Hey everyone,

I know I am extremely late for the blog highlighting our trip to London, England over Christmas, but I hope you can forgive how busy we became after our return.

Part of the surprise was from our very good friend Rick Smith, former NHL hockey player with the Boston Bruins, who gave us tickets to the Boston vs. Ottawa Senators game in Ottawa. As you know, James is a huge Boston fan, and both of us were extremely excited to watch the stars of the team up close…we were seated right near the ice, which made it seem so surreal to see these guys in real life. What a treat! Especially for a couple Canadian boys who love Hockey.

We stayed in a nice hotel in Ottawa in the technological district, and we flew out the next night landing in Heathrow the next morning.

That day (we skipped a night because of the time change) we took a stroll over to Buckingham palace near the hotel. During that time, the “changing of the guard” was taking place, which made the experience of the grand palace that much more interesting. We watched the soldiers march around the circle, and taking as many pictures as we could.

Later that day, James and I were extremely tired from the jet lag, and we made the mistake of taking a 4 hour nap before dinner. That evening I couldn’t sleep until 7:00 am the next morning. And I don’t mean, the “I kept waking up” kind of “couldn’t sleep,” rather the “I never fell asleep once” kind. So, I slept for the morning, before we went out around town for the Christmas Eve afternoon.

That day we went to Piccadilly Circus, and enjoyed just seeing the history of London. There is so much depth to their past, it is simply amazing to see the different centuries of architecture throughout the city. In the evening, James and I decided to go to Hyde park, where there was a winter carnival complete with all-year rides that stay in the park, and a skating rink. James, the true Canadian at heart, took his skates with him in the trip, and while everyone else had rented skates over there, he simply laced his up and jumped over the boards at the far end. I was slightly bummed out that I hadn’t thought of bringing my skates. Anyway, I should mention that England is not a country known for their skating/hockey abilities, and as a result, James was a far better skater than everyone, including the rink patrolmen. After a while, he was taking over their job helping people up who had fallen on the ice. I don’t think they were too happy about that, but It’s not really James’ fault that he is a nice guy, and a better skater.

After I watched James skate we went on some rides in the park. Our favourite was the drop-zone style ride that they had, where they take you up a huge pole, hold you up there in suspense, and drop you. We ended up going back many times during the week just to ride the drop-zone and get our evening thrill. We capped off the Christmas Eve winter carnival experience with some great fudge that we bought, and we ate it on the way back to the hotel room.

That evening, we went to the famous cathedral Westminster Abbey for the Christmas Eve service. This is the most magnificent cathedral that I have ever seen. It almost seemed as though the place was built by God Himself, it was that beautiful. The highlight of my evening was in two things. First, we heard live performances of a lot of the pieces that we studied in music history this year. Second, I looked over to my right hand side during the service, and there, dusted and out of the limelight, was the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer, a great English writer whose work we studied for English last semester. It was crazy thinking that the guy I had just finished writing an exam on, was just behind the wall next to me (or whatever was left of his ancient body).

Christmas morning was very nice and peaceful. I got a necklace and a vintage Blue and Orange Edmonton Oilers jersey, but most of all, the real gift was spending the time with Mom, Dad and James. We even had a small gold Christmas tree, about a foot high, that we purchased at Herrods the day before.

That afternoon, we made our way out to our Families House for dinner. It was great spending Christmas with the Thomsons. Though I had never met them before, I know we would all agree that it seemed like we had spent every Christmas with them since I was born. Paul, Fay, Victoria, Alex, Aunt Lilly, and Victoria’s boyfriend Chris, were all so great to hang out with. The opportunity to spend Christmas with family, learning the everyday life of being English really made it for me. Late that evening, we left the Thomsons’ house and headed back to the hotel.

The next two days were spent on bus tours around London. The system they had allowed you to jump on and off a bus that came every ten minutes to various stops. This worked well, because there are many things that you would want to explore along the way. Some of our London adventures included Abbey Road Studio, and the crossing where The Beatles had their photograph taken for the “Abbey Road” album. Also, the Tower of London with the exhibit on King Henry VIII. James and I went to see the London Dungeons tour, where there is a Pirates of the Caribbean like maze of rooms, alleys, streets, and rides underground that show you some of the spooky, murderous, and diseased past of London’s streets. There were sections that featured Jack the Ripper, Sweeny Todd, and the torture/body experiment chambers of the Black Plague years. We finished the evening with a boat ride down the river Thames, which took us back down near Parliament and St. Steven’s Clock (known well by its bell – “Big Ben”). This area we visited frequently, since it was near the hotel, and because of my obsession with St. Steven’s Clock. Seriously, you would know what I mean if you saw it yourself.

The last day was spent on a coach bus tour that took us to three locations: Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Oxford University. Windsor castle was beautiful, it is no wonder that it is the Queens favourite residence. We even saw her horses out in the field. I mean, come on…the Queen’s horses. They’re pretty darn famous. Stonehenge was incredible. Some might think that it is just a couple of rocks, but until you see these massive stones standing in a circular structure, you couldn’t imagine the wonder. I just kept asking myself how they got them on top of each other…it isn’t like they had a couple cranes and a few guys in hardhats. Trust me, we got a lot of pictures. Finally, we went to Oxford University, which was a dream come true for me. It was simply gorgeous. To think that they have had university classes there since the 1000’s boggles my mind. Plus the prestige and bounty of knowledge associated with the place it remarkable. I think I am going to have to do a PhD there someday. Plus, we saw the courtyard where Lewis Carroll and his buddies saw the white rabbit after smoking opium, which led to the birth of Carroll’s famous novel “Alice in Wonderland.” I’m telling you, it looked like an Alice in Wonderland type of courtyard.

James and I finished the trip off with one more skate/drop-zone ride. That evening, I finally got to bed at a descent time. In fact, it was only by the end of the trip that I got turned around to England time, only to get jerked back into Canadian time the next day. Oh well…such is the life of a traveler.

I hope this recount of the events is still interesting, even though it is a bit late. Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Thanks, and God Bless.

John