My time in London was nothing short of amazing. The people, the sights, the pace of the city...I just loved it all. I really do hope to return soon, but for now...I am quite happy being home. The first few minutes on the 405, I couldn't believe that in what seemed like a blink of an eye...I was back. It feels so strange to be here, but there's such a comforting feeling of seeing familiar people, roads, my neighborhood, and my apartment. Thanks to all of you for following me on my little adventure. And even bigger thanks for being so [View Full Entry]

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Divorced, beheaded, survived. That's how the English remember the fates of the 6 wives of Henry VIII. Catchy, isn't it? The TV show, The Tudors, has sparked my interest in the life of Henry VIII. With that in mind, I decided to pay a visit to Hampton Court Palace, which was his home. It was actually Cardinal Wolsey, the Archibishop of York to Henry VIII, that built Hampton Court in 1514. It was originally his riverside country house. When Wolsey started to fall out of favor with the King, he offered this Palace as a gift. Naturally, Henry accepted it. Other [View Full Entry]

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With the exception of Valentine's Day (aka my BIRTHDAY which is in less than 2 months, but whose counting?)...I'd have to say that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's all the yummy food of the holiday season, without having to buy any gifts. Brilliant. Since the English don't celebrate Thanksgiving, we all had to work on that Thursday. So, we decided to celebrate it the Saturday after. Daphne and Pete invited their closest friends and we had all the traditional Thanksgiving fare. YUUUUUUUM! Bronte and I also baked the pumpkin pie. It was a big hit and the pie plate was [View Full Entry]

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The weather has started to get colder and the last few days have brought rain. Thank God there are so many museums in London otherwise I'm not sure what I'd do on rainy days. At the recommendation of one of my clients, I decided to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The V&A is museum of art and design. Their collection includes works of sculpture, painting, furniture, and even fashion. I started off with their Fashion section. It was really interesting because well, I love clothes...but also because they showed the evolution of pieces like the woman's suit (which naturally [View Full Entry]

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You don't get to see many castles in the US, so I definitely wanted to tour at least one during my time in the UK. Today...I ventured to Windsor Castle. The trip from London was really easy. It's only a 25-30 minute train ride from Paddington Station. Unfortunately, it wasn't bright and sunny as I hoped it would be. But, the Castle itself is so beautiful that I didn't mind the weather so much. Daphne mentioned that the town of Windsor is really cute, so I planned to take a look around. As I walked towards the Castle, I saw all [View Full Entry]

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As a good Catholic girl, I've tried to go to church regularly...even while I've been here. I've been attending Mass at a local church close to home, but I wanted to try somewhere new. Catholic Churches are a little harder to come by in London as most Christians here are Protestant but after doing some research, I came across Westminster Cathedral. It's the main Roman Catholic church in England and the pictures looked amazing. Since I've always appreciated older churches, I decided to go to Mass there. The church is built in the Byzantine style and is really beautiful, particularly on [View Full Entry]

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The other day, I got an email from one of my friends from college. Her husband was coming to London for a meeting and she'd be coming along...so we made plans to see each other. I haven't seen Stacy in....probably about 4-5 years, so I was looking forward to her visit. We decided to meet at Harrod's and have lunch there. I still had never been to Harrod's and it is way bigger than I had expected. We were meeting at the statue dedicated to Princess Diana and Dodi, which I thought would've been easy to find. Thank God I asked [View Full Entry]

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It was another rainy day today...perfect weather for a trip to another Museum. After consulting my guidebooks, I realized that still hadn't made it to the British Museum. So, I thought that was a good place to spend the day. The British Museum is the oldest public museum in the world and it holds the greatest collection of artifacts of Western civilization. The galleries cover civilizations from Ancient Egypt to modern European cultures, and everything in between. When I arrived to the Museum, I walked into the Great Court to look for a map. What an impressive beginning to my day. [View Full Entry]

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Since Ferowsi returned to the States, I started back up at work and life has been pretty boring. But by some fluke, my schedule lightened up a little this week and has allowed me to get around town a little bit. There are a few things that I still would like to do before I leave, so when I had a full day off during the week, I decided to spend it in the West End. I started with a leisurely morning at home and slept in, which I rarely get to do anymore. Then, I made my way to my [View Full Entry]

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I have seen most of the sights of London, but I specifically saved the Tower of London for when Ferowsi would be visiting. I had heard that it is a really great, so I thought it would be more fun to have someone else to tour the grounds with. The day started off dark and dreary, and it stayed that way most of the day. With the help of our audio guides, we navigated through the different buildings and cobblestone paths. (I really love those audio guides.) There was so much to see here -- the different Towers, the Crown Jewels, [View Full Entry]

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