Farewell, Love

London, oh how I will miss you! My eyes are a bit misty right now, on the eve of our departure. Tomorrow I will wake up, get on a plane and will be a Londoner no more. The next time I return to my fair London I won't be able to use the phrase "I live here" at the immigration desk.



In the few quiet moments during our move I've spent some time reading through my blog posts covering the last two years. To use one of Dallin's favourite words, it has been an epic journey. I'm grateful for this type of journal I've created that has captured our experiences along the way. It's something of a journey just to sit and read trough it all.



It is impossible for me to believe that it has been two years since we were doing this in California. Movers. Boxes. Cleaners. And now here my place in London has seen the very same this week. We have shut the door for the last time. The keys are turned in. So many happy memories in this place that we will cherish forever.




Saying goodbye to our friends in Orange County two years ago was tough. And even though it has been two years since, and even though we are fully settled and smitten with London life, I still miss our happy home and wonderful friends in Orange County dearly. Always will. And when I think of their lives continuing on, and without us, it still makes me very sad. And now I prepare myself to feel the same for the wonderful friends we leave behind in London. Life will go on here too. And when those feelings surface, missing my dear friends in London will feel just like it did nearly two years ago. And once again there will be a void.



I love this city. It is the best city in the world. I could live here the rest of my life, and will always be looking for reasons to return. My love affair with this place makes it difficult to ever remember feeling this. I feel like such a stranger to the person who penned these words of my first few weeks struggling with life in London. There are still dirty puddles, but this isn't what I see anymore. I love my life here. My biggest fear is that it all becomes a memory.




There are a million things I am going to miss about this city! I don't have time to document all one million, but here's a hundred things (in no particular order) I will be dreaming about once I'm gone:

1. Friends, without whom this experience would have been nothing
2. Hearing several languages spoken in one day
3. The American School in London
4. My literature classes, my teacher and my fellow-classmates
5. Oyster Card (that I've had since 2006)
6. The London taxi, the best taxi cabs in the world
7. Covent Garden on a Saturday night
8. The pound sterling, it just feels good in your hand
9. St. John's Wood High Street
10. High tea with friends
11. Borough Market
12. Ritz Christmas parties
13. Amaya, and Indian food places in general
14. Outlet on/off switches
15. Being a two-hour flight from authentic Italian gelato
16. Marylebone High Street
17. Hyde Park Ward, the only church I've gone to with a lift
18. Creperies in South Kensington, Marylebone and Hampstead
19. Antique shops all over
20. Patisseries that make you think you're in Paris
21. Driving on the "wrong side of the road" as it has somehow cured my life-long left/right confusion (which will be undone when I move back to America)
22. Daphne's
23. Hummingbird Bakery
24. Regent's Park, especially the English garden
25. Eurostar, being a two-hour train ride from Paris is amazing




26. Skeleton keys
27. 10% tips
28. Being able to take prams on buses
29. Yellow traffic lights before a green light
30. Primrose Hill
31. The Engineer and all gastropubs
32. National Gallery
33. Cath Kidston
34. Being a 5-hour flight to exotic places like Egypt
35. The Clifton pub
36. Parks and playgrounds around every corner
37. Having to ask for the bill, I like not feeling rushed out of a restaurant
38. Street signs with post codes that orient you instantly
39. Zebra stripe crossings and the fact that most drivers really do stop
40. Wahaca, thank you for satisfying our Mexican food cravings
41. Lunch at the Orangerie
42. Walking so much
43. Hampstead Heath
44. Booking assigned seats at the Cinema
45. Gourmet Burger Kitchen, thank you for satisfying our burger and shake cravings
46. Royal Albert Hall
47. Feeling at home in this monstrous city
48. Simon Warwick hair salon for helping me face my mid-thirties with more style
49. Being able to see the most amazing plays, concerts or musicals anytime I want
50. Growing closer as a family living in a foreign land



51. Kew Gardens
52. Little Venice
53. Red buses and phone booths, because they just look cool
54. Whole Foods on HIgh Street Kensington
55. The buzz in St. Johns Wood during a cricket match
56. Watching poor tourists photograph themselves crossing the wrong zebra crossing on Abbey Road
57. Regent Street shopping
58. Portobello Road market on a weekday when it's quiet
59. Seeing Big Ben, it really never gets old
60. Walking along the Thames embankment during a summer evening
61. Links
62. Bank holidays
63. Wellies
64. Digestives
65. Wagamama
66. John Lewis
67. Boxing Day
68. Daunt Books
69. February Break
70. Pizza Express for being everywhere and always being a fool-proof family dining option
71. Driving through Hyde Park every Sunday
72. Waking up each day smiling because I live in such an amazing city
73. Baker and Spice for lunch
74. How each neighbourhood in London can feel like a small village
75. Rows of white houses with black doors



