I'm so behind on blogging, it's hard to figure out where to start. I've got tales from Thailand, Cambodia, South Africa and around the UK, meaning I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Rather than tackle these bigger things, I'm getting back into the blogging groove by starting locally.

Last year in September for our 5th wedding anniversary, we had plans to make plans. We wanted to be those people travelling in Europe and book a last minute trip the week of our anniversary.  We had the days off, we just needed a destination!

I had discovered BA's Hello Weekend that offers destinations in several cities for that weekend, including accomodation around £150 - £300. A perfect deal!  We waited and waited until the month of. Two weeks in advance we checked our options but decided to hold out until the week before.

When the time arrived, we had the chance for: Paris (which we had visited three months before so ruled out), Gothenburg (which I thought was in Germany but actually in Sweden), somewhere random in Poland and Manchester, UK.

Underwhelmed anyone?!

I was so disappointed by the lack of choices that we decided to forgo our destination anniversary and simply have a staycation to hit up some of London's sites we hadn't yet reached.

The top of my list was Hampton Court Palace - not only is it included in our Historic Royal Palaces membership, but also is much closer to our new flat, just down the Thames. As I've read up on British history over the last year, I've also been interested in the palace due to it's close ties to Henry VIII.




So on the Saturday of our staycation, we were off to Hampton Court. In books, you read about it taking a day to reach this summer residence from London, but now one hour between the tube and the bus found us there.


While Hampton Court was around in different fashions as a manor before Henry VIII, he turned it into it's current magnificence and construction was finished around 1540.  The palace is huge, with all types of wings and some beautiful gardens, including a maze.


We started out our tour through the Great Hall and wound our way through Henry VIII's quarters, to learn about him, the famous tales of his wives, as well as the feud with Cardinal Woseley.

Just like our trip, we didn't really plan out much for our visit. We spent 3 hours wandering around the rooms without much of an itinerary. I was taken in by all the details of the palace in the ceilings, tapestries and ornaments throughout all the rooms. At the end of our visit, we found the gardens, but realised we had to get back home so had to satisfy ourselves with a abbreviated walk through.




As we left, I knew I'd find myself back there. There was too much to see, too much of the history that I love about London and the UK.  And lo and behold, I was right.  A few months later (and just a few weeks ago) we visited the palace for a different kind of tour - one of the ghost variety.


Hampton Court's Ghost Tours run in the winter evenings, allowing a small group of visitors to wander through the "haunted" hallways of the palace. For those who believe in ghosts, I'm sure there are some interesting ones to find there. For others, it's still an eery feeling walking through the halls without light and giving you an idea of what you might have been likely to find 500 years ago.

With the summers approaching and the palace's gardens to explore (plus our annual membership expiring!), I know we have at least one more Hampton Palace visit we have to make.

I grew up on Harry Potter. With a mother who was a elementary school librarian and younger siblings, Harry Potter was woven into my childhood.  It was the soundtrack to family car rides to Colorado as we passed so many hours in the car. I was the one at midnight showings (or at least one) and pre-ordering the books so I didn't have to wait a day to dive into the story. When the books finished, I was already in college, but I still spent almost 36 hours straight curled up in the hammock on the front porch of my house at school, seeing how the wizarding world of Harry Potter came to a close.

Yet, despite my love of Harry Potter, I had not yet ventured over to see where the magic happened - literally.

Just outside of London, near Watford Junction, lies a studio where they created the Harry Potter we know and love. After the films were finished, they turned this into a place for people to come back and learn about the films, or in my case reminisce.

In order to go, you have to book online in advance (and most times WAY in advance) and pick a time for your tour. After being herded into a little room to start, you get to watch a film about the films and then onto the good stuff.  The first stop - the famous Great Hall. It is nearly all a true set, with the exception of the roof which opens up to beams and exposed lights. Here they have some costumes from each of the houses and wax figures from all the teachers (Madame Toussaud's anyone?).

From here, you're on your own to explore the rest of the studio, which is broken out into 3 parts.

First up - the sets. You can see Dumbledore's office, the potions class, Leaky Cauldron and the dormitory. Some of them are so incredibly detailed - in Dumbledore's office, it's complete with pictures and all kinds of magical trinkets. You don't picture yourself in a movie set, but rather someone's personal space filled with their trinkets.

Not only do you see the sets themselves, but get the skinny behind their creation. Like some of the buildings in the Ministry of Magic scene were filled with props made from cardboard as the sets wouldn't hold the weight of real desks & file cabinets.

Next up is the outdoor portion - here you can see 3 Privet Drive and the Knight Bus among other things. Plus, the biggest draw - butter beer! Despite the cold, we made a stop here to have a "pint" - it was a bit like cream soda with butterscotch cream/icing on top. One glass is enough to completely satisfy your sweet tooth for the remainder of the tour.

