Thursday, April 22, 2010

First Leg of Parental Trip!

Ok. I am REALLY forcing myself to do this, it's like trying to squeeze orange juice from a banana..just isn't happening! But alas, here I am! I certainly have a TON to write about but I just have been super lazy. I am going to split the trip into three blogs for your pure entertainment and enjoyment! Hang on and enjoy the ride!


My parents arrived on Thursday April 1 along with Drew's mom Brenda. They arrived at Gatwick at 7 in the morning meaning once again I found myself looking like a shaggy homeless person on the tube. People were actually tried to toss me a few coins and let's talk about it, I wasn't about to shut them down..money is money!
We picked them up and dad be-lined to the outdoor area for a smoke..then to a shop for a pepsi. I guess some things DON'T change! We then decided that that evening we were going to go to the musical Grease. I DID let them sleep for a bit, since they were complaining they were tired...(I don't know WHY..hahah)Perhaps one of my most favourite memories of the WHOLE trip was the first time that mom and dad stepped onto the tube. I trotted on as per usual, found a seat and avoided eye contact with any person/thing. When the tube started moving I didn't know WHAT mom was going to do! They say to do one thing a day that scares you, this was clearly mom's one thing of the day!
After the nap, we met up with the Lubiniecki's for supper, at pizza hut as per usual. Then headed off to Grease! Let me tell you, grease IS the word! Another solid musical. The singing was great, the acting was great and the set was spot on to how i would imagine it to be. I can't wait to see the United Church players production next year because Drew and dad are pretty sure they can whip up there own version of Grease. I can't wait to see Joe Poulton as Danny and Vi and Avalon as the Pink Ladies!

Day #2
We decided not to waste any time in London so we went on the walking tour at 11. This was my THIRD time, so you can just IMAGINE the excitement in my eyes and heart for it. None the less, I put on my runners and off we went. It's really neat because now I know the way the tour walks and pretty much a word for word explanation of each stop along the way. I am thinking about applying for a job as tour guide for the company except their tour guides are clearly all jacked up on mountain dew and personally I'm more of a Dr. Pepper kinda girl. That morning we had a lengthy discussion before leaving the house about the prospect of rain. I being the Londoner decided naaawwww..it's NOT going to rain. Well, jokes on me. Mid way through the tour it poured. It was literally RAINING cats and dogs...I wish it was men, but no luck. We got through half the tour and the weather wasn't by any means a Mexican Holiday but it at least wasn't raining but then BOOM it started absolutely pouring! We had plans to continue walking around after the walking tour but instead made a direct trip home and stayed there for the rest of the day.

Day #3
We woke up on day three to a bright and sunny day and decided that we would head of to check out the Imperial War Museum. Again, I've been here before but I still found it very enjoyable! The only issue was that mom almost got kicked out for trying to climb on all the tanks and stuff. I guess she really wanted the whole experience! Me and dad had to rescue her and lucky I have charm and wit or mom would still be in jail or something.
After the museum it was surprisingly still sunny so we decided to walk around central London and check out all that we did the day before but this time minus the rain.
We started walking and checking things out and by the end of the day my shoes were smoking and there was the strange scent of rubber burning.

Things we saw along our walk:
1. naked men statues in parks.
2. naked men that weren't statues.
3. pigeons.
4. tourists
5. London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham..you know..the classic "london things"
6. Ice cream
7. Best of all, an old man living the dream in the park feeding the pigeons peanuts out of his hand. I see this and immediately decide that I gotta do this too. So, I hopped over to the man, he put some nuts in my hands and the pigeons literally went nuts! It was mayhem but perhaps the bitter sweet ending to this story is that they did NOT poop on me! WEO!

Day #4
We were putting it off for days so we decided that while the sun shone we'd better get on that London Eye. Mom didn't want to go but I told her if she didn't I would shave her head in the middle of the night. She said she'd go, guess she wasn't sure if she could rock the bald look.
First we went on a River Cruise down the river thames. Went on a big boat/ship/thing which took us through a bunch of the bridges and to see a lot of the sights from the water. It was really really really cool. Learned a lot and saw a lot. Perhaps one of my more favourite stories from the shoreline is the fact that there is a tower that clearly says "oxo." I'd seen it before and I'd always wondered what it was for. Turns out, it is where they used to make Oxo, you know, the chicken flavouring stuff. Back in the day they weren't allowed to advertise on the river, but OXO got away with it claiming that they simply put up a tower that coincidentally looked like the word Oxo.
We also went under the London Bridge and thankfully it didn't fall. Straight up, London bridge is LAME. It's just a bridge like we'd see crossing the Assiniboine River. For such hoopla and fame you'd think the London Bridge would be amazing. The tower bridge on the other hand is a sight to see!
After our Boat tour we got into the day long line up to get into the London Eye. We got onto the London Eye and up up up we went! We really could see forever! It was really neat to see everything from such a distance. I think I actually spotted Preeceville but I can't be sure. The flight takes about half an hour and it's not scary at all! You can apparently rent your own thingy for like 300 pounds and have a romantic date or even a wedding. I think on my next flight I'll take the wedding deal.
After the London Eye we went on the "London Eye 4D adventure." This was definitely the highlight of my day. You get these super stylish 3d glasses which sort of resemble the one's my mom had in the 70's. They lead you into this mini movie theatre where you stand and watch a show. I got spit at by a dragon, bubbles flew into my face, and a seagull tried to smack me with it's wings. It was amazing. It was about the story of the London Eye. Apparently this little girl couldn't enjoy all the sights of London because she was too small. Then she saw a seagull and thought that it would be amazing to be a bird to see london. Hence the London eye you get a "birds eye view." Pretty neat!

Day #5
This is the day before we headed off to Alderely edge, liverpool and ireland so we decided that we should just hang low and maybe do some shopping. Dad was absolutely thrilled to be shopping with us.
things dad would have rather done...
1. pulled a calf.
2. picked square bales.
3. watched every episode of One tree hill instead of wrestling.
4. listened to rap music.

Me and mom did find a few good things which was great!!!

Overall, our time in London was a blast. The weather held up for the most part apart from torrential down pours once a day!

Things mom and dad noticed about London...

1. People are crazy and will do anything for money. (street performers near the London eye)
2. The pepsi "tastes" different.
3. The eggs are as big as ostrich eggs.
4. The tube is an interesting place with interesting people.
5. Fish and chips are good.
6. There are about 39203480384038 different types of flowers and trees here.


stay tuned for part two: Alderely Edge, the Search for Ancestors.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

you've done it again! another winning BLOG. I almost died laughing at the thought of Vi and Avalon as the Pink Ladies.