Tourist time in London

Selfridges in London. Boo! We're scared by the number of holidays they're promoting...

I can't believe that I'm doing this buuuuut we're going to have to break this into two posts. I don't think you can handle more than 20+ pictures in one day. It's too much. It's alright though, I understand. I'm right there with you. (Another side note, I am kicking myself for not doing this sooner but I just dug my wifi mouse out of my still not-completely-unpacked luggage and I'm SO excited. I'm gonna be editing at warp speed compared to yesterday. Boo. Yah. k, I'm done now.) Okay, onto London:

The photos above are not really related other than they both feature food. On the left you can see Chris' lunch. Traditional English fare and it was fantastic. On the right hand side I'm sure the Rochesterians have already found "Waldo" but I cannot tell you how surprised we were to find Dinosaur BBQ sauce being sold in Selfridges in London on Oxford St. I mean...whaaaat? And it's being sold for what equates to $12. Is that ridiculous? I can't remember but it seems like it.

As much as I love sun, the early London morning is pretty dreamy in it's foggy grayness.

We started our tour at St. Paul's Cathedral. It is an impressive work of faith and architecture. Honestly I wish they'd let us take pictures inside but on the other hand it was nice to put the camera down and just take it all in without the pressure of the perfect moment/shot/scene. I was completely drawn in by the mosaic ceilings and the enormity of it all. Browse through these to see the interior. Standing there in front of the altar where Diana got married and looking back up the aisle she walked...so much history, I was kind of at a loss for words.

There were two weddings happening the day we visited it. But the chapel they get married in is actually in the basement of the church. In this picture you can see the plaid-clad angry woman on our tour bothering the wedding guests. She was bothered because the tour was being done in both Spanish and English and she didn't see why everyone doesn't know English if they're visiting England...again, speechless. People can be dumb and mean. I rather liked having both, seven years of classes came in handy when she spoke in Spanish first and I could grab Chris' arm to show him what she was describing before we passed it on that crazy bus.

The changing of the guard was interesting to see. I probably wouldn't see it again but the massive amount of people waiting to watch this exchange was baffling. I tried to imagine what it was like on Kate and Will's wedding day. I watched from Katelyn's tv in her room at 4am (are you reading, Kate? You weren't there, I didn't want to wake Trista, and your tv was four steps from my bed lol) and saw the nuptials take place! It must have been shoulder to shoulder waiting for their balcony wave and kiss(es). If you have five minutes, and you missed it the first time, here are highlights of the day. I just watched it, I can't stop smiling.

Anyone recognize this building? If you don't, don't worry. You're about to see the middle level explode in the newest James Bond film though, if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm sorry but a Lotus right near Rochester Row...I think it's fate. Chris? Can we get one?

Fish and chips and a Chelsea v Tottenham game. The ultimate in London lunches. 

More tomorrow including the London Eye and then we're moving on from England. I've got another link up Friday coming for you and Monday, something new (Earlier today that "Monday" was a  "Thursday" because I thought all day today that it was Tuesday. It's not. It's Wednesday, Chris just told me that and it's 9:01pm. Making only two more blog days in this week. Unemployment, ugh). Monday's post is something that girls will like (hint, it involves shopping!). Guys, well, just hang in there. Until tomorrow!

Notting Hill, Portabello and Hyde

Chris and I went to London this past weekend and it was with purpose. We were finally going to see family! We've been away from the states for over a month now and this was like a little breather before our Christmastime return for two weeks (Two months to go!).

We arrived at night to the same place where Harry Potter first boarded a train for Hogwarts. (Sorry. The kids movies just came flooding back as soon as we stepped off the train. Peter Pan, Harry, and others seemed to be everywhere I looked.) It took us a good 45 minute walk through the streets to find our hotel and meet up with the Maloneys and it was pretty cool to experience the night life first thing. I still can't get over being in places that I've only seen in pictures, movies or tv shows before now. I'm not taking it for granted for a minute. We ate a quick bite and I had my first English hot chocolate (pretty good but no whipped cream to be found anywhere, so Belgium's got them beat there).

Notting Hill was our first destination in the morning since Chris' dad had to work during the day and it was the market we were heading to, (lots of shopping), probably something he didn't mind skipping.

Turns out the market we went to was Portabello Road. It was chock full of real WWII bomber jackets. stamps, tea cups and saucers, and anything you might need from the past. It also had a pretty great food section where we found some Belgian waffles. Chris and Mom split one and he verified that it was pretty close to authentic. We arrived there between 10-11am and it looked as though it was still being set up. I guess in Europe we're early risers.