The tour wraps up with info on the costumes and CGI. Even some of the fictional characters, like the basilisk were party done through props, then later filled in with CGI. This area also has the model of Hogwarts which was used for aerial shots of the building in many of the films. It was incredible - so detailed from the bridges to trees and hills around it.

Finally, 2 and a half hours later, we found ourselves in the gift shop where we could fill up on chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts, wands and robes. We perused but ended up leaving empty handed this time. A short bus ride later, we were on the train and back towards St Pancras and platform 9 3/4. 

One of the many things I love about London is all of the culture. Not only are there tens and likely hundreds museums around the city, many of them are world renowned and almost all of them are free to visit.

Amazing.

I've tried the British Museum, Victoria & Albert, Natural History Museum, National Gallery and a few weekends ago with a friend and art buff in town, we went to the Tate Modern.

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Even the outside of the museum gives away the modern art it holds. The building, up until 1981 was a power station. When the Tate took over, rather than re-make the building, they simply re-purposed it, so you can see evidences of it's past life throughout, but none more so than the facade that greats you as you walk up to the building.

While it was my first time to the museum, she was a veteran and knew the lay of the land, so we decided to first try the special exhibit for Paul Klee.

To be honest, I knew nothing about Paul Klee before this trip. I learned quite a bit though (at least a little of which I remember). He was a German artist at the beginning of the 20th century, who was a skilled musician and painter, but decided to stick with painting.

His work is modern art, but it's a bit all over the place. Some are more like Picasso & cubism, others are a bit less abstract (although we're not talking impressionism still).

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My favourite of course were the pointillist paintings. While not quite the Seurat paintings I love, it's still interesting. And with Klee, the paintings look like nothing much when you stand across the room, but the closer you get, the more the detail and meaning pop out at you.

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Once we finished with the Klee exhibit, we made the rounds of the rest of the museum. I've always been a fan of the more traditional art, so some interested me but some not so much.  We found our way back out to the Thames (with a quick pit stop at the cafe, although it's a fantastic place to stop for an afternoon tea), and off to take in more of everything London & it's museums have to offer.

Call me a nerd or the daughter of a librarian, I've always loved libraries. Even now in the age of e-books, I love to have a book in my hands as I curl up in a chair and read.

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While food trucks seem to be gaining popularity in the US (they even had a food truck park in Fort Worth when I was visited), the 'mobile' food market in London remains thoroughly in the hands of the markets. We have visited Portobello Market countless times (let's call it familiarity not laziness), I've checked out the market at Southwark and around Brick Lane. Despite this, I always recommend Borough Market first to visiting friends and family. Each time, people would come back with rave reviews, further cementing its spot at the top of the list of markets to visit. Yet, I myself had never visited it!

I'll blame it on the size of London and the public transit - if it's not a direct shot on the tube or bus for me, I may be less likely to visit. Again, laziness and I have so many things to visit that fall into one of these two categories or even WALKING distance from my flat. Portobello Road, Kensington Gardens, Natural History Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, British Library, British Museum, the list goes on and on.

Then, one day I was going a scavenger hunt through the City of London, which included a pit stop in the Borough Market. It was the end of the day, the market was beginning to shut down and yet, I saw enough to want to come back for more.

So, a few Saturday's later and my lazy self became a little less lazy and trekked across to the market South of the Thames.

I didn't have anything in mind other than finding something to eat for lunch. After I walked up, I knew I wouldn't walk away hungry. There is something for everyone - from the true market goods like cheeses, wines and breads, to food that's prepared like pies, thai food, Turkish food, brauts and lots of sweets.

We wandered by stall after stall, our eyes bigger than our stomachs. Paul ended up with a curry and I of course chose my favorite British food, a pie, with a chocolate tart & macaroon to satisfy our dessert cravings.

Not only is it a great market, it's just another great example of London's history and how Londoners have worked to keep their city great (or even perhaps a little weird just like back in Austin, TX). Food trading can be traced back to 1014, where locals brought fresh produce to trade. And it's still got many of those people today, which locally made cheeses or vegetables. In 1755, the market was threatened when it was closed because of the congestion caused by traffic around the market. Luckily for us, local residents bought up land and re-opened the market.

Like any good market, it's an eat and walk experience. Be prepared to eat on your feet, or take it home with you. We opted for the former and strolled around more, planning our next meal when we venture out to the South side of the Thames - which I'm sure will be sooner rather than later!

After seeing many castles and palaces throughout the UK, we decided a few weekends ago to switch things and check out a different part of British history at the HMS Belfast, the iconic warship that sits in the Thames just across from the Tower of London.

