And the "I" stands for I WENT TO ENGLAND AND GOT TO SEE MY BIG SISTER!!!!!! Yes, it was exciting enough to necessitate my extreme use of exclamation marks. As you might have noticed, I have been missing lately. I spent two weeks traveling Western Europe for spring break. I am now officially broke but happy to have seen what I saw. The first week I spent with my big sister and her husband. We were based in London but also popped over to Ireland for a few days as well. Week two found me in Spain enjoying flamenco dancers for my birthday and eating till I popped. Seriously, tapas are amazing. And serrano ham. And calamari. ...Anyways, that's for another post. This post is dedicated to my trip to England with my big sissy. Next up, I'll post our Ireland pictures. Then, I'll put up my trip to Spain. Spain will probably also come in two installments. Over the course of two weeks, I took nearly 600 photos. I'm trying to winnow them down, but I think I'm going to need four good posts to get all the best ones in. Without any further ado, I present ENGLAND:
Buckingham Palace
Our first day in England was spent mostly just wandering about and seeing as much as possible. Mitch, my brother-in-law, had never been outside the U.S. before, and big sissy and I were determined to inundate him with Europe before the week was over. On that first day, we tried to hit the biggest tourist sites that you just walk past and wave at: Big Ben, Westminster (we wanted to go in to Westminster, actually, but there was a line around the block and a hefty admission fee; we just took pictures...), Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square. I'm sure there are more, but I can't really remember them at the moment. In addition to the walk-by sites, we stopped in to see the National Portrait Gallery and the Tower of London. I had never been to the National Portrait Gallery, but it was well worth the stop. It houses some of the most famous paintings of England's monarchs and VIP's.
Anti-war protests; Trafalgar Square
Big sissy and her hubby; Tower of London
Me with a big gun; Tower of London
Flat Amanda trying to make the guard laugh; Tower of London
I have neglected to mention one other traveler who made their way through Europe with me. Flat Amanda has become my newest traveling companion. I've been taking photos with her across Western Europe, and I will add photos of her in Bulgaria as soon as I can. After reading the book Flat Stanley, the tale of a boy flattened by a falling bulletin board and then mailed around Europe to see the sites, my cousin, Amanda, asked me to take Flat Amanda along to see Europe. We became best buddies.
Beautiful view of the Thames; Tower Bridge
During our last day in England, we split up for the morning. Kari and Mitch went to Hampton Court Palace, and I went to the Globe, a reproduction of Shakespeare's outdoor theatre. I spent two and a half glorious hours wandering around and soaking up Shakespeare. In addition to a tour of the actual theatre, my ticket allowed me access to the Globe museum exhibition on Shakespeare. The exhibition houses a variety of displays that explain everything from costuming at the original Globe to how they built the replica. Interestingly, they chose not to use modern tools to build the Globe. They hired expert craftsmen to build the Globe using the hand tools that would have been used in Shakespeare's time. The Globe is held together by wooden pegs, not nails, and each post was hand cut and carved. Incredible!
Flat Amanda visits the Globe
I'M AT THE GLOBE!!!!!!
Big sissy and I with a piece of the Berlin Wall; Imperial War Museum
Our last stop in England was the Imperial War Museum, a favorite of both mine and big sissy's. Dad brought us here when we were munchkins, and we continue to make the pilgrimage. It is, after all, the best museum in the whole world. At least, in my opinion, it is.
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