My visit to London last month.

As I mentioned before, I have been down and out with the cold that just won't go away. It's been about a month, and I'm still not back to 100%, although I'm definitely doing much, much better. Hence, I've been a little slow on the blogging front. I decided to take this weekend slow, so now's time to catch up!

Last month, I went to London for a long weekend to visit my dear friends the Pattons. The last time I saw them was around Christmas time, when we all met in Munich, so it was lovely to see them again. Jessi, Jr. is a complete doll and so much fun to play with. It's hard to believe that a year ago she was just a little baby that I was visiting in Tel Aviv!

The first day that I was in London, Jessi, Jessi Jr. and I hung out in their neighborhood, doing some shopping, taking a walk, and having lunch at a cute little cafe in the area. There were already little flowers blooming, which made me so excited for spring!

Jessi at lunch.

One of the major reasons that I visited this particular weekend was for Jessi, Jr.'s first birthday party. Jessi put together a really nice party with a Dr. Seuss theme, and it seemed like everyone had a very nice time. It was rather chaotic with lots of little babies running around, but I guess that's what a 1-year-old's birthday party is like.

The funniest part about this party was that Jessi made green eggs and ham, but the "ham" was actually turkey-ham open-faced sandwiches with mustard and cheddar that were warmed in the oven. Everyone totally went crazy for them! The concept of turkey that tasted like ham was apparently a revelation of huge proportions to those who didn't eat ham, and apparently no one had ever had a sandwich that was this good. Several people wanted the recipe, which was easy enough... But, seriously, you'd think they never had a hot ham-and-cheese sandwich before!

The next day we drove outside of London and took two separate little walks. First, around Box Hill. The weather was really great, and it was quite nice to get outside and walk. It was, without a doubt, one of the muddiest hikes I've ever been on. Jessi definitely had the right idea with her Wellies- not only because of the mud, but also because the stepping-stone bridge that was a highlight of this walk was underwater, and could only really be crossed with knee-high rubber boots. I'd always thought that people just got these boots because they're totally "in" right now, but it turns out that they are actually quite practical!

Jessi crossing on the stepping stones!

Thankfully, there was another bridge so that I didn't have to use the stepping stones!

After lunch, we drove a short distance to Leith Hill, which features a tower that can be climbed to get fantastic views. You can actually see London in the distance!

London is this direction.

With the super nice weather, it was lovely to be outside and enjoy the sun and to be with such great friends. Even though we still haven't managed to live in the same time zone, it's great to have the Pattons living so close! I'm afraid that this was the fateful weekend where I caught the superbug that has haunted me this past month, but it was still a nice trip, and I'm already looking forward to meeting up with the Pattons in France this May!

A Sunday walk in the English countryside.

Signs of spring in London.

The end of our tour of England.

On our last full day in England, we drove into London, and checked into our hotel in the Kensington neighborhood. Our first stop was lunch at the Orangerie at Kensington Palace. I've had tea there every time I've been in London, so it seemed appropriate for us to continue the tradition. Unfortunately, we were too early for proper tea, but we still had a nice lunch (and drank tea)!

We had tickets to tour Buckingham Palace, which is something that none of us had done in our different visits to London. It's only open in August and September every year, so I was happy when I found out that we'd be visiting during that window of opportunity. Plus, since it is the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth, there was a special exhibit with various royal diamonds that was quite interesting. Of course, photography was not allowed in the Palace, but it was really sumptuous and beautiful, and the paintings that were on display were quite incredible. I really appreciated the audio guide that came with the tour, as it did a good job describing both day-to-day use of the Palace and the history behind the art and furnishings that we were seeing. Overall, it was definitely worth the trip- I'd recommend it!

After our tour, we met up with Brian Patton after he got off work and took the train with him to have dinner with him, Jessica, and sweet Jessi, Jr.. Jessi and Brian and I have been friends since our days at Boston University (we met in 2003!) when we would go on T-surfing adventures together, and I was more than overjoyed to discover that they were moving to London, which is much closer to Zurich than Tel Aviv, where they lived previously. It was very kind of them to invite us for dinner on our trip, especially since they had just moved into their new place a couple weeks earlier! We had a lovely dinner and a fabulous time catching up and playing with Jessi Jr. (who might just be too cute for words!).

Jessi, Brian, and I have now been friends for almost 10 years, and we have lived in the same place for approximately 9 months of those 10 years. We've had adventures in Boston, New Hampshire, England, California, and Minnesota, and in Iraq, Turkey, Israel, and Switzerland since Jessi and Brian were married. I'm so thankful to have such dear friends now only a 1 hour flight away! I'm guessing I'll be spending a little more time in London this next year...

After the lovely evening with Patton family, we returned to our hotel and finished packing and getting ready for our flights the next morning.

The next morning, we headed our separate ways: me back to Switzerland, and mom and dad back to Minnesota. It was a lovely vacation: great time with my parents in an absolutely beautiful place to travel!

Biddulph Grange Gardens in the rain.

On our two-day drive back to London from the Lake District, we visited Biddulph Grange gardens. The weather was not so nice, but we decided to make the best of it and enjoy having the gardens to ourselves. Seriously, the workers looked at us like they hadn't seen visitors in a very long time, and mom even spooked a gardener in the bathroom, since the gardener wasn't expecting anyone else to be there!

The gardens were quite extensive, and we (or, at least, I) had a nice time exploring all of the passageways and different garden rooms and themes. There were a few places where the puddles were so large that we had to think creatively about how to get from one place to another, but I didn't mind.

Not getting around this puddle!

The house is actually sectioned off into 7 or 8 private apartments, so we couldn't see inside the house, but the garden was quite nice!

Of course, I couldn't visit a garden without getting some flower photos!

Even thought the people who worked there looked at us as though we had three heads each when we said we wanted to tour the gardens even in the rain, it ended up being a pleasant afternoon.

And the rain stopped right as we were leaving the garden. Because that's just how it goes sometimes!