Memories from days 3 and 4 of our London adventure...
|| After my first decent night's sleep in three days, we woke up refreshed and halfway adjusted to our new time zone. Farm Bureau hosted a brief breakfast and awards banquet at our hotel Sunday morning and then we made plans for church afterwards. One of my favorite parts of our entire trip! Mike Stimmel, a veteran agent out of Iowa City, is known as the best of the best in the company. He is one of very few "Master's Club" agents, meaning he has qualified for 35 All-American trips, in a row, and has a dark green jacket to show for it. He's traveled all over the world with his wife, Barb, now a retired school teacher. And he is the sweetest, classiest guy I've ever met. He looks like Frank Sinatra (piercing blue eyes and everything), wears a tuxedo (with a red cummerbund) to all the fancy awards events, and is always within an arm's reach of his wife, usually with a hand on her back or her arm tucked through his. Last year, on Beau's first All-American trip, we had the honor of spending a night with the Stimmels, attending a show on our big cruise ship one night. We talked afterwards and they shared that in all their years of Farm Bureau trips, they have never missed Sunday church. It's always one of their favorite parts of each trip, finding a church nearby and worshiping a God who makes himself known no matter what part of the world you wake up in. We were inspired by this, and vowed to carry on this sweet tradition from then on.
Fast forward to last Sunday. Kyle and Megan, a couple we've come to love so much, went with us in search of Sunday church. After first winding up in a church basement with about a dozen families and children staring awkwardly at us, we were led to smile kindly and exit the way we came. We're only in London, once, after all, and that one just didn't feel right. We kept on walking and ended up at a beautiful Methodist church in the West End area, and were warmly greeted by three woman of completely different generations, skin color, and accent. God's spirit led us right through the door and into a pew in the small but welcoming sanctuary.
And a telephone booth right outside the entrance! I laughed often because I told Beau it was one of my "must do pictures" in London, and they were everywhere! I thought I'd have trouble finding one, and ended up finding dozens!
For the next hour and a half, we worshiped our God with a group of strangers in the middle of London. And it was beautiful! We were completely out of our element, yet strangely at home all at the same time. We sang familiar songs from my church growing up, There is a Redeemer, and Let Us Break Bread Together, surrounded by so many races, cultures, and generations. It was an intimate group, maybe fifty of us all together, and when it was time to welcome one another, I'm pretty sure we shook hands or warmly embraced most of the fifty! There were big families, little kids, and a few other traveling visitors, but that morning, we were all one body, connected under one glorious mission of loving well and praising a God who made us all in unique and beautiful ways. We knelt for communion, threw some U.S. dollars in their offering plate, and were practically invited for Sunday dinner afterwards. And as we scurried out down those grand stairs afterwards, we felt full of spirit, thankful for opportunities to see God's world and all the beautiful people in it.
|| In good London fashion, we hailed a classy black cabbie car outside church, told our driver to take us to Harrods, and felt like kids in a candy store as we rolled down the windows, felt the breeze on our faces, and took in the grand sights around us. Everything looked like a scene right out of Paddington or Peter Rabbit! Especially when we turned the corner and the iconic department store was in full view.
It was simply too grand to get in one picture!
Had to snap one of us climbing in our cab! Definitely felt like a step back in time in one of those. The whole city felt like one big step back in time!
|| And if church wasn't enough to put us out of our element, Harrods sure was! From the fresh flower display to the $40,000 bottle of whiskey, the life sized stuffed giraffes and elephants in the kids' department, and the electronics section that revealed only the most expensive and cutting edge sounds, we all had big eyes and slim pocketbooks in this place! I did shop for the kids, though, spending most of my time in the Beatrix Potter and Harry Potter section of the kids' department. I got Mila the cutest Peter Rabbit doll, purse, and skittles game (we call this bowling in America), and Cruz, a Lego set of a double decker bus and Big Ben. I was starting to see why London is often referred to as the shopping capital of the world.
