On Wednesday, April 1, 2009, I had a bit of excitement....but Greg thought I was playing an April Fool's Joke on him. I got to work (I was working at Charing Cross Hospital) and there were tons of police blocking the parking areas. When I got to my office I noticed snipers on the roof as well as more police. I asked my boss, Claire, what was going on and she told me that Michelle Obama and Sarah Brown (Gordon Brown's wife) were supposed to visit a hospital today but didn't realize it woud be ours, it was never announced to the media. Turns out the Maggie Cancer Center was opened by Sarah Brown and today was the 1 year anniversary of it opening so they were to visit it. I did go out and take pictures (with my phone only) of the two of them going in and out of the building. Ms. Obama is stunning.
On Thursday, April 2, 2009, Greg and I walked to the Brent Museum. They are housing the Divine Egyptian Cat statue there. There is a replica in the British Mueum, that we had just seen, so we wanted to see the real one now. We live in the council of Brent, so it was only a short 20 minute walk away.
On Friday, April 3, 2009, Greg and I went to the Grosvenor House to see the red carpet entry to the Galaxy British Book Awards, I had gotten the tickets from Lizzie at work. I was so excited, I got Julie Walter's autograph (Ms. Weasley from Harry Potter). We even saw Jerry Springer and a few other celebrities, but most were British celebrities that we did not know. We found Crazy Homies for dinner, where we had some good mexican food and margaritas.
Julie Walters:
Jerry Springer:
Interesting tattoo:
Saturday, April 4, 2009, was a busy and early day. We got up and headed to the Monument, which is a memorial tower to the fire of 1666, it is the exact same height as was the depth of the fire. We walked up all 311 steps to get some amazing views over London. We even got a certificate when we walked back down, saying we had done it. We then walked by the St. Magnus the Martyr Church and then across London Bridge and met up with Diana, Georg, and Tim at Borough Market (yes again). We all then walked down the river to Southbank where we went to the very small chocolate festival. That's okay, we had lunch at the Canteen.
The Monument:
Stairs inside the Monument:
Me and Greg on top of The Monument:
Greg, Georg, Diana, and Tim enjoying a beer in the sun near the Chocolate Festival:
Greg and I then left them and walked to the Southbank Centre, by the Beach in London (?), Blackfriars, St. Brides Church (yes, it looks like a wedding cake), St. Sepulchre-Without-Newgate Church, The Old Bailey, Postman's Park, and the only original Police Box in London that is still standing. We were exhausted at this point.
The Beach, there was a sand castle contest, only it was living rooms and not castles:
The spire of St. Brides Church:
The lone police box:
On Sunday, April 5, 2009, we still walked a lot. We took the train out to Richmond and walked to and through the Richmond Park where we went by King Henry's Mound, Isabella Plantation, and the rest of the way through. We then made it to the river and stopped at Stein's for spatzle, potato salad, and beer. Before getting back on the train we stopped by Danieli Gelateria for some good ice cream
A parrot in the park:
Isabella Plantation flowers:
Easter Weekend: April 11 - 13, 2009
It was a rough weekend for me, my best friend's father was killed in Augusta and unfortunately I could not be there, my heart went out to Chad and I cried for him all weekend. However, we did enjoy the weekend with a bbq on Saturday with Georg & Diana and then one on Sunday with Lilli & Dean (Lisa was not feeling well enough to come unfortunately). On Monday we did the touristy thing and took the London Open-top bus around, just to see everything and more from a different angle.
To get supplies for the bbq we went to Westfield, where they had a giant Lindt bunny rabbit:
During our Sunday bbq, I made Lilli, Dean, and Greg have an Easter egg hunt (inside since it was raining) (Daisy Adair was trying so hard to help):
Greg and I on the top of the open-top bus, yes it is raining:
Driving under Tower Bridge:
We got off the bus to go into Hyde park at one point.
Peter Pan Statue:
This is the pet cemetary in Hyde Park:
The rest of the month was spent out of the country.
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