Cheerio Love!

Okay, write this down in your journals. I am FINALLY posting pictures from our magnificent European adventure! These pictures and stories will come in installments, one country at a time. Lets begin with England.

England was wonderful! I flew over to Manchester with two of my coworkers, and the cast of Glee. I think they had a few concerts over there or something. I wanted to get a picture but their body guard was staring me down pretty bad. Anywho, we left Sunday at 2 after a 3 hour delay (lovely). We barely made our connector in NYC and continued on to Manchester. We arrived completely exhausted in Manchester at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. Monday was one of the LONGEST days of my life. We tried to stay awake all day, but I ended up crashing for a few hours. I salute anyone that can actually make themselves stay awake, I'll take the jet lag instead.

I spent Monday through Friday in Manchester attending and presenting at a conference there. I must say, Manchester is pretty ugly. Luckily we were next to the shopping district so the scenery wasn't too bad :) Manchester was also very cold. I had to go buy tights just to keep warm! The conference was great. Natalie and Kirk did a wonderful job during our presentation, I mumbled and blabbered my way through my part. During our down time we shopped, ate, and made it to the Preston Temple, which was BEAUTIFUL!

Greg flew over on Friday and I was so excited to see him! I get nervous if we are in different states, different countries was a separation anxiety of its own kind. I met him at the train station (how foreign right?) and we walked back to our hotel. He was more successful at staying awake than I was, but he did get in mid-afternoon.

On Saturday we took a train (or 5) down to London with Natalie. This was awesome because we were able to really see England. We had several stops and connecting trains where we were able to people watch. The English countryside is so pretty. This was probably one of our favorite parts of the trip.

In London we stayed in a great Marriott located in the North-West part of town. Thanks Spencer for the great hook-up! We only had a few days in London but we were able to see the following:

Buckingham Palace

Tower of London

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

The Imperial War Museum

The British Museum

Abbey Road

Thames River

Picadilly Circus

The last night there we even went and saw Les Mis. It was AMAZING!!

So here's the deal with England: It was great to see, but I don't know that I could ever live there. They only eat meat and potatoes (couldn't find fresh fruit for the life of me), it smells bad, and the whether isn't the greatest. BUT, they do have the best orange fanta in the world (it is made with real orange juice), the accents are killer, and their public transportation is incredible and so caring "Please mind the gap". Plus, on every other corner there is a man with a guitar and harmonica who is performing for tips, I loved that!

I loved the new lingo too...

Bangers and mash: sausage and mashed potatoes

Cheerio/Cheers: hello, goodbye, really whatever you want it to mean

Trouser: pants

Pants: underwear

Toilet: bathroom (if you ask for the restroom they have no idea what you are talking about)

Chips: fries

Crisps: chips

Pudding: anything sweet

Lift: elevator

Que: line to wait in

Here is a slideshow of pictures from England. For some reason they running backwards, newest to oldest. I don't have the patience to figure out why.

Cheers!