Ralph & Teree Come to Visit!

There's just nothing like sipping Starbucks while strolling across Tower Bridge with a couple of wonderful friends!!

Ralph and Teree (who graciously shared their home and vehicle when we visited in June!) stopped over in London for the weekend on their way to "the continent" - that's what people on the UK island call main-land Europe - for their vacation. We were SO blessed to have them here!! The weekend went by way to quickly, but we packed it in with lots of great fun and visiting.

I met them at the airport on Friday afternoon while Micah was still working. After taking a little rest, we went into the City and met Micah! We strolled and sipped our Starbucks as we walked towards London Bridge where we had dinner at a great Thai restaurant!



River Thames Boat Cruise:
On Saturday we enjoyed our morning Starbucks, walked Greenwich market, then hopped on a boat on the river! The round trip cruise took us from Greenwich all the way to Westminster (about an hour on the boat).


Beautiful view of the entire Tower Bridge not long before we went under it! On the right side you can see the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral and on the right side you can see the bubble shape of London's City Hall.
We loved the new perspective it gave us of the city and seeing the architecture from a new angle, going under all of the bridges in London...

This is the Millenium Bridge, leading up to St. Paul's.

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Nearing Westminster is the great ferris wheel - the London Eye.

At Westminster, we walked up to Trafalgar Square, grabbed some panninis and fruit for lunch, walked through St. Jame's Park and down to Westminster Abbey. We toured the Abbey and though I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the church, here are a few from the cloisters!

We went to the Spanish Gallion for some good ole English Pub Grub for dinner! What was on the menu?

Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, Steak & Ale Pie, and Chicken, Leak, & Mushroom Pie. Mmmmm, good!

To Canterbury!

By Sunday we were ready to flee the city for the day, so off we went to Canterbury! Though Micah and I had been there once before, we'd had train trouble (you may remember my previous post!), therefore we weren't able to enjoy the city properly! Going back with Ralph and Teree was so much fun!

You can see from the photo below, that a pattern is developing... Starbucks not only started our day in Greenwich, but also started our day in Canterbury. We just can't get enough of that homegrown Seattle goodness over here in the U.K.!

After coffee and a sandwich, we went into the Canterbury Cathedral through Christchuch Gate...

The Cathedral is massive, though it didn't start out that way. The short-version of a long story is that King Henry II had Bishop Thomas Beckett murdered while he was kneeling in prayer in the Cathedral. Just after this horrible incident, miracles started happening... loads of people came to see and receive miracles. Those people were called "pilgrims" and their stories are told in Geoffery Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Because of all the pilgrims coming, they had to expand the cathedral, thus accounting for the large church you see today!

Inside the Cathedral...

Memorial at the sight of Thomas Beckett's murder...

Outside in the garden area!










This statue is titled "The Son of Man" and I'm giving him a hi-5 for a job welldone!

Strolling the streets in Canterbury...

Teree & Ralph "seeing" new parts of the world (through the eyes of an art scultpure at Marlowe Theater in Canterbury)!!





This morning, after Micah went off to work, I met Ralph & Teree at their hotel. They had their bags packed, and Teree (bless her heart!!) had walked down to the nearest Starbucks and brought us back our drinks... this time we traveled the dlr and the underground while sipping our mochas and lattes. With teary eyes and lots of hugs we waved good-bye, until next time...

Thank you Ralph & Teree for blessing us with a wonderful weekend!

They are onto their road trip through Europe and I'm ready to start work as a Year 3 teacher. Classroom preparation begins tomorrow and the students' first day is on September 12!