Longing for London

~Click the picture to enlarge~

It's that time again.  March always reminds me of 

London now.  Let me share with you why.

Back in 2002, my best friend, Lisa, and I earned our Master's Degree in Education.  Lisa and I met in college when we both had gone back to school as nontraditional students.  We became fast friends and have been now for about 15 years.  We both decided in 2000 to return to school for our Master's, and so we did.  We graduated with a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction.  We were so proud of ourselves, and we wanted to do something really fun and special as a reward to ourselves!  lol  We both decided that we wanted to go to England.....London actually.  Our families bought theater tickets, Bed and Bath reservations, att

raction tickets, and such for our birthdays and Christmas in 2002.  And so in March of 2003 (the 12th to be exact) we were on our way on a once-in-a-lifetime trip!!  Now before we left, we met and discussed everything!  We scoured the internet for sites and attractions, restaurants, theaters, shopping (of course!) and most importantly a Bed and Breakfast.  We chose a B&B because we wanted to get the feel of the people.  By the time we left on our trip, we had already paid for 10 days at the B&B, theatre tickets to Phantom of the Opera *insert screams here* and The Lion King, Tour to Stonehenge and Bath (OMGosh, both fabulous!), Tower of London tickets, etc. etc.  The only thing we had to pay for when we got there was our food and shopping.  

Now this journey took 10 days to complete with lots of laughing, shopping, laughing, walking, shopping, eating, laughing, and more laughing.  We had such an AWESOME time!  Every night when we returned to the B&B and made our way up to the 6th floor--up stairs as there was NO elevator we would lay on our beds and recap the day's events.  We wrote them all down in a journal so we would not forget a thing!   

I can't possibly write all of our adventures, so I will recap the best ones!

Like I said, we stayed at a B&B.  It is called The Vicarage Hotel.  It is in the High Street Kensington area, which is wonderful!!  The B&B was a lovely structure of about 8 stories high, with about 18 or so rooms.  Our room was on the 6th floor, and like I said there was NO elevator.  Our room was a small one, but cute and adequate for us as we weren't there much!  We had two beds vanity (sink) and a dresser.  The bathroom was down the hall which was shared with other guests.  

Every night when we returned to The Vicarage, we would stop downstairs in the TV room first before making our way up the stairs for the night.  Out our window we could see across the way to the building in front of The Vicarage.  One floor must have been someone's apartment as we could see clearly (NO, we did NOT have binoculars--hee hee) into their windows.  We could watch them cooking dinner, watching television, and putting the kids to bed. 

 That became our late night entertainment.  One night in particular, Lisa just knew that the man saw us, was heading across the street to The Vicarage and would be knocking on our door momentarily.  lol  However, the knock never came, as the man never even entered our building!

The double decker bus looked soooo cool, and we couldn't wait to ride it (as we took the Tube most of our stay).  Well, we had two memorable experiences on this type of transportation!  The first time, we got on the bus and we tried to ask the lady if it went to wherever it was we were going that night ( I think it was Selfridges).  She just kept saying *insert British accent here* MARBLE ARCH.  Ok, we knew there was a Marble Arch, but we didn't know where the heck that even was!  Was it before our stop or after, I still don't know.  I asked again.  And I got the same response but I little more louder and in a  little more agitated voice.  I contemplated on asking a third time and explaining that I didn't know if that was before or after the stop we wanted, but someone else beat me to it.  This time the lady screamed *the same reply* at this person.  I turned to my friend, who had one foot on the step to the bus and one step on the curb, and said, "This goes to Marble Arch" trying to imitate the agitated British accent.  My friend had not understood all that took place, and ask if we were on the right bus.  I grabbed her arm, nearly pulling it off, as I dragged her off the bus.  She thought I had lost my mind!  When we got on the sidewalk, in a safe distance from the bus, I told her what had taken place.  So we waited for the next bus, and THANK GOODNESS it was the one we needed!  Whew!  We barely escaped that one!  lol

Oh, but the story gets better!  I am now trying to really be contientious and aware of my surroundings so I knew when our stop had come, for fear of ticking someone else off!  hee hee  I saw the sign, so when the bus slowed down and briefly stopped, I jumped off the bus as I had seen others do.  When my feet hit the ground, I knew in an instance that SOMETHING WAS WRONG!  OMGosh!  I was in the middle of the street with cars that were driving on THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!!  And to my horror, I soon discovered that my friend was STILL ON THE BUS AND THE BUS WAS DRIVING AWAY!  To this day, I can still see her panic-stricken face peering out the back.  In that short time, I was wondering how the heck I was ever going to find her again!  A million thoughts went through my mind...Should I try to go on to Selfridges?  Should I go back to the B&B?  What bus should I even get on?  OMGosh, I NEEDED TO GET OUT OF THE STREET IS WHAT I NEEDED TO DO!!  lol  I weaved through the cars (with ticked off honking drivers) and made my way to the sidewalk just in time to see our bus come to a *complete* stop this time.....at the bus stop, just a few yards away.  My friend must have pushed everyone aside because she was off that bus lickety split!  Of course after we had calmed down, shopped at Selfridges, and got back home (on the tube this time!) we had a good laugh as we journaled that night in our room!  LOL

Ok, I am going to rest a bit as this has worn me out reliving these experiences.  lol

Come back SOON as I will be finishing my London stories!

Blessings Until Then,

Rebecca