Weekend #3: Daytrips from London

Friday: Leeds Castle, Kent

I went to Kent by myself on Friday (since I had July 4th off and Mike did not).

My favorite part about traveling on my own is what happens when you ask other people (who may or may not speak English) to take a picture for you. Here are some of my faves (none are centered, nor show much of the castle):

One thing I loved about Leeds Castle is that it is traditionally known as a Queen's Castle.

Over 150 years it was owned by 6 medieval queens: Eleanor of Castile, Margaret of France, Isabella of France, Joan of Navarre, Anne of Bohemia and Catherine de Valois.

It was part of the Queen of England’s dower (the settlement widowed queens received upon the death of their husbands). Hey, I wouldn't mind getting this place as a gift.

Saturday: Trip to the London Surrey Temple

It took us forever to get here. It was great to go to the temple, although for some reason our cash cards weren't working so we had no $ to get back to the train station. A nice guy offered to share a cab back to the train stop. As it turns out he was a BYU & Cornell grad and now teaches here at London Business School -- so Mike now has a new BFF.

Sunday: Dover Castle, Dover cliffs You can see Dover Castle above the town (see above).

Dover Castle is built on an old Iron Age hillfort and within its walls it has a Roman lighthouse and an Anglo-Saxon church.
We learned that Dover is an important strategic location as it is the closest point to France.

William of Normandy strengthened existing fortifications here in 1066. Henry II had the fortifications rebuilt in the 1180s.
Here we are exploring the medieval tunnels.

Here is the old church and Roman lighthouse tower.During the the Second World War they built an underground hospital and the command center (this was used for the Dunkirk evacuation - for those history buffs that actually know what that is).


Here are the white cliffs of Dover. Not the best pic, I'll admit.

And we FINALLY got to have fish and chips. Mike got haddock, and I got cod. It was really, really greasy. I don't think we'll be having them again for a long time. And I don't think Baby Featherstone liked them very much.

But we made it up to Baby Featherstone by finishing up with some Cadbury milk chocolate with hazelnuts. Brilliant.

Photografias de Espana

Here are Mike's pics from Madrid. He made it back last night at midnight thanks to a 1.5 hour immigration line. I have no idea what he took pictures of, so I will let him type explanations when he logs on later. When he got home he was so proud to tell me all the words he learned in Spanish ("aeropuerto, terminal cuatro", "aqui" for eating in, and "bolsa").

Here is one of the main squares in town, apparently where the Real Madrid football team celebrates big wins.

This is the Plaza del Colon, where the Barclays office is that I worked in for the couple of days I was in Madrid. There are restaurants and hotels all around here, down each of the streets that comes into the plaza.

Here's a shot of the office I worked in. It looks like it was built in the 70s for sure. The tall building to the right in the background--the darker glass building across the street--is also a Barclays building. There's one more about a 20 min drive away.

Here is a shot of the building just across the street from my hotel. I couldn't ever really figure out what it was, but it was one of the most stunning buildings I've ever seen--especially lit up like this at night. In this same neighborhood are a big museum, a cathedral, the central bank of Spain, and the House of Commons.
Here's another shot of the main square in the morning.

Mike in Spain, my trip to Harrods

Mike is in Madrid today but will be back Wednesday night.

My big adventure before work this morning was to to Harrods with Payal (her hubby is doing the same internship as Mike).

My favorite part was the cheesy memorial to Princess Diana & Dodi Fayed (Dodi's Egyptian father owns the Harrod's chain). It showcases the engagement ring he bought her--it's held in the black pyramid--no joke.

I figured I should do some shopping for the baby while we were there. I had read about the mini Hummers that Harrods sells for kids to drive around, but when we went to the toy department, they were sold out. Sorry baby Featherstone--no hummer for you. Although I could have picked up a 5,000 pound pram (stroller)...those were in stock.

