a trip to the kingdom with pictures

i'm officially in withdrawal from my london vacation. it was an amazing time that would like to repeat often from the travel, food, culture, day trips, shopping and lounging in hyde park. all of the negativity created by the lack of sunshine and bad food choices from 2008 was wiped clean with this most recent excursion. we arrived to a long line at border patrol, grabbed our bags and snagged a ticket for the heathrow express. the mass transit system really is great but quite expensive - just an FYI. a very nice man was willing to help carry my bag up the long flight of stairs from the tube notting hill station. love me some brits and their courtesy. perfect beginning of our time in the united kingdom.

...sidenote, love that this land is literally a called a "kingdom". how cool is that? i was visiting a kingdom with numerous palaces. apparently all of those disney princess movies did work their magic on me...

here's a run down on what we did over the six days we were in the united kingdom:

went to the national museum. took an evening ride on the double decker tourist bus. ate some pizza express in notting hill. bought some groceries. arrived at london eye at opening time to wait in line for about 15 minutes. took lots of pics from the eye. found the awesome skate park full of graffiti. took more pictures. boarded a boat for our tour down the thames. took another ride on the tourist bus. ate dinner at a whole in the wall indian place. saw les miserables with alfie boe where i cried multiple times. hopped on a train to bath. fell in love with bath. took a lot more pictures. rode the tourist bus. ate at jamie oliver's italian restaurant - yum. enjoyed some ice cream in the bath abbey square. bought a magnet. went to the jane austen center to worship at her altar and try to remove the stank of singledom. twirled and danced within the assembly rooms. ordered pizza hut meat pepperoni lovers pizza on our return. ordered an amazing english breakfast with fruit, tea, hot chocolate and bread basket at the wolsley where the women next to us ordered a traditional breakfast including baked bean. hmmm. caught a train to oxford. took a ride on the tourist bus. walked around christ church college and magdalen college. absolutely stunning colleges. did some light shopping including a t shirt. took more pictures. ate at wagamama noodle shop. devoured left over pizza for dinner. took bus to harrod's department store. ate an overly priced breakfast on the fourth floor. wandered around. bought some macaroons from laduree. bought my christmas cards. netter bought earrings from tiffanys. jealousy developed. went to kensington palace gardens. sat on a bench to eat macaroons and enjoy the sunshine and atmosphere. learned the seven princess' names during the enchanted kensington palace tour. took some more pictures. waited in line for afternoon tea at the orangery. decided i want to move to london while drinking lemon ginger tea and eating an orange scone. dropped purchased and headed back to london eye for night viewing. took a whirl on the fastest carousel i've ever ridden.  walked across the thames to hitch a ride on a bus to picadilly. found huge tourist shop where picked up flex's christmas present and a few other trinkets. found a red phone booth for optimal picture taking. toured the royal mews which was awesome. joined light crowds at buckingham palace for more pictures. saw the most awesome mullet ever. stopped at EAT for lunch on the go. hopped in a cab to paddington station for heathrow express to airport. hung out at heathrow until flight back to the land without the word "kingdom" in it.

i know how lucky i am to be able to take these trips to far away places. even as a youngster i wanted to be adventurous and traveling was really the best way for me to feed the independent beast. i have never regretted any time spent in my travels. and am thankful that the opportunity is always there to pack a bag and head out for the next destination.