The rain held off while we walked and browsed, it was such a beautiful area. If I had to live in London, I think this might be close to a perfect spot. Probably not the best locale for my wallet though. I'll show you the treasures I found in an upcoming post.  

Everywhere we've gone we're surrounded by scarf-clad men and women. Less so in London but still, they're e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. I did buy one on the weekend but not from the place on the left. Wait til you see it. Wait, though, seriously, I'm not showing it to you today. I would have loved to get the shirt on the right for my sister but alas it was a little too expensive for a shirt covered in Bean. (I'll keep my eyes open though, Megs)

In the middle is the interior of what was at one time the Travel Book Shop for the movie Notting Hill. If you haven't seen the movie and you're a girl, you should. If you're a guy, just ignore the next two sets of photos because you won't care.

Brownie banter

Here are two shots (1,2) from the film, the locales as they were then.

And today ^ They changed the name from "Travel" to simply "Notting Hill" because honestly, the movie is outdated by now and it's not profitable to only sell travel books. The right side is where the interior was filmed. It took us awhile to find the second of these two gems. I actually stumbled across the exterior one by chance because the little white car grabbed my eye and then I noticed what it was parked in front of.

Oh my gosh. These boots. I'm hunting them through ebay, etsy and more to get a better price but I love them. Too cute.

To head back to the hotel we walked through Hyde Park and stopped to take a look at Kensington Palace. I'd like to go back in the months when Buckingham Palace is open. I wish we'd been here when it was open and Kate's dress was on display. Her dress was my dream dress. (Too bad the Queen didn't like the display) It started to rain as soon as we passed Kensington but we still took the long way through the park to see as much as we could.

With that I'll end the post to give you all your own breather and bring more tomorrow from our tour of the sites. See you then!

Meanwhile, back in Leuven

It's 73 and sunny. Posting up here on our balcony all day.

Visitor Alert: Train Travel in Europe

(Whose got the "London Bridge is Falling Down" song stuck in their head after reading that ^ I bet you do know mwahaha)

I'm guessing your thoughts today are along the lines of, yay, pictures from London day! Hold your horses, it's coming. But London starts tomorrow.

What I was thinking about on the way home last night was how fun it was to be in an entirely new country with our family. I know Belgium will be new to most visitors but heading to somewhere that you've always dreamed of, (Paris, London, Rome), might be a lot easier once you're already here in Europe.

Whenever I come across an idea that I think visitors may want to take advantage of, I'm going to do one of these "alert" posts and then you'll be able to easily find them while you're planning your excursion in Europe (hopefully with us included at some point)! And I'm not saying you have to take us with you, by any means, but keep us posted either way when you start planning!

Hi you've reached Kelly, I'm not home right now so please enjoy the following:

I made this post up while I was still in Mad Men mode. I'm hoping you all stick with me after this. It's basically the most random (and hopefully funny) post. After Sunday we've got some more travel pictures and this time with more people than just us in them, yay family!

Okay this video of a man jumping into icy water is ridiculous, I laughed so hard. I guess I'm a 12 year old boy inside thinking this is funny. Or just evil. There's some bad language (they're speaking in German but you can definitely understand a phrase here and there) so keep it on mute if you want, just as entertaining. Enjoy:

In other funniness:

Logos portrayed in the typeface Comic Sans (blech), you can check out the rest of the series called Not a Strong Mark by Oleg Tarasov here. (Also, please don't use Comic Sans)

Anyone out there watch Parks and Rec? You really should. In fact, grab Netflix for a month for free just to get all the way caught up if you don't have it. Clip from one of the best episodes.....now:

Anyway, Ben (Adam Scott) is one of my favorite parts of the show, anyone remember Batman from that same episode? Well here he is in what should be the awkward years.

Looks pretty cute to me. And even more over here.

This next image looks like an ad but it isn't, read on...

This is idea pretty funny but also practical. Here in Europe I can't see anyone ever needing this app seeing as drinks at the movies for 4€ here are only 12oz and $4 movie drinks in the states are more like 32oz (I don't even think that's exaggerating, I'm probably being conservative). BUT since everyone reading this is most likely American, you might want this app, RunPee. It tells you when the perfect time to go to the restroom during the movie would be. Seriously, it's free, pick it up.

