London

As usual, I'm so behind on posting! I've got so much to report about (Germany, visits from close friends, first foods), but first I want to finish posting about our trip to Great Britain.

We spent our last few days in London, generously hosted by Curtis, Maren, and Aella (Curtis and Mark are cousins). They did a fabulous job of showing us the amazing city that is London. Looking back at the photos, I'm still wowed by it! It left us wanting much more!

We loved this sign.

The Museum of Natural History (this place was amazing, I'm still speechless)

Evan and Aella, second cousins

Inside the Natural History Museum

First cousins holding second cousins (while the wives are shopping!)

British taxis are so cool!

Buckingham Palace



Entertaining Evan




Evan likes to take his lunch in spectacular places.

Evan still eating...

Houses of Parlaiment


Big Ben

Yes, Mark is making a real phone call in this phone booth.

Maren was a genius at entertaining Evan!

CJ and Maren babysat Evan for a night (THANKS GUYS!!!!!), so Mark and I had an evening to ourselves. We enjoyed a stroll along the river and a nice dinner out. It was soooooooo wonderful!

...ahhhh.

I haven't posted any current photos of Evan lately, so here are a couple:

This weekend, just after buying Evan his first winter coat (it got cold here very suddenly).

Taken just this morning...he's getting so big!

Up next, Germany!

Wales

We just came back from a wonderful trip to Germany, but I'm still in the middle of blogging about our trip to the UK. Hope you don't mind that I'm usually a month behind...

So, back to Wales. In short, WE LOVED IT! It really is as beautiful as in the movies and in our imaginations. See for yourself...

We visited a tiny town named Aberdaron, located on the tip of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. Many centuries ago, Bardsey Island, found just off of the peninsula, was dedicated by the church as a pilgramage site. Three trips to Bardsey was the equilivant of one trip to Rome. Aberdaron was the final town the pilgrams would see before making the treacherous ocean crossing over to the island. This cafe has been serving pilgrams for the last 800 years (it serves great sandwiches, scones, and tea)!

Ancient church in Aberdaron

Welsh is a challenging language!

The beach in Aberdaron

The church graveyard. According to the minister (a very nice man), said that, over the centuries, 1/3 of the graveyard had been washed away by the ocean.

Another old stone church, located just inland from high cliffs above the ocean.

View from the road by the church. You can see Bardsey Island in the distance. Bardsey is also a thought to be a possible location for the Isle of Avalon, named in the King Arthur legend. The remains of an old abbey can still be seen on the island (or so we read in the guidebook).



The Welsh countryside, as seen from the tiny church.

Grazing with an ocean view

The view, as we drove through Snowdonia National Park.

Ruthin, a small town in north central Wales, had some of the best vegetarian food we've ever had. We were quite surprised!

This building, nicknamed the "Eyes of Ruthin," is known for its many gabled windows.

Bell tower of Ruthin's church

Mark and both agree that this photo was taken in Rivendell.