The fresh flower display was incredible!
|| After our morning of shopping, we met some of our favorite Farm Bureau family at the original Hard Rock Cafe for pizza and drinks. We sat street side, made friends with our English waiter, and started what continued as a little afternoon pub crawl through the city. Our favorite spot of the afternoon was definitely a treasure we discovered in a little alleyway, The Backroom, where we all fell pretty hard for Manu, our Peruvian bartender who developed quite a liking to Beau's pirate jokes. We had the place to ourselves for a better part of the afternoon, got to spend a lot of time with Ryan and Abby Harklau, the best part of Farm Bureau's upper management, and had such a fun afternoon together. We told jokes and spooky stories, ordered fish and chips and chicken wings (twice), and bonded in this faraway city of pounds over dollars, kilos over pounds, no tipping, and lukewarm beer. Manu got a good taste of Midwest nice and American tipping. ;)
|| Monday morning, Beau and I got an early start, purchasing a two-day pass on the hop on/hop off red bus tour that would give us full access of the city. We hopped off at Buckingham Palace and caught the last half of the Changing of the Guard festivities at 10. Buckingham was packed with people, so we snapped a couple of pictures before finding solace in the lovely St. James Park. The birds were chirping, the ducks were nesting, and everything looked, smelled, and felt like spring. We strolled without a care or direction in the world, impressed that we soon enough found ourselves staring right up at the famous London Eye.
And more telephone booths!
|| At first, we weren't going to do the London Eye. Beau doesn't love Ferris wheels and it seemed a little gimmicky to us. But when we found ourselves right there, with no line to boot, we purchased some tickets and hopped in one of the large glass pods that never stops moving. It is much larger than we expected, and each pod easily holds thirty or so people. Our pod was half full, and the big glass enclosure provided us with amazing views of the city. It never stops moving, Beau's main complaint with a traditional Ferris wheel, and the entire thing lasted about a half hour. The thing we were planning to avoid ended up being one of our favorite touristy things of our time in London.
|| We walked across the River Thames, passed the iconic Big Ben clock tower, which just happened to be completely covered in scaffolding (for the next three years), and ended up at Westminster Abbey. The magnificent church towered high into the sky and took my breath away. And as we walked through the doors, we were floored by both its beauty and its rich history. I recognized the inside of the magnificent church from William and Kate's wedding, but had no idea all the history that existed inside this place. Over 3,000 people are buried inside its walls, many with grand tombs hundreds of years old. But, I most loved the Poet's Corner, which pays homage to many of the writers I studied in college, many of whom were buried there. Another thing we weren't planning to tour, but were both glad we did.
I snapped these pictures just before I saw the sign that said no pictures. :)
|| After leaving Westminster and making our way through a protest of several citizens of Bangladesh, we found a coffee shop and grabbed a couple of Americanos while we waited for our bus. Turns out London makes a better Americano than America! The work day was over, and we sat at a bar top by the window and admired all the people finishing up their work days and heading to catch the tube.
|| Monday night was Farm Bureau's big reception, a night to get dressed up and get a small taste of royalty. We hopped on tour buses that took us through several of the 32 boroughs of London - the astute financial district, the up-and-coming hipster neighborhood of Shoreditch, and the famous King's Cross Station with the beloved Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. Our lively tour driver took us to Old Billingsgate, an old fish market turned grandiose event center right on the Thames, directly overlooking the magnificent Tower Bridge. We snapped a few pictures, were welcomed by a lively quartet of handsome strings players, and made our way inside for a step back in time to Beatles Mania.
|| The entire night was fit for stars. We were greeted by several tuxedo-wearing servers, smiling from ear to ear with platters of Prosecco and lots of fancy appetizers like quail eggs and cavier. Floor to ceiling murals of Abbey Road set the stage for the theme of the night. And if that wasn't enough, our Beatles' cover band and dance party sure did! We had a blast and were treated like kings and queens.
We were officially in love with all things London. And only one more day to go on the first leg of our trip!
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