More on me being a pre-teen boy; this story about "the fart that (almost) altered my destiny" is pure hilarity. I read it out loud to Chris and had to stop so many times, I was laughing too hard to see.

This last one was brought to my attention by Erin, because she knows how much I love kids. I mean, just look:

There's 27 reasons why kids are kinda the worst. I didn't actually make up this list but I (kinda) agree. (Please no new parents look at this and judge. It's supposed to be f-u-n-n-y)



Okay folks, London recap on Monday. And probably Tuesday and Wednesday seeing as we'll being going going going the entire time. I'm really hoping to get to Notting Hill today for their Portabello Market as recommended. If we don't it'll be a must-do next time around.

And finally, to make it even harder to laugh silently at your desk, animal boops:

See you Monday, have a fantastic weekend!

It's 11:37am, I just got up

No, I didn't get less wordy today and yes, I meant to put that as the title.

Because it's true. And don't be jealous. I wish I had a genuine reason to be waking up earlier but when there are no possibilities of a job to be had and my bum ankle/heel/achilles mess has decided to not get ANY better after 2.5 weeks of complete rest...well...I'm going to sleep in during the time I'd usually be out for a run or getting ready for work.

Usually it's not this late, I promise, I just couldn't fall asleep last night. And hey! Maybe I'm still just on NY time. After all it's now only 5:23 there. Okay, forget all that up there. I'm still just on EST. There now, don't you feel better knowing I'm not completely lazy? I know I do!

When I did finally rouse myself, I did something super duper important. It was to make this:

Okay, don't judge. Mad Men-ing myself isn't super important, I know. Just thought you might want to try it for yourself. The music is pretty fun to dress "yourself" to (I left it open just so I could feel a little like (the copywriter side of) Peggy while I sit here typing).

Update: I made this photo small on purpose because it's still too early but the painting on the easel is the beginnings (I mean, we're at the baby-steps level here) of the series.

I've got a little something to make your Friday even better tomorrow. It made my Thursday pretty great just putting it together. Let's hope I get a chance to post it tomorrow while we're out and about in LONDON (wooo). Til then, bye for now.

SHM and London Plans

Guys. We just booked tickets for Swedish House Mafia's One Last Tour at their Antwerp stop. You may not care, but I'm almost pee-my-pants-excited. Don't go "ew", I said almost. Here's their latest song (brought to my attention by the lovely Erin Innocenza):

Swedish House Mafia - Don't You Worry Child... par SwedishHouseMafia-Official

I know. Amazing. The part in the beginning with the newscaster is where you find out that this is the last tour that they're doing and they're shutting down the team for good. So you can see why we have to go.

Okay, moving right along.

Today Chris' Mom is leaving for London and tomorrow night we're joining both of his parents there for the weekend! I am pretty excited to finally leave our own little country and get to travelling for real. We've been given so much good advice about London and a few "don'ts" as well (i.e. we've been overwhelmingly told not to eat in Trafalgar Square. Ever. Okay.).

We probably won't get to these two but someone should. If it's you, tell me how it goes.

Steve McQueen is being featured at the Atlas Gallery in photographs taken in 1963 when photographer John Dominis hung around him for three weeks, shooting 40 rolls of film. I'm not sure I'm bad enough to have been friends with the McQueens but this looks like an awesome view of their lives.

The rain room. This one is brought to you from Chris. I don't know how he found this but it's an amazing technology where the rain stops wherever you're walking in the room. Can I order that for my life? Oh, just buy an umbrella? Damn. Well, there's a two-hour line for this baby so I don't think we'll spend our time there but someone, seriously, report back.

We do have a bus tour that we're going on that really hits everything a tourist would want to see and it's actually something recommended to us by three real-life Londoners. They said it's a good way to see it all first, then go back to your favorites or hit up the shops instead.

Oh yeah, I did promise that I'd tell you a little about my newest direction for paintings. I have the first one started but it's too shy to be viewed yet so I'll show you the inspiration I'm using:

This is actually going to be super challenging for me. I'm not a photo-realistic artist at all and working with non-organic shapes is something I don't really do. People are my favorite subject to paint. So I'm trying something new. These little row houses kept catching my eye. After the 11th stop to take a shot Chris asks, "what are you doing?" and I had to think for a second. I realized that I should probably do something with all of these exteriors. This is apparently the answer.

Man, I'm getting wordy. Less words tomorrow, promise. See you then!

bus