London Day 1 (Tuesday 12/28/10)

So, now I will begin my posts on London. We decided to go to London for a vacation and touring the week of Christmas break. This is mainly in part to my brother studying abroad in the UK this past semester and being there until mid January. What better time to go visit him and get our FIRST overseas trip under our belts? Plus, though we had decided we wanted to go before we got pregnant, we REALLY decided to go after we found out we were pregnant. It will be a good long while before we get to do any big trips once baby Seidel is here...

So, after rushing back from Orange Grove Christmas, we re-packed and headed to Houston for our direct flight. The flight was a little over 8.5 hours long and while we left at 3:40 pm on Monday, we arrive in London time at 6:50 am Tuesday. So, the flight was basically our nighttime and we tried really hard to sleep, but you know how well that can work out on a plane! It was not a bad trip, though I did get up to walk every hour, based on Dr's orders. It was just long and anytime you are cramped into an airplane seat, you are not that comfortable.

Anyways, we arrive, meet our driver (it was way fun - we had a driver with a sign that had our names on it! i always wanted to be one of those people! and he drove a mercedes!), and head to our hotel. Customs was no big deal and our luggage came - whew! We got to the Regency in South Kensington area, which is south of Hyde Park in London. As soon as we check in, Charley arrives!
Charley had been backpacking around other countries the 2.5 weeks before, but was meeting us in London to be our tour guide! He also ended up getting to stay in our hotel room on the floor....Shhhh...don't tell the Regency! It was cheaper for him that way! It had been awhile since we'd seen Charley, though we'd heard news and seen pics of the beard he was growing! What better time to not shave and just grow a beard than when you are in another country that does NOT get as hot as Texas? Vic, as you will see in future pics, even decided to grow one for his vacation (and is still growing it for a few more weeks just for fun!).

We went down to our free continental breakfast which was such a great deal! A spread of muffins, breads, fruit, cereals, juice, meats, cheese, etc. It was a great way to save money all week by eating breakfast before we even left the hotel. I would recommend that when going to London - mainly because food is a little pricier than the US. Get a hotel with breakfast included!

I won't go into details of each step we took on each day, but we did get to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum; eat lunch at our first pub, Goat Tavern; the boys checked out Trafalgar Square and looked for theater tickets (while I napped....pregnant and no sleep doesn't work well together); and then went to a Winter Wonderland Carnival in Hyde Park! I'll put some details with each picture below....

The Victoria & Albert MuseumVic got a very attractive view of me looking at paintings....this was also a break for me - my body was telling me to take a nap.....the things you learn about your body when you are pregnant!The Prince Albert Memorial in Hyde Park - AND our first official picture together in London!!!
The first pub we ate at...had to get a picture of the goat of course for Mom!!

Food in London was a little different than the US. First of all, pubs are a big deal there. You can find tons of pubs everywhere and they are pretty equivalent to your Chili's or Cheddar's - casual, lots of choices. Pub food is really tasty and usually not too expensive, plus there are also tons of beers and fun drinks...for the non-pregnant. :-) When you go to a pub, you walk in, find your own place to sit (if there is one - that was tough sometimes; you just had to get lucky or wait for a table because there was not really a hostess to help you out) and then order your food from the bar. There was no wait staff and if you wanted more to drink or needed something, you just go to the bar for it. Also - you pay for everything up front and you do not have to tip. Interesting. They didn't even have a tip line on the receipt. Another different part was if you wanted a beer or coke now and then maybe another one - you have to pay multiple times; this is opposed to setting up a tab at the bar like we do here. They do not use "tabs". So, pubs are a great way to go when visiting London!

The Goat Tavern was great - I ordered fish & chips! And it came with "mushy peas" which were not that great - but had to try them. Charley had a kind of pot pie with meat in it; I think Vic just got a sandwich!
While I napped, Charley & Vic went downtown to Trafalgar Square and other areas to look for theater tickets; turns out they were kind of pricey and since we only had a week, we decided to skip any big shows; plus tons of shows were already sold out - I guess because of it being Christmas break. Later that evening, we walked to Hyde Park to the Winter Wonderland Carnival; it was a fun local thing to do - a great carnival with lots of games, delicious food (belgian waffles, sausage on a stick, crepes, etc.!). I'll let the pics below do the talking...

First, a picture of Big Ben that Vic got that day...Also, a picture of our hotel...
At the carnival, Vic played a Reindeer racing game.
This was Vic practicing at the Reindeer carnival game. The more balls he got into the holes at the top of the picture, the faster his reindeer moved to the finish line!
And they're off!
Vic was number 9...he did not win though:( Too bad - I was going to make him pick out a stuffed animal for the baby as his prize...because I'm sure we'll never have enough of those!! haha!

I love this picture of Charley & Vic at the carnival!Drinking Mulled Wine; I think the best food there was a belgian waffle with powdered sugar on top! Kind of like a funnel cake, but not as greasy - more like a waffle. Delicious!
Very sleepy on the ferris wheel after a long first day in London!