Farewell London!

Tomorrow, we fly back to the US to start the next chapter of our lives in Wisconsin.  It is bittersweet saying goodbye to London, the city we have called home for two years. Although the transition of moving here was difficult, we have had a wonderful two years in this city.  We have made some amazing new friends, had many unforgettable travel experiences, and enjoyed all London has to offer.  I am not sure whether I will return to London in 5, 10, 15 or even 20 years but know I will be back here someday.  Farewell for now London!  We will miss you!  Cheers!

London Bucket List

When we moved to London, I started a list of all the things I wanted to make sure we did in the two years we lived here.  I figured if I didn't have it down on paper, it would be easy to not make the most of our time here.  The list below shows we had a busy two years of exploring London and nearby areas.  Here is my "London Bucket List" and some of my favorite London photos.

Sights and Activities
Big Ben
Westmister Abbey
Houses of Parliament
St. Paul's Cathedral
Buckingham Palace
London Eye
Millenium Bridge
Trafalgar Square
Kensington Palace
London Zoo
Tower of London
Tower Bridge
Royal Observatory & Planetarium
Cutty Sark Tea Ship
Sea Life London Aquarium
Camden Market
Hampton Court Palace
Thames Boat Ride
Cable Car over the Thames
Somerset House Ice Skating
The Shard
Battersea Park Children's Zoo
Double Decker Bus Tour
Harrod's
Hamley's
Madame Tussaud's
Serpentine Lido
Harry Potter Tour
Somerset House Fountains
Hyde Park Winterwonderland
HMS Belfast

Museums
National Gallery
National History Museum
Tate Modern
British Museum
Museum of London
Science Museum
Museum of the Docklands
London Transport Museum
National Army Museum
National Maritime Museum
Churchill War Rooms
Victoria and Albert Museum

Parks
Hyde Park
Regent's Park
Saint James's Park
Green Park
Victoria Park
Greenwich Park
Primrose Hill
Kew Gardens

Sports
Olympic Event
Paralympic Event
British Open
NFL Game at Wembley Stadium
Premier League Football Game (Arsenal)
Wimbledon

Food & Drink
Afternoon Tea at the Ritz
Afternoon Tea at the Orangery
Borough Market
Greenwich Market
Eating London Tour
Brick Lane
Chinatown
Duck and Waffle
Monmouth Coffee

Day Trips
Stonehenge
Windsor Castle
Bath

Oxford
Brighton
Warwick Castle
Cambridge
Canterbury
York
Leeds Castle
Cotswolds

St. Paul's Cathedral (July 2012)

Stonehenge (October 2012)

Tower Bridge (April 2013)

Somerset House Fountains (August 2013)

Buckingham Palace (October 2013)

Duck and Waffle (March 2014)

Riding the Tube (May 2014)

Big Ben (June 2014)

London Eye (June 2014)

London Theatre

Last night, I attended one final West End show before our move, The Commitments. The West End is London's equivalent of New York's Broadway.  I have made the most of the outstanding theatre productions here and have seen a total of 23 different shows during our time in London.  I have convinced David to attend some shows with me, tagged along with our various visitors to see shows, and even attended quite a few shows by myself.  London has a great half-price ticket stand where I have been able to take advantage of buying quite a few discounted tickets on the day of the show.  The theatre will definitely be one of the things I miss most about London.  Here is the final list of shows I have attended during our two years in London:

Musicals
Billy Elliot
Book of Mormon
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Commitments
Jersey Boys
Les Miserables
Mamma Mia
Matilda
Miss Saigon
Once (I actually saw this one twice!)
Phantom of the Opera
Rock of Ages
Singin' in the Rain
Spamelot
We Will Rock You
Wicked

Other Shows
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Let it Be (Beatles' Music)
Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
The Nutcracker at Royal Opera House
One Man, Two Guvnors
Pixar in Concert at Royal Albert Hall
Thriller Live (Michael Jackson Tribute)

Singin' in the Rain with the Konkols

Tenerife, Canary Islands: Our Final European Vacation

For our final European vacation, we wanted a trip that was all about sun, relaxation, and cocktails (virgin for me!) so we booked five nights at an all-inclusive resort in Tenerife.  Tenerife is the largest and most populous of the Canary Islands.  The Canary Islands consist of seven Spanish Islands located off the northwest coast of Africa.

