Saturday morning we got up to get ready for the Edney's first football match! We only have one tiny hot water heater here at the flat so it took some planning for the shower schedule. We can usually get two showers in and then the hot water heater takes about 30 minutes to refill. I got up and showered 1 ½ hours before the Edney's would have to get up and had Jon shower right away as well. The hot water heater had plenty of time to refill before I gave the Edney's their wake up call, but unfortunately they only had ICE COLD water! Jon and I felt terrible! We thought we were being nice by getting up early and ended up taking apparently the only hot water left for the day. Jon and I went to the market while they waited in hope that the hot water would soon appear...it didn't:( After an icy cold shower Ashley and Bryan were wide awake and ready to take on the day. We took the train to Charlton (we had tickets to the Charlton Athletic match) a few hours before the game to get the full football experience. We went to a pub near the stadium, had lunch and hung out for a while. About 30 minutes prior to game time we made our way to the stadium. As we approached the stadium we thought it was awfully quite with very few people around being so close to game time. We got up to the gates of the stadium and they were all closed and everything was quite, clearly a game was not about to start. We were all very confused and went to the gift shop to get some answers. It turns out the game was cancelled due to a frozen pitch; it was around 30 degrees that day. We were in shock! It didn't even cross our minds that the game might be cancelled. In true Edney/Kent fashion we had fun anyway! We took the train back to London and spent the evening in making one of the most delicious market meals we've had! We started with an assortment of cheese, dried meats, olives and bread from the market and then had fresh bass that was caught between 12am and 4am that morning!! Holy smokes, it was sooo good. While we were making dinner we realized we didn't have any white wine, which we all wanted with our meal so Ashley and Jon went to solve that predicament while Bryan and I cooked dinner. It had started snowing by this point...it was so awesome to experience snow in London. Ashley and Jon got in a snowball fight with some locals on the way home, great story! Ashley even caught one of the snowballs thrown at her and she threw it right back...don't mess with ACE! After our yummy meal we hung out and Skyped with Claire and Reese (their girls). We showed Claire the snow and Ashley made a snow angel for her on our deck!
Sunday we let the Edney's shower first, so they actually got a warm shower! We spent the day freezing our tails off walking around the west side of London...Harrods, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, SoHo and Chinatown. Chinatown was decorated beautifully for the Chinese New Year, great timing! We had to take them to our "London Rasa" since they're the ones to introduce us to the Rasa by our home in GA...once again, it was great! After a long day of walking all over the west end, we were cold and tired and ready to warm up and relax at the flat.
Sunday evening we planned out our itinerary for the rest of their trip. Being the planner that I am, I checked out all of the spots we wanted to hit and checked the opening hours and such. I thought I had the perfect plan for our sightseeing extravaganza! In the winter months The Changing of the Guard is every other day. I knew this, so I checked on the website and it said it was on even days in the month of February, Monday was the 6th so we put it first on our list Monday morning. It starts at 11:30 but we wanted to be there in plenty of time to get a spot so we arrived just before 11. I walked up to one of the guards on the outside to ask where the best spot to watch it was and he informed me that it was not taking place that day, but would be on the following day. In true tourist style we shook it off and moved on! We walked down the mall and happened to see a bunch of uniformed guards riding their horses down the mall, it was really cool to be that close to them. We walked to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery to take in the amazing art there. After that, we spent a relaxing afternoon full of laughs strolling around the Covent Garden picking up various London souvenirs and making life long memories. It was a terrific day! When Jon was done with work we met him back at the flat and went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner, The Wright Brothers Oyster House. We had a terrific meal and just enjoyed our time together. Back at the flat the guys settled in to watch the Super Bowl that we had recorded from the night before and Ashley and I snuck of to the bedroom to watch Breaking Dawn!! We miss our girls’ nights so much and had to sneak one in on their trip...we saw our opportunity and took it! Perfect end to a great day!
Tuesday we headed back to Buckingham Palace to try and catch The Changing of the Guard...mission accomplished (finally)! We got a great spot right at the top of the stairs to watch all the action. Although it was a slow and drawn out process it was great to actually witness it. There was even a marching band that played "Hey Jude" and the theme song to the A-Team among others. Ashley even saw someone peek out one of the windows of the palace (right where Prince William and Kate kissed) and we like to think it was the Queen giving us props for visiting Buckingham Palace three days in a row! From here we made our way past 10 Downing Street and gave a shout-out to the Prime Minister on our way to Westminster Abbey only to find out that it is closed on Tuesdays! This was my second scheduling debacle….but the website does not mention this, in fact it says it is open on Tuesday from 9:30-4:30...I was still pretty bummed about this. It actually worked out well because we were all pretty tired and thought it would be a good idea to head home for a quick rest before we headed out to the theater that night. After our short rest, we met Jon at his office and headed to the theater district for dinner before seeing Dreamboats and Petticoats. The show had great music and the actors had great voices, perfect combo for a night out at the theater!
Wednesday was their last day with us and I was determined to pack in as much fun as possible. We started off our day back at Westminster Abbey. This was truly incredible! We all loved it! The history here is almost overwhelming; you could actually feel it. I think all three of us were in utter awe throughout our entire visit there. After visiting the Abbey we went to meet Jon for lunch, but stopped off at St. Paul's Cathedral first to get a few quick pictures out front. Jon took us to a delicious Indian restaurant by his office. It was the best Indian meal I've ever had! From here we headed to the Tower of London to take in the loads of history at this site. We got there about 2:30 and they weren't giving anymore organized tours, so we did our own quick speed tour because they closed at 4pm. We went to view the Crown Jewels first; I've never seen so much bling in my life!! There were some incredible pieces there. We also toured around some of the exhibits until our time ran out there. We walked home via Tower Bridge and got some great photos on the bridge and from the riverbank as well. We decided to spend their last night at home and Bryan treated us all by making dinner, yummy!! Although the Edney’s arrived for our coldest week in the UK to date, we had an amazing time with them! Thank you for coming to visit!!!
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Reading this made me so happy, reliving everything we did. We had an incredible time and miss you guys so much! Thank you for having us and for all the wonderful memories we will have for the rest of our lives. :)
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