Day 4: The Boy Who Lived...

September 16th, 2015

There really isn't much to write about tonight.  We spent the entire day at Warner Brothers Studios exploring the sets of the Harry Potter Movies.  I am grateful Mom and Jeri indulged me in this excursion!  It was pretty amazing!  My favorite bit was the giant model of Hogwarts castle used for aerial shots. It took my breath away!  Mom and Jeri's favorite bit was the Butter Beer.  They went back for seconds!  Tomorrow we are packing up and heading out of London and into the country.  Off to the Lake District!

Enjoy the photos.

Day 3: George, Kay, and the Mormons.

September 15, 2015

Breakfast today was at the crepe shop around the corner from our hotel.  We all got the ham and cheese.  Oh so good!

We met George and Kay at the station and they drove us through winding narrow english roads the ease!  (So glad I was not driving!)  Our first stop was the London temple.  We walked all around the grounds snapping photos.  The gardens were gorgeous. The flowers were so pretty!  George read on the internet that the church owns 10 acres around the temple.  We went into the visitor center.  We watched the movie "Legacy" inside.  The couple missionary at the center were so friendly and welcoming.  I am afraid I had to be slightly rude in leaving as I am not sure they would ever let us loose!  I think maybe they were just so happy to have someone to talk to, and non-members to boot!  I just need to take a moment and thank Kay and George for taking us to the temple. I have wanted to go since my very first trip to England and have never been able to get there!  Thank you!!!

Our next stop was my request.  An authentic english pub for some "pub grub".  The place George picked for us was on a beautiful lake.  The food was amazing! I got the fish and chips. Mom had a salmon sandwich.

Next we went to Chartwell, the home of Winston Churchill.   The home was lovely, but it was the grounds that were really note worthy!  I would have spent all day there wondering around the gardens.

Mom and Jeri are pretty tired tonight.  They had a hard time staying awake in the car on the way back to the station.  George left us with homemade scones and jam.  LOVE THAT GIRL!  We called it an early night and headed back for the hotel.

Tomorrow we enter into the world of Harry Potter!

Note from the blog writer...

The Internet in our hotel sucks! I have updated blogs ready to publish but have been unable. We move on to the Lake District tomorrow and I am hoping for a better connection. Fingers crossed! I am also struggling with blogging on my iPad. Googles blogger and my Apple iPad do not play well together! After a blog is published I can't go back and edit mistakes with out completely deleting the blog. I know there are misspelled words and grammar mistakes and I can't do much about that now. Just look at the pretty pictures!

With love- Michelle

Day 2: Ben and the Queen

September 14th, 2015

Today is our only really sight seeing day in London.  We had a lot to pack in and didn't get to half of it.  But that is ok!  We had a great day and took it slow.  We savored the experience instead of rushing it!

We started the day at Buckingham Palace at 9:00 and didn't leave until 3:30!  Jeri loved it so much it nearly took Mom and I dragging her by both arms to get her out.  It took us an hour just to make it down the exit path!  We kept stopping to enjoy the gardens, take pictures and sit on the benches to watch the birds.  We started the morning at the Queens Gallery looking at the vast amount of paintings.  Then we stopped at the Royal Mews and saw the magnificent coaches and horses in the queens fleet.  We stopped to have lunch at a nearby cafe at this point.  Mom and I had a simple ham and cheese and it was amazing!  Crusty bread and sharp cheese.  We saved the palace for last.  I have been before, but it is still awe inspiring.  Jeri wanted to take up residents.  She offered to sleep on the couch.

We lingered a bit longer and had scones, tea, hot chocolate under the garden tent.  It started to pour rain at this point and we sat watching it in delight!  English rain!  How lucky are we!

Finally, after we drug Jeri away kicking and screaming we made our way to Big Ben.  We didn't do much there but snap photos.

Jeri has a cold and at this point we were all dragging, especially our cute friend.  We made our way to Eusten station to buy tickets on the Scottish Sleeper train for later on next week.  This has been a process.  We have been trying to buy these tickets since we got here!  No one has been very helpful.  Finally we found an attendant who was willing to help us sort things out.  I guess the sleeper train company was bought out by another company a couple of weeks ago.  The cost has doubled from when I last looked at it and the attendants don't know how to reserve the tickets any more.  The nice attendant spent a lot of time with us and we finally did get it sorted.  Such a lovely man.  God is good at making sure we find who we need!

So, we gave up on the sight seeing at this point and went back to the hotel.

Tomorrow is our day with George and Kay!  YEA!

Day 1: George Day!

September 13th

Our first full day in London is nearing its end.  We are all exhausted... But its been a lovely day.

The flight over was long but uneventful.  I did however manage to make it thought airport security, on 9/11, with a pocket knife in my purse!  I found it when we got to the hotel.

The noteworthy events of yesterday were, waiting at emigration for 2 hours before we could enter the UK, finding Jeri at the train station (we thought she was lost as it took her so long to get to us.  She was also stuck in emigration) and just being so happy to be back in England!

This morning we began the day with Cornish Pasty's for breakfast!  YES!  I have been dreaming about these delightful creations for 4 years now.  GET IN MY BELLY!

We took a train to Georgina's neighborhood and met her at the train station.  I was so happy to see her again!  LOVE THIS GIRL!  She gave us a tour of her charming town.  (I think she finds it rather drab, but to us it was adorably British and delightful!)  She took us to the local craft store.  It was nice, but lets just say, I can't wait to see her face when she sees a Michael's, Joann's or a Hobby Lobby!

From there we went to church.  We missed sacrament meeting because they made a change in their meeting schedule and it didn't reflect that on the internet.  The ward members were very friendly and embraced us like old friends.  We sat through Relief Society and that was the end of our Sunday Worship... I feel badly we missed sacrament!

Next we went to Georgina's house.  I didn't realized how much I had missed Kay until we saw her standing there in the hallway waiting for us!  She is such a lovely lady and I am happy to call her my British Mum!  We also got to meet Charlie who, turns out, is such a lovely man!  Georgina and Kay are two lucky girls!  They fed us lunch which was. . . well. . . I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Nearly everything they put in front of us was traditionally english!  The scotch eggs and pork pies were my favorite.  AND look at those deserts! They went way overboard and we were touched by their welcome to us.  We could not have better friends across the pond.  We are spending all day Tuesday with them sight seeing.  I can't wait!

We are tired and worn from jet lag.  Jeri and I both woke in the middle of the night and found it nearly impossible to go back to sleep even though we were still so weary.  It only takes a few days to work through but Jet Lag is a bugger!

Packing time...again!

September 9th, 2015

Well, for a two week trip it's about twice as much as I packed for a four month trip. But hey, I am too old to slum it anymore!

My beautiful Mom and adventurous friend Jeri are onboard for this trip! Our agenda includes some quality time in London with our friends Georgina and Kay, hiking in the Lake District, a quick stop in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh and some island hoping in Oban Scotland. Here we go! England 2015!