Allons-y to London!

This post is going to be a long one. But I figure that's perfect for a Friday because you can come back to it over and again on Saturday and Sunday to finish reading. Here we go! The first full day in London Megan and I hit the streets together since the guys were off to Liverpool. Our one and only real destination of the day? The TARDIS from Doctor Who. I am supposed to start watching the show soon, (and I will Megan!), but it's hard to do that when all I want to do is pack while watching anything and that's not really a show I should be doing that to I'm guessing. Anyway...we found it!

Afterwards we headed to Notting Hill and Portobello Road for the Saturday Market. Wow, was it crowded. We fought through for awhile until we decided to take a stroll through Hyde Park and down the road to Picadilly Circus. We walked a lotttt. I loved it.

Our day ended with a show in the West End. The special effects were amazing! Ben Kingsley and Harrison Ford were in it! Best part was the bargain pricing. Only 16 pounds per seat!  Which one, you ask? How did we get such a great deal? We saw...Ender's Game at The Odeon! Gotcha, right? Even for just a minute...? 

The next day we wandered around quite a bit again with Sean and Chris, letting Sean experience some of the sights that he didn't get to with us girls the day before. 

 

Then it was British Museum time! I love that most museums are free. Other big cities, take note. This rocks.

I really loved this vase. It's made of porcelain! I could have sat in front of it for hours. 

Chris, Chris, Chris. So unhappy when pictures are being taken of him. Wipe that scowl off your face and take notes from Megan and Sean. At least Sean's pretending to not be annoyed... :) But I do agree that after a full day of walking it was hard to grin and bear it. My feet were sore too. The next day I don't think we (everyone but Chris) even got out of bed until noon, and some even after that!

  
We ducked into a Starbucks on the opposite side of the street from the museum to get warm and have a drink before heading for our train back to Belgium. Funny enough, London is one of the only places in Europe without one in their major train stations. I mean c'mon. Even Belgium is on board with that one. 

39 DAYS! A new digit for the first number! Wahoo!

Southbank strolling at night

We had two trips scheduled for when Megan and Sean were visiting. The first was London which also included a side trip to Liverpool. Who am I kidding, that's really why we were going there in the first place, but I'll let Chris expand on that another day. Back to London. Our first night there we got in right around dinner time and we though, what better way to get food then see some sights along the way.

A little plug for this new video app one that my friend Kevin from college worked on. 

I love it. It's like tiny music videos of your life. Download it if you've got the means. 

We wandered along the "Queens Walk" and got to see it all after we ate burritos at a Mexican food truck just across the Thames from St Paul's. I love London. We had the perfect fall weather while we were there, again, thank you Megs and Sean for the sunshine! 40 more days left here and tomorrow we're heading off to Edinburgh for three days to split this last month and a half up even more. 

Bruges and Brussels in October

Megan and Sean brought the sunshine with them. Literally the only time we had rain was in Paris for twenty minutes and still the sun was out! We ended our visitor-friendly time here on a very high note. But first, our two places to bring guests in Belgium for canals and waffles. 

A final goodbye to my friend, the doggie in the window.

     
These two would not cooperate when I tried to take pictures of them. I blame Monty Python. 

And then to Brussels! We took the shortest stop here that we've ever done. A moment for waffles, fries, views and Starbucks until we hopped back on a train to go to London town! Megan was excited:

41 days

NO. Sorry, no. Not yet. Not finished.

WHEN THE WAITER PREMATURELY ASKS IF I’M FINISHED EATING

via

In Europe, this would never happen. I could sit there with an empty plate for an hour and still no one would disturb me unless I made eye contact, waved them over, or actually physically got out of my seat to ask for the bill. Not the check, that's confusing here. The bill. Or "de rekening" in Dutch. The reckoning! Ahh Belgium, you kill me. 

So I guess there are a few things that I will miss about Europe. This would be one of them. But it's a double edged sword this whole waiters-not-bothering-you-and-taking-your-food-away-early because they also hardly come around. Sometimes it's hard to get that extra portion of fries they forgot to bring or the check (sorry, b-i-l-l) when you're done before closing time as all the other guests are wont to stay until. But you know what? I basically just want to be at home in New York. Impatient, nagging waiters attempting to turn over tables for tips and all. 42 days.

Last glimpse of Crete

The sun sets soft and slowly in Greece. The light stays pale pink and blue for over an hour. We walked down the street from our apartment looking for a new restaurant and stumbled onto one that looked fit for a wedding reception. Honestly, I would have held ours there if the neighbors wouldn't mind the music (and we had oodles of money to transport all our guests to Greece...). 

Behind us were more tables, out on the rocks along the ocean buuuut every one of them was filled with customers and I didn't think they'd enjoy me taking their pictures. You'll just have to imagine it. 

I'm saying goodbye to Greece today and heading back to Belgium with Megan and Sean! They actually just left, bound for Rochester on the 31st. I wasn't sad in the airport, no tears like in the beginning. When we came home from dropping them off it was a different story but only for a short time. Because we truly don't have too long of a time left here. Just 43 days...

Hóra Sfakíon

After we drove across the country we arrived in a little town called Hóra Sfakíon. It was like a tiny taste of Santorini. We didn't have it in the budget, time-wise or money, to get there on this trip but we will someday. 

p.s. 45 days and 8 hours exactly.