Before the Start - Tessa

April 24th 2013

Hello everyone! 

Right now, we're all in the preparation phase for this wonderful adventure we're about to have! Counting down the days (there are exactly 50 days left til we depart) has been exciting. There's still so much to do! At any rate, be sure to check in when you can to see if we've posted anything new.

Away we go!

-Tessa

Finally in London

Thursday, June 13th
Friday, June 14th

London

Cassie:

We are all settled in, after a short walk to a cafe for some tea, breakfast, a little walk, and a 4 hour nap after not having slept for 31 hours. The place we are staying is an apartment in Kensington, a more residential part of London near Kensington palace. Our travel day was quite "interesting"... The flight to Dallas was uneventful, AND THEN we learned that our connection to Frankfurt was delayed by about 3 hours, so we would miss our flight from Frankfurt to London. Thank goodness for Elizabeth, the amazing person who spent over an hour trying to find us a new flight. We gave her a bar of sea salt dark chocolate just as a thanks!

June 13th 2013 Tessa and Cassie on flight from Colorado Springs to Dallas

 Now we were on a plane to London scheduled to arrive five hours earlier. We had great bulkhead seats just past business class which meant: LEGROOM GALORE! The flight was about 8 and a half hours, but I only spent an hour or so asleep. The rest of it I spent watching Les Miserables and The Hobbit on my own little TV! After we got off, we spent the next hour in the customs line, and probably the longest line I have ever been in. After that, we headed to pick up our checked bags, only to learn that they weren't actually there. After who knows how long, we finally traced one of the bags to a different country... The others are probably in the Frankfurt Airport, but we are waiting for a call to see if anyone has located them.
 We will just have to be resourceful with no luggage for at least a day or two. 

                          No luggage!              The line was so horrible we'll                                                                                       .                                                             Only show you this much. 

Susan and Cassie on hold with the airline at London Heathrow Airport

So by 10am London time (2am our bodies time), we were a little tired and dizzy and felt like we just debarked from a long cruise and hadn't lost our sea legs. From Heathrow we took a taxi van to the apartment! It is now about 5:30pm London time and I am currently waiting for Mom and Tessa to wake up so that we can walk to an authentic fish & chips pub!!  I think I have of become a sort of fish & chips connoisseur.

A line of cabs waiting to take us to our apartment! 10 points to whoever can spot the 'Sherlock' cabs :)

 Tomorrow we are leaving at 7 A.M. (12midnight our bodies time) For a 12 hour tour to Stonehenge, the Cotswolds, lunch and shopping in Stratford-upon-Avon, and Bath, England!
 Until then, I am going to try very hard to not let a bad case of jet lag disrupt this beautiful, partly cloudy day here in London! 

Susan
  

After she wrote this, we were using the tube to go to dinner.  When getting off at our stop, Cassie and I watched Tessa, hands pressed against the glass door, ride off to the next stop with out us.  We hadn't made a plan for what to do if we were separated, and I didn't buy a sim card for London, hence we had no cell phones with us. Cassie and I waited at the stop we lost Tessa at, hoping she would come back. I even asked a priest if it was easy for her to get off at the next stop and take a train back. He said yes, but more than 30 minutes passed, and no Tessa. We decided that if she wasn't on the next train coming into the station, that we would go to the next stop to find her. We had been peering intently into every car that went by for half an hour, and didn't see her on the last train.  Just then, I spotted her on the platform, called her name, and we were reunited. We all hugged, and Tessa decided she had had enough and didn't want to continue our adventure of looking for this great fish and chips restaurant.  

Before Tessa got lost, we had a bunch of fun! Susan and Cassie looking cool on the Tube! June 14th 2013, London

Oh yes, an oyster card! And a much needed map. If only we had known...

This is after we were reunited with Tessa. It was a stressful day, but a happy reunion!

