Weekend of Dates!

Hello! My thought for today: how I wish flights were cheaper between Houston and London. I miss my family and friends! How about we meet in the middle...you buy your ticket, I let you stay with us AND I cook for you? I think that's fair! Sigh....

Anyways, on to more positive things. I had a great weekend in London! I had this revelation that I really needed to see more of this city, and I think that was accomplished. 

On Saturday, I met with my friend Sadia for a girls date. Daniel would probably let me wax his eyebrows off before going with me to see Mamma Mia, so it was nice having a gal pal to go with. 

It was sunny when I left my flat and got on the tube...and then pouring buckets 20 minutes later once I got off the tube in Covent Garden for our show. Typical! So Sadia and I paid for a Pedi Cab to take us the .25 miles from the station to the theater and it was worth every penny (er, pence). I tried to get a picture of it, but the ride was way too bumpy on those cobble streets! 

We both loved the musical. It was light, silly, and perfect for a girl's treat. There were a couple of bachelorette parties (called Hen parties here) dancing along with the songs, middle aged women singing a bit too loudly, and even little dressed up girls there with their moms! Fun, fun, fun! However, it made me really miss all of the ladies in my life whom I know would have loved the musical :-( 

After the musical, we walked (under my tiny little broken umbrella, none the less) to THE cutest and most romantic little French wine bar called 10 cases. The wine list was hand written and the menu was haphazardly scribbled on various chalk boards scattered all around the place. We ate so much deliciousness...cheese, crab, coq au vin, raspberry crème brulee, and tons of bread! And of course drank some red wine to go with all of that yumminess. It was really such a great, much needed day with a friend other than my husband!

On Sunday, Daniel and I embarked on a free date together in London. We've noticed that things in London are either ridiculously overpriced or free. There's no in between. We WERE going to go see Gravity in 3D, but after realizing that the movie theater makes you pay extra for "premium" seats (those are seats that aren't going to strain your neck) and it was going to set us back the equivalent of $70, (40 pounds!!!!...JUST for the tickets) we passed.  Then we were going to go to the Churchill War Rooms, something I would still really like to do, but I'm wondering if it is boring and not worth the hefty price? Can any of you readers recommend it?

So anyways, after all was said and done, we decided to just go check out a free museum- the British Museum. It is massive and has such an abundance of artifacts and a wealth of information. I don't think that my brain could have contained all of the facts that I could have learned while there, so we just walked quickly and stopped at things that fancied our interest (usually naked penis-broken statues and ancient carcasses).

Who took it? WHO???? And can it be glued back on? 

It felt more like we were in some rich dude's library than a museum! Such a cool way to showcase old books and artifacts. 

In person, you could see a few preserved curly hairs on top of his head!!!!!

After the museum, I wanted to find the elusive "Neal's Yard"- a bright, colorful square of old painted shops whose picture pops up on my Pinterest every couple of hours. We finally stumbled across it after aimlessly walking the streets of Covent Garden! And although cute, a little disappointing. If coming to London, don't go to Covent Garden JUST for Neal's Yard. Do what we did, and stop by after a museum or play.

I hope to make more of a point of going out and doing new things, since who knows if I'll ever come back to London once we move. If you've been, what was your absolute favorite thing to do?