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While Jason rode off on a camel to Dubai for work, I decided to go visit my good friend Charlie and her boyfriend Dave in London. Charlie and I went to college together when she studied abroad for a semester and we've been buddies ever since. London was the first European place I had ever been, as Jason and I did a London/Paris combo about two years ago. I really didn't think I'd be back this soon, but that's what is so great about living here. It's so cheap to fly!

The morning after I arrived, we got into Charlie's little car and headed for Taverham (Norwich area) where her parents, sister, and Nan live. Taverham is about 3 hours away from the city of London. We had such a blast with them the last time we came and I was so excited to see them again. Sure enough, we had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures from the Taverham visit:

Had to take the shot of Charlie driving on the "wrong" side of the vehicle. I am proud to say that I did not try and get it on the driver's side of the vehicle once!

A rainy drive to Taverham

Charlie's dad wearing my hat

Charlie's mum wearing my hat

Charlie wearing my hat

Meg (Charlie's sister) made me an amazing espresso martini before we went out on the town

Cocktails at Frank's Bar...a popular bar/restaurant in the town of Norwich. Although I could have easily sucked down al three, the dirty martini was mine. I had never had one made with kalamata olive juice before. Yum! I would have taken a picture of the Manhattan I had after, but I was pretty "pissed" by then.

Charlie, me, and Meg at Frank's Bar

Night cap at The Birdcage bar (not a gay bar)- Staropramen beer.

Needs no explanation...obviously picture worthy!

Old, beautiful church in the town of Norwich

We went into the LUSH store (same as America) and they were offering tea and foot scrubs! I had a hand massage. It was a nice, little unexpected addition to the shopping day.

Brain sculpture in the town square. Not sure of the significance, but I liked it.

Dinner with Meg, Charlie, Nanny, and Charlie's folks

Back in London after the Taverham trip, we decided to do Portobello Market and Notting Hill since Jason and I didn't make it there on our last trip. Despite the bitter cold, we had a nice day of shopping and frequent stops into coffee or tea shops to warm up. In the evening, we went to a historic theater called the Electric Cinema to see the Nicole Kidman movie Stoker, which was really good. The theater was beautiful and had armchairs and couches as seats. There was a bar in the back where you could buy alcohol and food. It was really an incredible venue. It's history is also quite amazing. I'd recommend reading about it: http://www.electriccinema.co.uk/experience.php

The Tube stop where Charlie and Dave live

Awesome music shop on Portobello

Didn't buy this...

DID buy this!!

Where I bought the book shown above.

Electric Cinema from the outside

A popular snapshot that you can take of the houses off of Portobello/Notting Hill

Stopped in for a coffee in a shop called Casa Nova. Fortunately or unfortunately, we were greeted by all of these amazing looking things!

Inside the Electric

Getting ready for the movie

On the final day, we stopped briefly in Harrod's, a great place to feel poor. You probably have heard of Harrod's, but if you haven't- it's a gigantic (that's even an understatement) upscale department store in the area of London called Knightsbridge. Let's just put it this way- you can get a map to navigate through. There are over 5,000 staff members and up to 300,000 people visit Harrod on peak days. Thank you, Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrods).

Harrods from the outside.

Charlie having an Americano after Harrods

We didn't visit, but this is the outside of the Victoria & Albert Museum

Inside the Science Museum- I was happy (not really) to know that things from my childhood are now considered museum-worthy. Game Boy, Super Nintendo, Windows (early 90's), old cell phones, etc.

Google Sketchbot exhibit- take your picture...

...your picture gets processed...

...your picture appears in sand!

To end the night and my trip to England, Charlie and Dave took me to a pub quiz at an amazingly authentic English pub called The Six Bells in a neighborhood called Brentford. I had an awesome time. Everyone was so friendly and chatty. We came in fourth place in the quiz (our team name was "Let's Get Quiz-a-cal") but still were given a bottle of wine to take home.

The host of the pub quiz

Dylan- a pub guest :-)

Some of the nice people we talked to at The Six Bells

Before boarding the plane back. There is a Harrods gift shop in the airport where they are selling this guy for a discount! I mean, just look at that awesome sale price. What a bargain!

Little mishap when landing in Copenhagen. The wing took out the equipment on the runway. Oops.

A snowy early evening back in Copenhagen