We headed over later in the afternoon, thinking it would be a quick stop before we got back to our winter cleaning at the flat. Little did we know, but the place was enormous! The ship seems to be almost entirely open to the public, and is self-guided, meaning you feel like you have free reign of the place. The museum spans 4 floors of the ship, from the boiler room below to the control room up top.

We started off at the bottom, first checking out things below deck including the boiler room. Warning - there are lots and lots of narrow, steep staircases throughout. They'll warn you if it's a rainy day (like most days in London), but fair warning to anyone who is as clumsy as I am and has trouble putting one foot in front of the other. These rooms were full of gadgets and steering wheels and controls that I had no idea what they were. Luckily, the audio guide gave us some background on what we were seeing in just about every room.

Also lots of good tidbits from these old informational signs from the ship

Next up, where the rooms that the crew used and lived in. From the toilets, to the laundry room (which is famous for an escapade where someone on board tried to smuggle in drugs), to the sick room, to the place they bought rations, it's just about all open to the public. It's also full of these weird, wax looking statues posed about in the randomest places. If you aren't careful, they can give you a fright as you turn your head and catch one 'looking' at you!

Whose real?

From here is where we got to see the real action. This included the turrets where the guns were fired - with two interactive experiences telling you more about the ships war history. The most important of its battles was the Battle of North Cape where it was involved in the sinking of Scharnhorst, a German ship, where only 36 of the nearly 2,000 people aboard the German ship died. Later, the ship also was part of the D-Day landings. All in all, the ship had a relatively short history, 1939 - 1962, when it was retired from service.

The final stop on our journey was the raised decks where the ship was led from. Here you could see where the Captain would look out from his post, sit in his chair and read the log from its battle days. The  operations room included not only games, where we were able to dominate a 6 year old in recovery of a lost plane via video game, but also the communications area where signalling groups still take office and let tourists try their hand at morse code.

After we left the ship to rejoin the rainy London crowds, we walked through a nearby shopping centre, which brought back to mind my first time to visit this part of London in 2005 with my grandparents. I reminisced, let Paul in on my past here, and soaked up a bit of deja vue from way back when.

Sometimes, it's good to remind yourself of how lucky you are and what a great situation you are in.

As an expat, it's easy to get into a routine just like you would in Dallas, or Houston or wherever in the world it is. Work on the weekdays, sleeping in on weekends, laundry, hanging out with friends. Sounds like fun?

But sometimes, as an expat, it's good to get a refresher for yourself on how fantastic your new home is and why you chose to live there.

With this, we've been making an effort to get out and see London! All of the well known tourist sites and some of the less known ones.

A few weekends ago, as the summer wound down to an end, we chose to see one of the most popular tourist sites - Buckingham Palace. As it was the second to last weekend of its opening, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

And while we were out, we went all out. We decided to visit Parliament too.

Bad news - no photos at any (bummer!).

Good news - both were some great places to visit.

First up, the Houses of Parliament.  This building had a whole history I didn't know about! Before becoming a government building, it was actually a royal palace.  Construction began in the 11th century under Edward the Confessor as a palace, so that he could oversee the construction of the nearby Westminster Abbey.  It was used for several centuries, as the true parliament began to unfold under the rule of the Plantagenets (Henry II - Richard III). Disasterously (and despite exclamations of the risks from others), the buildings of Parliament caught fire in 1834.

Westminster Hall - built in 1097 before the palace; one of the only buildings that survived the fire

So, unlike so many other things in London, the Houses of Parliament are relatively new!  Construction of the new palace began in 1840, after the gothic design was chosen from 97 entries from around the world. The successful designer was Charles Barry, with Augustus Pugin lending more of his input on the interior fixtures. While most of the building was done in 1860, the building of Parliament wasn't completely finished until 1870. However, when you walk through, you don't for one minute feel like you're in a building that could be deemed contemporary - it seems like you step back in time, with the vaulted ceilings, ornate tapestries, and paintings that were supposed to rival the Sistine Chapel. You can imagine the good old men, sitting around talking, smoking, alughing and dreaming up big things for England.

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As a resident of the UK, we have the chance to explore more of Parliament, if we write to our MP for tickets to sit in on session (including talks with the PM) or to climb to the top of Big Ben.

After a snack in the cafe at Parliament (where you can get a cuppa and scones!), we made our way up to Buckingham Palace.

The palace is only open 2 months of the year, while the Queen is out on holiday, or most likely visiting her home in Scotland. When she's away, they open up the State Rooms where visitors would be hosted to all of us who wouldn't have the opportunity otherwise. (Tip - book in advance!! You can also get tickets to tour the gardens, but these sell out early).

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While you have to queue to get in, once you get inside the building, it's a bit of a free-for-all as it is a self-guided tour. You can tell what's most popular as the tourists all push forward to get a peek at something the audio guide points out as important. I would probably have found the whole visit to be less than impressive if it weren't for the Coronation exhibit.