76. The possibility of seeing scores of famous people (even though I only saw one)
77. Springtime, there is hardly a prettier city on earth during the spring
78. Sidewalk cafes when the weather warms
79. Korean food, and for introducing me to so many amazing food types I had never really tried before
80. Giving friends a hug/kiss when greeting them (prepare yourselves my American compadres)
81. Charming architecture that still prevails in most of the city
82. Le Petit Maison
83. St. James's Park
84. The Mall lined with the Union Jack each June
85. Bottled still water at every meal
86. Sticky Toffee Pudding
87. Boots, the shoe and the shop
88. Walton Street
89. Dinner out with friends
90. Using the word lovely without getting sniggers
91. Scarves
92. Millenium Bridge
93. Waitrose, and Ocado grocery delivery
94. London at Christmas
95. Produce and my local green grocer, it really is so much better here
96. Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park
97. Picnics
98. Hosting visitors and showing them my favourite parts of the city
99. Local shops that have no equivalent in the US
100. The spirit and energy of London

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life!"



Okay and just for fun some things I WON'T miss:

1. Rocket, just should not be a food product
2. UK Appliances
3. Black boogers
4. Grey skies
5. Lack of ice
6. NHS
7. Sidewalk barf
8. Crap customer service
9. 3:00pm sunsets in winter
10. Parking
11. Paying double taxes (actually the blame for this rests with the US and not the UK)

St. Petersburg, Russia

This stop was without a doubt the highlight of our trip. Russia almost seems untouchable. Getting a visa is not an easy task, so it always seemed unlikely. On a cruise, however, you are allowed into the country without a visa so long as you book a guide, and you are not allowed to roam about the city unattended by your guide at any time. At the end of your tour your guide will even walk you to the passport control to ensure you've re-entered non-Russian territory before leaving you. St. Petersburg is hardly a place you can do justice to in a short time, but we were so glad the cruise itinerary had us docked here for two full days allowing us to get a pretty good overview of this mammoth metropolis.


Catherine Palace in the town of Pushkin outside of St. Petersburg was the summer residence of the tsars. Although nearly completely destroyed by the Germans, the Russians had kept detailed records of the palace, which they have used to return the palace to its former glory mostly completed in 2003.








The entrance hall




Ballroom


Ballroom, all the gold in this palace is genuine


Ballroom


One of the palace's many grand dining rooms


The 12 gilded doorways


Dining room


Drawing room


Catherine Palace


Catherine Palace


How we rolled during our two-day tour, you can see our driver and guide.


Peterhof Palace, considered the "Russian Versailles." St. Petersburg is pretty much synonymous with Peter the Great. His influence is seen throughout the city. We spent the balance of our first day in St. Petersburg exploring Peterhof Park with all its palaces and fountains in another suburb of St. Petersburg.


Peterhof Palace


Peterholf Palace with the Grand Cascade, a magical fountain that is powered by natural forces alone


Grand Cascade




Looking off into the Gulf of Finland


Gulf of Finland


Peterhof park is full of these tricky little fountains in an amazing array of shapes and styles, and all powered without the use of pumps. Towards the end of our walk through Peterhof we finally caved and let the kids jump in!


Peter and Paul Fortress. This is the historical core of St. Petersburg.


St. Peter and Paul is the burial place for most of the Russian tsars


Inside St. Peter and Paul


Back on the ship after a long day in and around St. Petersburg


Beautiful sunsets over heavily industrialised Russia




Mickey Mouse was birthed right next to us during our two-day St. Petersburg stay. It was interesting to note how the ships used this time to attend to regular maintenance needs. Both ships were being fed by fuel tankers and "no smoking" signs were placed all over the open ship decks during this period. You could really smell the fuel, and it was unsettling to think what might happen if someone flicked a cigarette overboard!


Day two of our St. Petersburg visit began with a whirlwind visit to the grand Hermitage Museum! This was definitely one of those bucket list items for me. While our half-day visit was nowhere near even putting a minor dent in the place, it was a real thrill to just be there.


The queue was horrendous, but our guide worked some magic and we slid right in


The art collection is astounding, and the galleries themselves were something to behold. It was truly an overwhelming experience.








The Royal Throne






Along the embankment of the Neva River








One of the many smaller arms of the Neva River flowing throw St. Petersburg.






Another great port day meal having some authentic Russian cuisine and drink!


This was the creme de la creme for me. The Church of our Saviour on the Spilt Blood is the very embodiment sublime architecture. I have never laid eyes on a more beautiful structure inside or out.






Every square inch of the interior is covered in indescribably beautiful mosaic