We were leaving the tube station, but the stalls you need to pass into and out of, wouldn't let us out! Because we were exiting the same station we entered, not only did we get charged double ($10 each,) but we had to explain to a very nice and helpful employee why we were coming out of the same station we had just entered. We got great middle eastern take out, ate in our very nice apartment, and now after midnight, just set our alarms for a 5am wake up call to get us to our 7am 12 hour tour of England. I have slept less than 3 hours since we left Colorado on June 13th, reminds me of the tired of being the parent of a newborn.  But I am on a magic jack call to find out where our luggage is (I think it is in Germany, but after a 50 minute hold, I spoke to a rep for 1 minute to explain what I needed, she put me on hold, and the call got disconnected.  I am 1 hour and 1 minute into a 1 hour 30 minute wait time to speak to another rep, but I think I will give up and get a few hours sleep. Wait! Someone answered, and 2 of our bags have been in London all day, and not delivered.  The third will be in Frankfurt tomorrow. Luckily between the 3 of us, we have cobbled together what we need.  And there is a washer/dryer in the apartment, thank goodness. I impressed upon the nice lady at American Airlines that we need all of our luggage by tomorrow, we shall see. It is hard to believe this is only our first day here! Now to catch 4 or 5 hours of sleep (there is a nice thunderstorm, lovely, but I hope it stops before our 15 minute walk to our tour bus in the morning) before our big fun day tomorrow!  XOXO

Post from Tessa! Our whirlwind tour of England

Saturday, June 15th

London, Bath, Wiltshire, Cotswald Commons, Stratford pon Avon

    Hello! Tessa here. So as many of you saw, I got lost on the Tube yesterday. If you haven't seen that post yet, scroll beyond this one and take a peek! It was quite the crazy experience, but I got to meet some wonderful Londoners while lost who were very helpful. So, now on to today: We started off waking up at 5am after going to sleep at 12am that morning. That brought our total of sleep since Thursday up to about 10 hours altogether! Mom booked this amazing tour that explored more than just London while we were in England. The tour was to take us to Stratford pon Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace), Bath, Cotswald Commons, and finally, Stonehenge, totaling about 12 hours.  After a nice morning walk to our meeting place for the tour, we headed on our way!

    First stop (after a two hour drive) was Stratford pon Avon, where we got to explore Shakespeare's family home, and eat scones with jam and clotted cream while watching scenes from Shakespeare's plays! The actors were fantastic, and we got a picture with them afterwards. It was a fun thing to see the actual town, that is essentially dedicated to inserting facets of Shakespeare's life in every part of what they do, whether it be street signs or the "Anne Hathaway Hotel"!

Headquarters of the ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY! *fangirls*

About to enter Shakespeare's Birthplace

Me in front of Shakespeare's house

Posing with the actors who perform at Shakespeare's home

This was taken right before a live statue actor guy tried to kiss me! Yech... Still, it was funny!

Obligatory Telephone Booth picture!

This just about says it all :)

    Next, we drove another couple of hours to the town of Bath, which is known for it's natural springs and healthful atmosphere. The time was cut a bit short because of traffic, so we didn't explore the ancient Roman bathhouses. Instead, we explored the shops and ate lunch at a cafe! Something we've noticed while eating here in Europe: Not only is almost everything we eat healthy, but it's FOOD, real food! No matter what we've ordered, even takeout from the Turkish restaurant down the road, everything has tasted like the best food I've ever had. So, to finish off the Bath tour, we explored Bath Abbey, an AMAZING church that was designed beautifully. And off we were, to drive through Cotswald Commons! That itself was rather uneventful, as we didn't stop to look at anything, but driving past the landscape was priceless. Next, we were off to Stonehenge!

Walking the streets of Bath

In Bath Abbey, Bath

    Stonehenge has been a personal bucket list item for me ever since I've had a bucket list! The mystique surrounding the place, along with the feat of ancient architecture, has always fascinated us. It was just as amazing as we could have hoped! Unfortunately, as we didn't have our luggage by then, our coats were thin and the weather was cold, windy, and rainy. Still, occasional bursts of sun made for a beautiful sight! Here are the pictures that we took:

    Now, we're back at home, having had a wonderful dinner of Turkish takeout yet again. I could live off of the food from that restaurant! We're also watching Elf :). Luggage update: Mom and Cassie's luggage arrived at our hotel before we got back, so that's good! Unfortunately, my luggage is still wandering around in some airport somewhere, and we're trying to track it down before we head to Israel in 2 days! Oh well. Tomorrow we're jumping on a hop-on hop-off bus to explore central London! Can't wait!

Watching Elf and eating dinner!

Last 3 days in Reverse!