Weekend #2: Portugal & The Algarve

Since Mike was in Portugal for work, I flew out and met him in Lisboa (aka Lisbon). We had heard the Algarve (southern coast) was definately much cooler than Lisboa so we took a train down to Lagos for the weekend.

We were SO happy to finally arrive at our hotel. Here is Mike posing outside our room built on the hillside.

We headed straight to the pool. Poor Mike was so exhausted from his work trip (see below post) that he slept for a few hours.

This is me thinking (literally): "I love this place. I don't ever want to leave."

After Mike got a few hours of sleep at the pool, we walked around on the trails below our hotel that overlooked the cliffs.

There was this one cliff that Mike saw that he really really wanted to walk to for some reason...the only problem was that we had to go underneath this big glaring "danger" sign. I made Mike pose in front of it just in case it was the last picture of our lives.

Mike calls this his "Taiwanese pose."

On Sunday we tried to go to church in Lagos but it was moved to a neighboring town. We ended up checking out the town and then taking the bus back to Lisboa. Here is the street of the church:

We learned that Lagos was famous during Portugal's 14th-and 15th-century Age of Discovery. Henry the Navigator had his vessels built here and left for the voyages of exploration down the coast of West Africa.

Mike enjoying ice cream on the boardwalk before the trip back to Lisboa.

I love Portugal.

Mike's work trip to Portugal

Update on Mike's second week at work:

Mike's boss had him to fly to Portugal for a leadership summit for the top people in Barclays Western Europe. He was there Wed-Fri. He was up until 3am with his team of four the first night in an attempt to finish his boss' presentation for the next day.

The hotel where they had their summit was in Cascais (an hour or so outside of Lisbon on the coast). I was so jealous because it was too pretty and I was still staying in our dive of a flat in London, but he said he really didn't get to see much of the outside since he was in meetings all day/night. Here was the inside conference room.

The second night Barclays rented out a national palace to hold their evening dinner.

Here is the ballroom where they had their dinner.

Portugal has a famous style of music called Fado. Barclays had a famous Portuguese Fado singer come perform at the palace. Mike also got a CD of her music. They didn't get back until 1pm the second night.

Needless to say, at the end of the week when I flew out to meet Mike, he was so exhausted he was zombie-Mike... :) ...but he said it was an amazing experience.

Weekend #1: The London Basics

Buckingham Palace.

We are in our church clothes because we went right after church.

Here is Mike in front of Queen Victoria fountain.

I love the below pic of Westminster Abbey. We were planning on going to 3pm Evening Song but got there 10 minutes too late.

Parliament & Big Ben.

We spent the rest of Sunday exploring the National Gallery. There happened to be a huge Hare Krishna festival going on in Trafalgar Square right outside. It was beautiful.

And last but not least, here is a random pub.

We snapped this pic on the walk back to the tube. We think it pretty much sums up London.

Preggers belly

For some reason this last week has caused exponential belly growth. I used to be small...not anymore! We walk so much and are usually carrying bags so my lower back has really been hurting.

These were taken on our walk to the Canada Water tube. This is our neighborhood.

Orientation at Barclays

Mike finished orientation at Barclays. The last event was a trip on the London Eye.

My HP office

Okay so I know we haven't been posting much lately (we've been so busy), but hopefully the next few posts will make up for it.

Here is my HP office. Although it's not too far from our place, commute requires three different tube lines. The tube is so packed in the morning I can barely sqeeze in. Welcome to London.

Right next to my building is the ancient Roman wall that surrounded Londinium.

My office is also next door to the Museum of London (free!). I stop by on my lunch breaks. On Wed I attended a tour on the Great Fire of London (1666).

We made it

Our first adventure on Sunday was to try to find each of our offices. Mine is off the St. Paul's stop. We walked around forever trying to find it.

Here is Mike's office in Canary Wharf.

Our offices couldn't be in more opposite places architecturally. All the buildings around Mike's office are super modern with glass and steel. My area is in "the city" surrounded by the old Londinium wall (the original London back in Roman times) so all the buildings are super old.