The British Invasion

From Paris we travelled to London where we stayed for seven nights with our friends Justin and Nicole Collins and their baby girl, Hadessah. Nicole and I met at Northwest University and we became fast friends. It was so much fun to stay with them and we laughed quite a bit! Justin is a regular ‘ole travel guide and was so excited to show us around central London. They live outside of central London in a borough called Harlesden. From there we were able to take the overground and the underground to different areas that we were interested in.  Our first outing was to the Richmond area of London. This was a very cute area with lots of shops as well as what used to be the Royal hunting grounds. The park area was beautiful and all the leaves were falling making it a very nice stroll. We also did a day trip to Windsor Castle, which is said to be the Queen’s favorite residence. The castle was very beautiful and we were able to see many of the rooms that the royal family actually uses when in residence. There was an amazing doll house that was a gift to Queen Victoria. It is a fully functioning replica of a palace and I can’t imagine how fun it would be to play with it. Our favorite sight in London was the tower bridge which we were able to see at night. It was very spectacular and Luke took some amazing pictures. London at night is much more magical than during the day. On our last afternoon there, we walked through Hyde Park which is an open forum on Sundays for debates to take place. Anyone who cares to can stand on a small ladder and speak out to the crowds. Some people were there to speak for Christianity, some for Islam, and others were speaking just to speak so it seemed. This was really interesting because the Muslim population is huge in London and so they were quite a few debates going on about the Bible versus the Koran. Luke and Justin really enjoyed this scene, I felt it was a little off putting because a lot of people were heckling and it was not friendly. There was one conversation that we found very interesting. A Muslim man was trying to argue against the bible and he was very abrasive. Another man who was a Christian from the Middle East, and I think converted from Islam, was arguing with him. They obviously did not like each other but the Christian man kept saying that only people who speak Arabic can fully understand the Koran. There were quite a few young men there and he was asking them to speak Arabic and he would tell them where they come from because of their dialect. It was very interesting and he was right about where each person was from. It really did make us think about why we are Christians and why we CHOOSE to serve the Lord and believe what we believe. It also reminded us that our daily lives are a testimony to what we put in our hearts and the time, or lack of time, we spend in the word and prayer is very important to our walk. It would be a very challenging thing to stand on a ladder and face derision and heckling because I believe in Jesus. But that is also why it is important to be able to articulate why we love Jesus and to be able to openly share about him, something that seems to be becoming less and less acceptable in the U.S.

We left London from the King’s Cross station and passed by platform 9 ¾ thank you very much! We were very pleased about our little Harry Potter experience. Our next stop was Edinburgh, Scotland. I loved Edinburgh! It was such a cute, medieval town and it was so much more wonderful because everyone spoke English, something we really have appreciated since being in the UK. We were able to tour the castle and the Queen’s residence, Holyrood, which were pretty grand. We also walked around Arthur’s seat, an enormous hill which you can also walk up. We opted not to since we didn’t really have proper shoes or clothes. The Royal Mile which is the main road that stretches from the castle to the palace is lined with shops and restaurants. I found a store called ‘Ness’ which is the cutest shop full of women’s clothing and accessories. There were two on the Mile and I made Luke go in both even though they really had the same things. We also saw the café where J.K. Rowlings wrote the first Harry Potter. Edinburgh has one of the best museums we have ever been to. It was full of interactive things and covered history from the start with lots of special exhibits about different cultures. There was even an exhibit about the Yupik people of Alaska which was cool. Luke’s favorite area was the one on sharks. He really loves those guys. Our Bed and Breakfast was so cute and comfy and they served warm breakfast though the scrambled eggs more closely resembled a mush and were not what we were used to. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Scotland and agreed that we need to make a return trip to do exploring outside of Edinburgh.

From Scotland we trained to North Wales where we stayed in a very small town called Conwy. It is enclosed inside its original medieval wall and had a medieval castle. It was very small but very cute and it was nice to be able to enjoy a small town with a history. We were a little disappointed with the restaurants we ate at. The first night there, we were so hungry and the places our B&B host recommended were closed, so we winded up going to a little café like place. It was bland and tasteless though I ordered mushroom soup which I did not like but which Luke thought was so tasty and ate right up. Luke does not even like mushrooms so I was very proud. The next day we had lunch at a pub and we ordered scones with butter and when they were brought to our table, besides being really small, they were pre-smothered in butter and jam. It was a far cry from the delicious scones we had in Scotland. Did I already mention that I love Scotland?

From Wales we took a ferry to Dublin. Now we have ferries in Seattle and I have never been seasick while riding a ferry. But this particular crossing was extremely rough and even walking to the bathroom was a challenge because of the swaying. Needless to say, I winded up spending most of the ride in the bathroom throwing up. Not the best way to begin my Irish experience. So here we are and we spend three days in Dublin and then begin our journey home, which we are both very excited for. Our original plan was to spend a couple days in Galway but our plans fell through so we spent that time in Wales instead. We are little sad about our time here because of how tired and ready we are to go home. Hopefully we can push though for a couple more days of sightseeing as we wrap up our trip!