June 19th

Susan here, we are waiting in the airport on the Asian side of Istanbul Turkey after a late night flight that got us here at 5:15am. We were picked up by a guide named Safiye at 8:30am, after about 2 hours of sleep on the plane. We went through various stages of delirium today, and some of the highlights are: Our guide was wonderful, our trasportation was super comfortable, the drive into European Istanbul was eye-opening, the Grand Bazzar and the Spice Market were a hit! 

A picture in our hired car with Tessa and our tour guide, Safiye

The Blue Mosque

In the Blue Mosque. You have to cover your head.

In front of the Blue Mosque

A shot of the three of us in the Church/Mosque Hagia Sophia, which featured slightly in the new Dan Brown book, "Inferno. :)

A picture of the three of us, before entering the Grand Bazzar

A Panoramic view of the Bosphorous

The Blue Mosque was so ornate it was unbelievable, the Agia Sophia, built by Justinian for his wife reminded us of someone who has Bill Gates's money! It was opulent, sturdy, technologically advanced for the 6th century AD, and the history of how it changed hands from Christians, to Muslims to the government of Turkey was fascinating. The underground cisterns dated from Roman times, and were dark and clean and sooo cool on a hot day. We learned so much about the culture from Safiye (sophie) that we all feel we have a greater understanding of Turks, Muslims, and a city filled with history. The cruise on the Bosporus River was icing on the cake!

Cassie has given consent to post this picture only because Tessa begged.

For our last two days in London, we mostly rode on a hop on hop off double decker bus all around town! We got to see everything that we wanted to see, like: Big Ben, The London Eye, London bridge, Picadilly Circus, The Tower of London, The Globe Theater, 221B Baker Street, Trafalgar Square (where the filming of the Doctor Who 50th anniversary took place!), and Buckingham Palace! 

Big Ben

Trafalgar Square - Whovians shoutout!

"Eccleston" Street. Shoutout to my Whovians reading this blog! -Tessa

Street Sign

Baker Street Underground Station

221b Baker Street! Right next to the gift shop and "Hudsons" eatery. Perfect!

Riding the Tube home. It was amazingly busy.

That white building behind us is Shakespeare's Globe theatre

The London Eye

A major eye-catcher on the London Skyline, The Gherkin

Outside the building housing the Crown Jewels. Cassie and I had a sudden urge to steal them.

Burberry!

A photo outside our Hotel on the day of our departure

We had authentic Fish and Chips at a pub, which we agreed were the best we'd ever had

St. James' Pub.

These trips were fantastic, and we can't wait to tell you about Israel!

Next Day in Jerusalem

Jerusalem
From Tessa

After a nightime plane flight to Israel, we landed in Jerusalem at 10:30 PM. We were so tired, but excited to meet up with Dad and sleep in an actual bed! We calculated that in the past 34 hours, we slept for only 7 or 8 hours of it, and those were only on a plane. We met Dad and Uncle Chuck at the airport, and went to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Leslie's house. After a nice long sleep, we awoke to the sounds, the sights, and the smells of Jerusalem! We walked through the Arab Shuck (market) to get to the walled city, and eventually the Western Wall. We took a tour of the Arches and caverns beneath the wall, and it was astonishing to see the feats of architecture accomplished so long ago. After emerging from our fantastic tour, we did an audio tour describing the history of the Jews through carved glass sculptures. We then went up and touched the western wall, putting our paper wishes or prayers in any crevice we could find.

Cassie, Dad, Me, Uncle Chuck, and Aunt Leslie in the walled city!

Our hands on the Western Wall on the underground tour

The Western Wall

Cassie and I in front of the Western Wall after putting our prayers into a crevice of the wall

Shouk

\

Pictures from our tour of carved glass!

After exploring these ancient sights, we grabbed a falafel sandwich and went home to prepare for dinner. Our cousin Binyamin came over, and we got up and walked to our amazing, beautiful, mangificent, awesome cousin Andrea's house (wink wink, Andrea!). It was great seeing Yosef, Akiva, Ayden, and Elisha again! 

Cassie, Tessa, Yosef, and Binyamin

Group picture!

Cassie, Mom, Me, and Dad

Yummy dinner

Dinner was amazing, and after a few adjustments from Dad, we walked home. It was great catching up with the family! 

 

To see more, click the "older posts" button!