You Sound Like You're From London!

Logically, our first weekend we were "at home" in Italy, we spent it flying out to London!  This was a special trip for us as I could finally show Luke the location of my beloved 6-week study abroad some years ago, and return to what I still think of as my "European" home.  We also had a few special shows to see while we were over there, so despite having to learn the lesson, "waiting until the week before to buy plane tickets is a very bad, and very expensive idea"in order to actually get there, we were both very excited for our trip.
We arrived Friday afternoon and, after navigating the tube to our hotel, we admired our room's view of
"The Gherkin" and part of London's skyline before setting out to see some of the sights.

We headed straight to the big three: Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey.  We got off at the Westminster tube stop, crossed the street, and I had Luke turn towards me so I could take this picture of his first time seeing Big Ben...

 ...we turned, walked past Big Ben, and only when we turned around to get a better view of Parliament did Luke say, "Whoa! There's Big Ben!"  In other words, when I took the picture above, Luke had no idea where he was, what he was standing in front of, or that we're have photographic proof to remind us of this occasion.  We decided to take another picture to commemorate the experience and were lucky to get one of London's double-decker red buses passing at a perfect time to add even more effect.

 We walked a little further and stopped to take in the beautiful architecture of Westminster Abbey.  Unfortunately, it was closed for the day so we couldn't get inside, but simply standing in front of it is enough to give you a feeling of awe.

We then walked across the Thames and made our way to The Academy, where the concert being held that night.  The venue ended up being very cool, and absolutely enormous inside.

Beirut is one of our favorite bands and put on an absolutely amazing show that has since been declared one of the best we have seen.  If you have never listened to them, we highly suggest giving them a try.  Be warned that it at times takes on characteristics of what I like to refer to as gypsy circus music, but the musical talent in the band is extraordinary and the lead singer's voice is mesmerizing.  Also, with it being the last show of their European tour, we got a few extra songs at the end where the singer came out and played solo - very cool.

 Afterwards, we went to the "after party" that was held in what appeared to be a house which half had been turned into a bar, and the other half was a live music area with a stage.  We stayed through a couple of other bands playing (including one, Molotov Jukebox, whose lead singer was the girl who played Tonks in the Harry Potter movies = the real reason I wanted to go).  While it was fun, it was also a little weird (think London punk scene) so we decided to turn in early as we had a lot to see the following day.  To get back to our hotel, we elected to take one of the infamous red double-decker busses, and sat up top amongst a handful of intoxicated adolescents who spent the ride singing "No Scrubs" and "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls" by TLC.  Priceless.

On Saturday, we decided to go to Tower Bridge, as it was something I never saw while I was in London.

 We ended up climbing to the top, which gave us some pretty cool views of London down the Thames.

From the Tower Bridge, we headed to my favorite spot in London, St. Paul's Cathedral, stopping first, of course, to get tea and a scone at one of my other favorite spots in London, "tea", which is right next to the Cathedral gardens.

 Inside St. Paul's, Luke took a few forbidden pictures of the cathedral before we began our epic climb to the top.

 It was exhausting, but the view from the top is incomparable.  Despite not wanting to see another set of stairs for the next three years, we were very glad we did it.

From St. Pauls, we explored Covent Garden market and walked to Trafalgar Square.  Hungry from all of our climbing and walking, we got some Pret (my favorite thing to eat in London - Luke had been hearing about it for years) and enjoyed it on the steps of a museum.

 Trafalgar was beautiful, as always, and we had fun taking some pictures of the fountains...

 and, of course, the lions.

Our final activity was my surprise birthday present (which had ceased to be a surprise when Luke told me about it the week before): tickets to see Wicked!  It was an absolutely amazing show, which was greatly enhanced by the fact that my amazing husband had so thoughtfully bought me the tickets and was sitting by my side, despite the fact that he hates going to see plays.  (I'm desperately hoping to change this, and have a feeling that Wicked has started the process).

All in all, though it was short, it was an amazing trip, and a smashing way to spend our first weekend at home in Italy.