Random

There were a few pictures that I wanted to share that weren't really part of anything.

The mall by the hotel that we were staying at went all out decorating for Christmas. It was really pretty and we really enjoyed the lights and the decorations. Except for the Harvey Nichols window. I don't know what they were going for, but it creeped me out.

Aliens, maybe?
The Broadmead area of the mall had a German Christmas Market. Every city we visited during the Christmas season had some form of German Christmas market.
The Bristol one had a windmill with a rotating nativity over the sausage grill.

Cabot Circus also put up these giant deer everywhere. These things were huge. When I stood under one, the belly was at least 2 feet over my head.

Millie's Cookies. They were so good. I loved the raspberry white chocolate one. Gavin like the double chocolate.
Krispy Kreme just got to the UK. It was really interesting to see how it was doing since it was a little different than the US. One of the main draws to Krispy Kreme, at least for me, is getting them hot. I'm not sure they were even made at this store. Maybe they were in the back. Also, they were ridiculously expensive. it was a pound twenty for one glazed donut, which with the exchange rate while we were there, made it to be about $2.00 a donut. This place was popular, too. A few times, we saw the line out the door and around the corner.

One of the first posts I wrote when we got to England, I talked about how the escalators were on the wrong side. We eventually got used to it and the first one we stepped on in the US, we tried to go on the wrong side.

And finally, gas (or petrol, have you) was so expensive. At this Shell, it costs 123.9 pence or one pound 23 per liter. That's almost 5 pound per gallon. With the exchange rate, that's almost 8 dollars a gallon. When we had to fill up the rental cars, it often cost us 70-80 dollars for a small tank of gas.

Rocket Ballons

At the Christmas party, there were some rocket balloons. We must have really annoyed the wait staff with these because people would aim at other tables and people and usually the wait staff got caught in the cross fire. And it could possibly be that the balloons were getting stuck on the ceiling. Whenever someone would send one off, everyone would watch and either cheer or boo. A lot of people got hit with these.

London Brass Band

I enjoyed this band for a couple of reasons. First, it was just cool to see a brass band playing in London. It felt very English to me. Second, it reminded me of the Mr. Bean Christmas where he leads the street band in Christmas carols. :)

London Again

During our last week in England, I really wanted to visit London one more time.

This is Leicester Square, where most of the London movie premiers happen. It was still decorated for Harry Potter. I really wanted to go to London for the premier, but we were in the Lake District for Gavin's work.

A big picture of the bad guys. :)

I really wanted to see another play while in London, so I saw Love Never Dies, which is the sequel to Phantom of the Opera. I knew the story and had heard the music before hand and actually didn't want to see it because it was a really stupid story. However, I heard in the news that they revamped it and it was getting great reviews, so I figured I would give it a shot. It was very enjoyable. It's a lot different than the Phantom (it takes place at Coney Island, of all places) and no where near as good, but I really enjoyed it. I was sitting next to this guy who loves going to musicals and he was a lot of fun to be sitting with. He was so happy he found another kindred soul who loves musical but has a spouse who doesn't.

After the musical, I went to Hyde Park where they were doing the Winter Wonderland Festival.

This was a restaurant. It is in a giant blow-up cube.

I really wanted to go jump inside the giant snowman, but it was only for little kids.

There was also a whole bunch of stalls there selling goods and food.

On my way back to the tube to head to the train station, I passed this on Regent Street. I thought it was cute.

I miss London. I really enjoyed being able to go there so quickly and spend the day. It's such a wonderful city.

Plymouth

Gavin had another work meeting in a small town called Plymouth. It's in the southwest corner of the country, about 2 hours from Bristol. It's the town that the pilgrims left for the Americas.

Peter came with us again and he is actually from Plymouth, so he took us around and showed us some sites.

We ate dinner at a Greek Italian place in Bayard's Cove, near the water.

There is also a monument to the Mayflower.


After their meeting, we went to the Hoe area, which a large open space area.

The National Armada Monument.

The lighthouse.

The walls of the Hoe area.

Looking out into the ocean. You can see some naval ships out there.

The dock area and the Mayflower Steps.

The Mayflower Steps.

We told Peter to do something American.

Gavin really liked this Tudor-styled house. We aren't sure what it is, but it's still nice.

London 3

I took a day trip to London one day. I decided to tour Westminster Abbey. I couldn't take any pictures inside, which is really sad because it was one of my favorite churches inside.

Lots of famous people are buried at the Abbey, including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and has memorials to John Keats, Lewis Carroll, T.S. Eliot and a whole bunch of others. It had so much history. I'm really sad Gavin wasn't able to tour it with me.
I went during the Poppy Appeal, which is a fund raiser England does for the families of the military serving in the war. The Abbey had poppies lined up for all of the different branches and squadrons.


I walked along the Thames past the London Eye.
View of Parliament and Big Ben.
Inside the Tate Modern, which is the big, new modern art museum. It only features British artists.
I didn't tour much of it, but I did get to see some interesting pieces.


Yes, those are real dead birds.

Next to the Tate Modern is the Globe Theater, where Shakespeare's plays were performed. This replica of the theater wasn't built until the 1970s.
London was decorated with a ton of lights for Christmas. It was really pretty.
Last time we were in London, we watched them put up this sign.