A Sweet Surprise

Oct 18,

This morning, when I went back to work after my trip, I found a sweet surprise. My co-worker Molly had decorated my desk and bought me a birthday cake! That was so unexpected and so sweet of her! I was happy to be back home and see my family after my trip, but getting back to work is always hard. This surprise really lifted my spirits. The writing on the cake wasn't the best, but there is a fun story behind that. One that will probably make us laugh for a while.

It's my Birthday!!!!

Oct 17,

After our fun London trip I traveled back to Cincinnati right on my Birthday. Although I had a great time with my friends, I was also really looking forward to seeing my family and celebrating with them. That's why I actually took an earlier flight, so I could get home at a decent time. I was super tired, but I wanted to celebrate. So we went out for dinner to J Alexanders, one of our favorite restaurants. After dinner we came back home to cut cake, and by then I definitely could barely keep my eyes open. I love celebrating my birthday, but with the time change this was probably my longest one ever! So it was most definitely time to just go to bed!

London - Day 4 - Bath

Oct 16,

The last stop of our tour was Bath, which I am assuming is called that way because of the Roman Baths. We only had about 90 minutes there, since the Baths are the main attraction, but we could tell it is a pretty neat little town. After that, it was time to make the 2.5 hr drive back to London. We had some nice views of the country side before it got dark outside.

London - Day 4 - Stonehenge

Oct 16,

The second stop of our tour was to Stonehenge. That was about a two hour drive, but that was Ok. At least we could take a nap and sit comfortably until we got there. And the weather was so sunny and beautiful by then - even though it was also a bit windy - that we really enjoyed our visit and walked all around it trying to get some good pictures despite the crowds. It is a pretty amazing place.

London - Day 4 - Windsor Castle

Oct 16,

This morning, my friend Timeri and I got up early to leave by 7:30 and make it to our Day trip. Since we got out of the house so early, the streets were very quiet still. It took us a while to get to the departure place, but we had no problems getting there. Our first stop was Windsor Castle, which was about 30 minutes away, so the drive was not too bad. The challenging part was that when we got there it was raining quite hard. We had to wait in line outside for what felt like an eternity, although it was probably only about 15-20 minutes. I was glad I had my umbrella with me, but it made me wish I had one of those huge ones. Once inside we still had to wait for like 30 minutes to get in, at which point my friend and I - and probably everybody else in our group - were really losing our patience. But alas we made it in, and to our surprise the weather cleared up! We only had about an hour there, because we had to go to the other two places in our day trip, but it was enough for us to tour the "state departments", and see an exhibit of the Queen's dresses throughout the years. And as a fun fact for the future, it turns out that Queen Elizabeth was in Windsor that day. 

London - Day 3 - Walking Tour

Oct 15,

Today, after everybody finally got up, we went on a walking tour. We went to Buckingham Palace, St James Park, the Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben among the main landmarks. It was good, and we enjoyed learning about the city, but it was also quite tiring as the tour lasted almost 3 hours. By the time it was done we were starving, so our main priority was to go get a good lunch/early dinner. We went to a greek restaurant we had seen the night before, and had a pretty good meal. By the time we sat down to eat we also realized just how tired our legs were, so we very much enjoyed the break. After our late lunch we walked around just for a little bit, as it had started to rain, and then went to see another play. The play was not bad, but sitting there I realized just how tired I really was. I struggled during the first half, but managed to stay alert for the rest of the time. After the play we stopped by a convenience store to get some breakfast food, and then headed back to the apartment. Tomorrow Timeri and I have our day trip, which is really all day, so we need to get our energy back for it.

London - Day 3 - Morning Run

Oct 15,

Today, while everybody else was still sleeping, I went on a 3.1 morning run - my first run since the Queen Bee last weekend. I was afraid it might be too cold, but it actually felt great. It is my tradition to go running when I visit new places, and today was going to be my only chance. So even though I woke up later than I thought I would, I still decided to go. 

London - Day 2 - Harry Potter Studio Tour

Oct 14,

This afternoon we went to the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio Tour. It was one of those things I probably would have never chosen to do on my own, but I am glad I went. It was pretty cool. I have never seen the movies or read the books, so obviously I didn't get as much out of it as my friends did. But I still had fun.  Since it was my birthday (or close to it), I got to open the door to the main entrance with the other birthday people - and go in first. We were there for a while taking it all in. We also made a little video or us flying in a broom, but it was about 55 USD to buy it - so we decided not to do that. We just bought our Wizard picture and a couple of things at the gift shop on our way out .