Whilst in London: A Spring of Visits

Hello all-

Look, another blog! This one may be short on words, and more of a photo blog. Last time I posted, I left off just before my visit to Barcelona with Jamie mid-March. Well, she blogged about that months ago, and I'm just getting around to it, not to mention the lovely Molly Feider's visit the last week of March, an opportunity to have tea and get to know Julie Quesada from Trinity while she and her husband Cef were in London, a fun visit from Jessie, one of my students from VPLU last year, Chad's visit the first part of April, hanging out with the awesome Nash family from church, and a great weekend with Molly Skinner-Day as she wrapped up her post-Peace Corps holiday before heading home. Sorry, folks, only have pictures from a couple of those visits; which included seeing 'Wicked' in the West End with Mols (amazing show, and front row seats!), traveling to Paris with Chad, where we ate mostly bread and icecream and tried to not butcher the French language too terribly, and after returning to the UK, visiting a few places in Southeast England, including the stunning white cliffs of Dover. Somewhere in all that I finished three essays for the end of April/beginning of May. Still waiting on marks from those. I've also taken two exams. Exams are so stressful here! I got scolded at the end of the first one I completed, as I had forgotten to put my exam student identification on the front of the paper. Turned the tears on, and grouchy British examiner softened a little. :) All that's left to do in the program is a dissertation. I now spend my days now reading a 16th century book full of English travel narratives in the British Library, and if not that, then at a coffee shop or another reading secondary sources.

As the excitement of living here has settled into a slight mundanity, I've not been as keen to explore and plan day trips around. Part of it is the pull to get as much done on the dissertation as soon possible so I can come home early. Mom is coming the beginning of July for two weeks, however, and we'll be heading over to Ireland and Vienna, so I'll do a bit more exploring then. Though I had originally planned to do a bit more bouncing about Europe this summer, priorities have changed and I'd rather spend that time with my hubby and pups at home. My homesickness these last few months has been paramount and only getting worse. I wish I was more capable of elucidating the complex mix of emotions, struggles and strain Chad and I go through on a daily basis while being 5,000 miles apart, but I will say that as of right now, if someone were to ask me if it's been worth it, and if I had the opportunity to do this all over again would I, I don't know that I can answer that with a 'yes.' I certainly don't want to be told by anyone that it will have been worth it; I want the time to finish here, come home, process, reflect, and make that decision for myself. And I thought I was homesick while traveling as an Admission Counselor! I am, however, very much looking forward to the homecoming, eating fish tacos at Anthony's, cuddling on the couch with Gabby, throwing sticks into water at Owen Beach for Regan to fetch, and bringing coffee to Chad during morning worship practice on Sundays, among many other 'homey' things.

Ok, so maybe not so short on words. But here are the photos:

Barcelona with bestie Jamie

La catedral
At prayer

La catedral

We were only in Barcelona for only two days. The first day it rained- torrential downpour rain- the entire day. By the end, I was soaked from mid-calf down. But got a cute purple umbrella out of it!

And Jamie had a cute pink one!

At the Museum of Chocolate. How awesome was this place? Well, the tickets were dark chocolate bars. That's how awesome.

Don Quixote. In chocolate. That's how awesome it was.

End of day puddle jumping!

La Sagrada Familia at night. Beautiful and eerie.

The second day dawned beautiful and sunny, so we decided to make our way back to the beach...and came upon a costume/music/dance/festival/parade/celebration/thing. To this day still not sure what or why this was.

So we decided to walk up the line to see what we could see. :)

The costumes got better and better.

The celebration bigger and music rowdier. (Here's the pope and the pope-mobile)

The pope's entourage. I can still recall the silly music for this group.

It just kept going!

We were thrilled. Our timing couldn't have been better.

First time on the Mediterranean!

A beautiful Dame.

Taking a break at a cozy patio near the cathedral.

Arc. I forget the name.

La Sagrada Familia, designed by Gaudi, in the daylight.

One of the facades of La Sagrada.

La Sagrada was truly one of the most incredible buildings I have ever been in. I was awestruck. I've been impressed by architectural design, and love religious buildings, but just being in this space was an unexpectedly spiritual experience.

Amazing and warming stain glass windows.

An artist and an historian in La Sagrada. Two very happy women.

Late afternoon we made our way over to Parque Guell, also designed by Gaudi,

Jamie and I had a ball in Barcelona, but discovered we make the most erratic and disorganized travel buddies! No matter, we had a great time together, and my love for Spain and my Jamie was further solidified.

Molly Feider, my other bestie, comes to London!

At Buckingham Palace, waiting for the Changing of the Guard

Lovely flowers at Borough Market.

Lovely Molly at Borough Market.

Wicked! Happy Birthday Molly! Great show, though before it started I was accused by an usher of taking a picture of the stage with my cellphone. I was, in fact, folding my scarf to stick in my purse. Second time I got in trouble that day. First was for ringing the 'stop bell' on the top of a double-decker bus way too many times. We couldn't hear it going off up there!

Ran into a huge protest march against government cuts, around 200,000 people strong. Their plan was to eventually end up at Hyde Park for a rally, and of course it was on our itinerary to go to Hyde Park that day.

Fortunately, we beat the protesters to the park and had a lovely time wandering around.

British Library and St. Pancras.

Regents Park.

Regents Park in full bloom.

Temple Church. Any The DaVinci Code fans should recognize this famous church.

Temple Church.

At the Tate Modern. Great view of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.

Having fun.

Mmmm, sandwiches.

We ran into another protest. Molly and I are apparently attracted to demonstrations of civil discontentment.

Delicious pie platter at a local Fuller's pub.

In Paris with Chad

Our tour guide.

Sacre Coeur

Opera House

Arc de Triomphe. We talked a lot about National Lampoon's European Vacation while here.

I'm second from the left.

Eiffel Tower

This is right after we decided to get some ice-cream.

At the first level up the Eiffel Tower. Please note my death grip on the railings.

View of Arc de Triomphe. The largest roundabout in the world!

View of Notre Dame.

View of the Louvre.

View of Sacre Coeur.

oh, it's a long way down...

Sun is shining in Paris! Squinty Chad at the Louvre before going to H&M to buy sunglasses that are bigger than mine.

Happy Chad at the Louvre after said purchase.

Notre Dame

Think my hubby could pass as European?

Baguette and brie for dinner one night. There was a fantastic patisserie kiddy corner from our hotel we frequented once or twice daily. The patrons didn't speak much English, and we had maybe three French phrases to utilize (and no, I'm not referring to swearing), but by the end, the man was calling Chad 'Mr. Chocolate.' We may have indulged while in Paris.

Outside Sainte Chapelle.

The ground floor of Sainte Chapelle.

Upstairs in the incredible chapel, which used to hold the holy relics of the crown of thorns and a piece of the cross. The king responsible for the construction of the chapel purchased the relics for over three times more the amount than what it took to build the chapel to house them