to Bath Abbey long enough to get a family shot

and then right on to the Roman Baths. The crowds were thinning out some towards the end of the day and we had a chance to get some shots sans tourists. 

Almost. 

My father-in-law is so funny.

 

Brandon's dad took some really nice pictures of us there.

 

After our tour, we went to dinner, where I tried a Pimm's for the first time. Pimm's is a type of gin-based drink and is generally mixed with a lemony soda.

It also has little pieces of fruit, mint leaves, and...cucumber! (Which a former co-worker once added to my water as a prank. I got a good laugh when I saw it in this drink.)

After dinner we walked very slowly (because of full tummies) to the station to catch our train back to London. 

Here's our last shot of the day, of the famous Paddington Station:

Catching up...When the Eidsons Visited Oxford

I just realized that it's been exactly one month since Brandon's parents came to visit. In fact, we were headed to London on April 16th. In some ways I feel like it's been for-ev-er since they were here. I think it's just because life has resumed it's normal busyness since Trinity term started.

It's going to take two posts to capture this whole trip (after all, there were "only" 3 GB of photos to choose from.) First up: Oxford. (Oh, and I have to give credit where credit is due- some of these photos are Brandon's or Mike's!)

We enjoyed showing them around some of Oxford's colleges and museums; walking through blooming parks; admiring art & architecture; and eating lots along the way. The great thing about visitors is enjoying afresh the city that we have lived in these last 8 months. Every "oh, wow!" reminds us of just how beautiful and unique this place is. I'll let the pictures do the narrating.

Parklands Bed & Breakfast, where they stayed 

On High Street

This one is Mike's- I love the perspective! The Radcliffe Camera (left), All Souls (center), and the edge of St. Mary's on the right

All Souls College

 

?I have no idea which college this is

Strolling through Magdalen College park

Pointing out landmarks from the top of St. Mary's

Checking out the ceiling in the Sheldonian Theatre

 Evensong service at Christ Church Cathedral

Letting someone else play photographer

This one is up for a caption contest: submit suggestions in comments section

The never-ending, oh-so-good dinner at Strada!

  Fish 'n Chips with a Tribute- an all-around winner

At the Natural History Museum

Brandon showing his parents the "snake with ears".

Bearpaw (see the hat?) admiring the lawn

Christ Church

 Brandon and his mom

 

So grateful for a wonderful Mother-in-law

One of my favorites

We loved having them here in Oxford.
But that was only the first half of the trip...

May Morning

In Oxford on the first day of May, the Magdalen College choristers sing the "Hymnus Eucharisticus" from the Great Tower to celebrate the coming of spring. We definitely wanted to be a part of this Oxford tradition, but were not so keen for the 4:30 alarm.
Well, apparently when the alarm went off this morning, I just turned it off. At 5:03 I got a text from Sarah asking if we were coming, so Brandon and I quickly got ready and walked over.
Well, we didn't get quite the view as others, but it was a beautiful morning anyway. Here's a view of High Street in the earlier hours of the day:

 Minus the hundreds of people. (I couldn't promise that though, since I've never been on High Street at 6 a.m.) Anyway, lots of students stay up all night partying on the last night of April, then stagger over to the college in the early hours of the morning to hear the choir sing. 
Click here to have a listen (and don't mind the middle part where Brandon chokes on coffee :)

Choristers at the top...

 ...big crowd at the bottom.

Here's a group doing song and dance in front on the steps of the Clarendon Building. As you can see, people made costumes for this event. One guy was walking around as a tree (literally- you couldn't see anything but his feet). There were also headbands made out of different types of foliage, as you can also see above.

 

We were just glad to get there in time.

Wishing you a happy start to your May!