London Town

     After over a year of planning and saving (and reading a lot of Rick Steves), Spencer and I headed off to explore Europe for three weeks! We travelled by plane, train, bus, taxi, gondola, tram, vaporetto, and ferry boat through cities in England, Belgium, France, and Italy. Switzerland was on the agenda until we heard about the massive blizzard in the Alps. We ran for our lives and fled for warmth in Italy a little earlier than expected.  We had such a crazy and memorable adventure that we will never forget... and I had THE best travel buddy! We learned and practiced words like "merci beaucoup" and "buona sera"and even had to resort to the iPhone translator when the nuns in the Roman convent we stayed at didn't speak a lick of English. Even with all our prep and planning, we still ran into some hiccups which left us with some memorable stories. The airline left our luggage in Minneapolis (but they did give us a toiletry bag with a toothbrush and an XXL 'Delta Sky Team' t-shirt - how thoughtful). Actually, we were able to buy some clothes courtesy of Delta, and the jacket I bought saved me from the very unexpected cold and rainy weather in London and Paris. We had so much fun trying new foods and finding new favorites. I am desperately craving our favorite 'Limone' soda, cheesy margarita pizza, jambon and fromage crepes, passion fruit French macarons, and kiwi gelato. Mmm boy. Oh, Spencer was quite the navigator on this trip. Sometimes I felt like I followed him like a puppy. I was so impressed with how well he took charge of directing us through maze-like underground subway stations, figuring out foreign buses, and communicating with crazy Italian bus drivers who love to text and smoke while driving and shift gears with their elbows along the steep cliffs of the Amalfi Coast. We saw so many incredible and historical sites (our favorite - DaVinci's 'The Last Supper' in Milan) and took around 2,000 pictures (training from mamas Cathy and Carol). I think that's a good spot to let the blog stories begin... starting with LONDON, ENGLAND.

After checking into our hotel in London, we headed to the very unique 'Portobello Market'

in Notting Hill. I asked several people about the house with the blue door from one of my

favorite movies "Notting Hill", but no one could give me clear directions.

One lady even said they painted over the blue. Come again?!

The next day we had A LOT of sites to see and a crazy day ahead of us.
It included Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square,
Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and Parliament, and the London Eye.
We loved all of it! ...except I don't think our feet would agree.

Our first stop was Buckingham Palace to have tea and crumpets with Kate... wait that was a

dream I once had. I mean always have. We actually headed for Buckingham Palace to see

the famous 'Changing the Guard'. I think all of Asia and the Americas were there. It was a battle.

See what I mean about it being a battle?

We then headed straight for Westminster Abbey.

We were greeted by Big Ben as we walked out of the Tube station.

Westminster Abbey

The "NO PICTURES" sign was basically plastered on every wall of the Abbey.
But, that rule just HAD to be broken when I had the chance to stand in the very spot
where William and Kate were married! Spencer was being very sneaky.

Trafalgar Square

Ads for the "I'm a mormon" campaign

Tower of London

I took this same picture in this exact spot four years ago when I was in London... I had to recreate it.

This is my drill team military pose.

Tower Bridge

Big Ben and Parliament

That evening we took a ride on the London Eye as the sun was setting! The views were incredible.

We met a funny kid from Provo in our same "bubble car". Random.

The next day we met up with Spencer's cousin Amry, her husband Dave, and their oh-so-adorable daughter Amelia for lunch. Amelia is my favorite. She's the chattiest and friendliest little thing...

and with that three-year-old English accent, it'll just kill you. She even came up with the

nickname "Spenny" for Spencer. They live just outside of London and it was so much fun to see them!

We then took the train out to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour of 'The Making of Harry Potter'.

Every single set, costume, prop, etc. from the movies are there. You name it, we saw it.

Spencer and I looove Harry Potter. It was too much fun. We were giddy little kids.

There are only two places in the world to get Butterbeer: Universal Studios in Orlando and the

WB Studio here in London. We were "too pumped" as Spencer would say it! It tasted like

butterscotch soda with homemade cream on top. It was so tasty!! We savored every drop.

This is the 'Hogwarts Castle Model'. They used to it shoot all the scenes of the castle for the movies.
The detail on this thing was insane. Every teensy brick and piece of glass was placed with perfection. 

It was truly magical.

...next, off to Bruges, Belgium!!