UK: London & the Coast

We were a little underwhelmed by London. Not every city will be a favorite. It reminded me a bit of New York, but with cuter taxis. 

We spent equal parts of our trip in London and the countryside, but you wouldn't know it from the number of pictures we took. We didn't take the camera with us for two days since we couldn't use it in most of the buildings. I wish I had pictures of the palaces, believe me.

We saw everything you'd expect: Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Parliament/Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (inside!), and the London Eye (photo from inside the capsule).

The high point was easily St. Paul's Cathedral. We were both in complete awe. Ha, literally it was the high point: we climb to the top of the dome! The scaffolding was so rickety, not for the faint of heart. The left photo was taken (covertly) from the cathedral floor. You can see the exterior dome through the window and a little pinprick of a light at the top. The right photo was taken through that pinprick. So high. 

The outer dome has a little promenade on the exterior. After that exhausting climb, we sat and listened to the choir rehearse for a bit. Such a cool place.

The low point was Kensington Palace. If anything could be more exciting for me than Lady Mary's house, it would be Duchess Kate's house. But it was SUCH a disappointment. Castles are supposed to be pretty! (Kate also disappointed me with her choice of wedding venue: Westminster Abbey is creepy.) Kensington/Hyde Park is beautiful though, especially at dusk. We walked there most nights.

Despite all prior warnings about tasteless, boiled food, we ate well in London. Namely at Otto (cornmeal-crust pizza inspired by the exotic land of Portland, Oregon) and a sweet little place off Kensington High Street called Maggie Jones's. We tried fish + chips at a reportedly authentic (but definitely NOT authentic) place in Bayswater... it was repulsive. Worse than Denny's.

We also went out to Windsor Castle, which was lovely. QEII has some nice chandeliers, let me tell you. This photo was taken against my will (and clearly Mr. Soldier wasn't a fan, either). You're welcome, Husband.

Our last adventure in England was to the southern coast. We spent the afternoon at Seven Sisters Country Park, which was stunning.

We climbed through yet another sheep poo field to the top of the chalk cliffs. The "graffiti" on the hillside is little pieces of chalk lined up.

See the water colors? So cool. 

We spent the last night in Eastbourne, in an expensive but ghetto hotel with no air conditioning. Todd's days-old cold finally became too much to endure (and he got sunburned), so we didn't see much of the town. But we did indulge my recent obsession with good tomato sauce at a delicious little Italian restaurant (called Little Italy, imagine).

And thus concluded our UK adventure.