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 With 60 years on the throne, the palace had a display on to celebrate the affair. Everything from the gowns and jewels worn on the day, to paintings to completed to commemorate the event, to recreations of the dinner table for the feast.  The best part of it (besides the clothes) were all the videos of the coronation itself and the excitement on the streets of London. As the first coronation to be captured on film, it's amazing to see things that can be described, but somehow only truly captured through the video.

After we made it through the rooms spanning 2 floors, we headed out the back, through the gardens to the real London. Perhaps, someday, I'll be back to explore more of Buckingham, and if I'm lucky, outside the State Room tour.

View of Buckingham Palace as we exited

We often have walked through Kensington Gardens with Belle, around the paths, trying to avoid the Round Pond so Belle doesn't join the swans, and strolling by Kensington Palace.

But, we have never taken the time to venture inside.  When my parents were in town, we decided to finally stop by.

Besides being the home of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Palace is famous for it's detailed history of Queen Victoria. You hear Victoria & Albert's names over all types of monuments, but I wasn't too familiar with their history.

Victoria became Queen at age 18, and would go on to become the longest serving British monarch, with 63 years on the throne.

Many stories about Victoria though talk about her relationship with her husband Albert, and what they achieved together. Albert took a strong interest in arts & industry, famous for the Great Exhibition held in Hyde Park in 1851. They also had 9 children together (geez!).

Wedding gown - see how short she was? 1.52m - less than 5 ft tall!

The stories aren't only about the happy times in the relationship; some stories also talk about Victoria after the untimely death of her husband. She went into mourning for years, only wearing black for the remainder of her life, and avoiding public appearances for many years following.

Mourning garb

The exhibit is covered with quotes from letters from Queen Victoria over the walls and glass, a very quirky modern museum throughout.

While this is one of the largest portion of the museum exhibit, there are a few other wings as well.

There are the Kings and Queen State Rooms, with history of other parts of the British monarchy. Lots of intrigue and drama of course. Make sure to check out the "interactive" type displays in each room, otherwise you may run through them without gathering any information. Sometimes they are fake newspapers and gazettes, other times it may be a voice whispering through the walls.

Exhibit to represent Queen Anne & her children - 17 pregnancies with only 6 children living; of those, only one lived past infacy only to die at age 11 of suspected pneumonia

The newest exhibit we saw was Fashion Rules. It is not a very large exhibit, but features dresses worn by the royals, including the current Queen, her sister Princess Margaret, and probably most famously, Princess Diana. The most interesting part was comparing the fashions of the Queen to her sister, one needing to be more conservative, while her sister had the possibility of playing with fashion a bit more.

Ball gowns galore

Overall, the museum was interesting. Not my top visit in London, but worth a check out if you are around the park. One piece of advice - if you want a nice, quiet museum experience, you may want to skip out on Family Fridays.

I have not often ventured over into East London, with the exception of tourist sites like St. Pauls and Tower of London. There's so much to see in and around my little neighborhood, I haven't felt the need.

But when I read about another blogger's trip to London and the Columbia Road Flower Market, it got added on to my bucket list of things to try in town.

Yet, months later, I still hadn't found myself out there. Nearly an hour trip via tube or bus, and open on Sundays, meant that I was always finding excuses to sleep in and eat pancakes instead.

A few weekends ago, I finally made it out of my Sunday rut and over to the market, after much prodding from Paul.

In order to get to the flower market, we had some spontaneous wanderings through London where I stumbled across things I had heard about but not yet thought of visiting.

First off was Spitalfields Market - another version of Portobello Road, although better organised, cleaner, and definitely less crowded on this Sunday. I found a dress which I am looking forward to trying out on my next beach vacation.


Next was Brick Lane. As first, all I saw were tons and tons of people sitting on the curbs, eating of all things. Once I got past how unhygenic that seemed, I realised they were enjoying take-out from all the ethnic restaurants on the famous Brick Lane.


In addition to storefronts, there are also lots and lots of street vendors for the day. I got a hallumi wrap, perfect for wandering & eating, while Paul tried some empanadas. It was a perfect spot for people watching, all the food, vendors and people enjoying the outdoors.

Our last spot was the real reason for our visit - the Columbia Road Flower Market. It's a short stretch of road jam packed with flower stalls, and because of our late start to the day, people. I was looking for some peonies to have inside for a party, so we pushed through the crowds on a mission.







While we didn't do tons of browsing because of the hoards of people being herded like cattle through the narrow streets, I saw enough to make me want to go back for more again. There were lots of beautiful outdoor plants, which I will need when I kill those we just planted. There were also plenty of little shops stuck behind the stalls, boasting planters and other house goods. But on this day, with the sun out and 25 degrees, we found our peonies and headed on our way.


Next time? I'll set the alarm a tad bit earlier!