Unfortunately, our plans for a relaxing vacation did not go exactly as anticipated.  A couple of days prior to our trip, Colin started running a high fever of between 103 and 105 degrees.  We were able to keep the fever controlled with medicine, and he didn't have any other symptoms so we figured we would go forward with the trip.  The 4.5 hour plane ride to Tenerife ended up being a complete disaster.  Colin's fever increased to over 106 degrees, and he threw up the medicine we tried to give him.  He also had a bad bloody nose on the taxi ride to the airport.  By the next morning, he was still unable to keep any medicine down and his fever was still around 105 degrees so we had a doctor visit our hotel.  The doctor couldn't determine what was wrong so suggested we go to the emergency room.

Once we got to the ER, only one parent could accompany Colin so David had to wait in the waiting room for multiple hours while I was with Colin through blood work, getting an IV put in for fluids and medicine, chest X-rays, and doctor examinations.  Colin's blood work came back with areas of concern.  All discussions with doctors had to be done through interpreters who at first explained that he had a blood infection making us extremely worried.  We later found out that was an incorrect translation and that the counts were just abnormal.  Due to the results of his blood work and his high fever, he was admitted to the hospital.

Once we were checked into the hospital, we were told that the pediatrician couldn't even see Colin until the next day.  So, we spent the rest of the day trying to keep his fever down with medicine, fluids, and cool towels.  Only one parent was allowed to stay with Colin overnight so David went back to the hotel while I stayed.  It was a long, scary night.  Fortunately, the next morning additional blood work was run, and Colin's results were greatly improved over the previous day.  The pediatrician who saw him in the morning determined he just had a bad case of the flu, and we were discharged early afternoon.

Colin continued to run a low fever for another couple of days and was extremely exhausted, but between sleep, we were able to finally enjoy the amenities of the resort. Colin loved swimming in the pools and playing at the playground.  Even though the vacation wasn't exactly the relaxing holiday we had planned, we still managed to get some sun and rest in before the craziness of packing and moving over the next couple of weeks begins.  Here are some pictures from our final European vacation.

Poor sick boy

Trying to lower Colin's fever with cold wash clothes

Starting to feel better

Feeling better and able to enjoy some time swimming

Colin and Dad swimming in the big pool

Checking out the view of the playground from our balcony

Family photo

Fun at the playground

Relaxing poolside

The "beach" at our resort

The next flight we take will be back to the US on July 1st.  It has been an amazing two years filled with a lot of wonderful travel.  While we are sad that our last European vacation is over, we are looking forward to new adventures in Wisconsin.  Now, time to focus on packing up our apartment.  Our movers come one week from today!

Disneyland Paris: Finally a Vacation for Colin!

Disneyland Paris was on the list of trips we wanted to make sure we took during our time in London, but we wanted to wait until Colin was as old as possible before going. We planned our trip for early June during our last month living in Europe.  The Eurostar offers daily direct trains from London to Disneyland Paris.  Three hours after getting on the train at Saint Pancras Station in London, we arrived at Disneyland Paris.  We were staying at a Disney hotel (with a "Cars" theme - Colin LOVED that!) so were able to quickly check our bags and head to the park.

Disneyland Paris is much smaller than Florida's Disney World.  It is closer to the size of California's Disneyland.  It consists of two parks, the traditional Disneyland Park (like Disney World's Magic Kingdom) and Walt Disney Studios (like Disney World's MGM Studios).  We had park tickets for three days and were able to go back and forth between the parks as often as we wanted.  We probably ended up spending about 75% of the time at Disneyland Park with the remainder at Walt Disney Studios.

Colin loved our time at Disneyland Paris.  He is at the right age where everything seemed magical.  He was a bit shy around most of the characters but loved meeting Mickey Mouse.  He gave him a big high five and touched his nose and said it was cold. He was able to go on most of the rides other than the roller coasters.  Being pregnant, there were very few rides that I could go on so I spent a lot of the trip watching David and Colin go on rides.

All three of us were exhausted by the time we got back to London on Sunday night but agreed it was a great trip.  Here are some pictures of us at Disneyland Paris.

We made it to Disneyland Paris!

Colin slept through all the fireworks on the first night

The spinning teacups were Colin's favorite ride

Even with all the exciting rides, Colin loved the pirate ship playground the best

Buzz Lightyear at Toy Story Playland in Walt Disney Studios

Colin loved Rex

Popsicle break!

Colin was so exhausted that he slept in his clothes both nights

A highlight of the trip was meeting Mickey Mouse

Finally, a good family photo!