Of course I was dumb enough not to take any pictures while we were at the airport, so you can imagine long lost hugs happening after the security gate.
While I had the opportunity to have her visit London the previous month when she came with my dad and younger brother, this time I had her all to myself and we had planned the most wonderful vacation!
After picking her up from the airport we headed back to the flat to drop off her luggage and get some lunch! Our next stop was to Portobello market, since neither of us had fully walked along it's entire length before. My mum purchased some touristy items in some of the shops and I took her to Hummingbird Bakery Cafe, one of the finest bakeries in London! During each month, they display different types of cupcakes for each month. During April it was Blueberry Lemon and Salted Caramel. I think my favorite cupcake that I've had from there was their Pumpkin Spice Cupcake which was there during March. I think I had 4 of them over the course of the entire month!
Once we walked the entire of Portobello Market, we started to slow down, jet lag was hitting mum and I was exhausted from my all-nighter in the airport. But since it was only 5 o'clock or so, we knew that we couldn't sleep yet! So we headed out to get some dinner at the Notting Hill Fish House which have awesome Chips and Cod Bites (These are so much better than regular fish and chips because more of the surface area of the chip is fried!) By the end of the meal we could barely keep our eyes open and we headed home to get some well needed sleep.
The next morning was time for church, but neither of us woke up until 11:45, so there was a frantic rush to get ready because we needed to leave at 12:30 to make it on time! Church was a wonderful experience, we met up with a guy from my ward and History class on the bus and got to chat up with him. He had recently come home from traveling to Iceland and Denmark.
Once church was over, mum and I made our way back home to relax and spend the rest of the afternoon catching up and making dinner.
The next morning (April 12) was the beginning of our journey! Our first stop was to the Westminster tube station where we got off in Parliament Square and took a lovely tourist photo!
From there our journey took us down around the corner to the Churchill War Rooms Museum! This museum is a fantastic exhibit entirely underground! Many of the original pieces used during the London Blitz and second World War are still found down there! For those of you who don't know, behind 10 Downing Street is a large empty lot that used to be a car park. Well underneath this empty lot, they built secret war bunkers to house the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, during the time of war in the 20th century.
This museum holds relics from Churchill's life and the original bunker furniture that has not been touched!
One of my favorite pieces of clothing that was worn by Churchill, it's very recognizable!
It was even a piece of Churchill's costume in an episode of Doctor Who!
Another one of my favorite items in the museum was the Enigma Machine
For those of you who have no idea what this is, this is the famous coding machine that the Nazis used during WWII. And if it hadn't been for the ingenious mind of Alan Turing and work of other brave men and women breaking this cypher, the Allies might have lost the war.
There was a ton of information in the museum and I really suggest you go see it if you are in London!
We then walked to Trafalgar Square and stopped by Tortilla to pick up some lunch to eat at home. Once we ate, we packed up our belongings and headed to Watford Junction for our second round of Harry Potter!
On March 16th or so, they opened rebuilt and set up Platform 9 3/4 to the public! So of course we needed to go see the original Hogwarts Express that two the students to school every year!
Let me tell you, I was not disappointed at the new set up that had been introduced!
We didn't stay very long because we had already seen the exhibit and we were on a bit of a time crunch, so we quickly jumped to the platform and got in line to walk along the train compartments!
While there were only 2 coaches behind the engine, we were still able to look into the compartments that we set up representing the school years for Harry, Ron and Hermione. Candy wrappers and a rat for the first year, Lupin's trunk and chocolate wrappers for third year and they even had Lavender Brown's breath heart that she fogs up the window for.
Across from the train, they had false compartments that you could sit in and the window displayed a green screen until everyone was settled in. Once the video started, you were able to "take a ride" on the Hogwarts Express and watch the scenery fly past you.
After the Platform, we had a quick stop in the Cafe between the studios and I got some Butterbeer!
And once again my stomach was bothering me from the carbonation! But it was worth it! However, I did find out from some friends that the Butterbeer in Orlando is much better than the Butterbeer in London and I made it a point to compare the two in the near future!
We pretty much breezed through the second studio, stopping only to take a few pictures and stopping to buy some souvenirs in the shop and then we were back on the bus to head on the train to go to Sheffield.
We had a two hour train ride to Sheffield, during which we met a cute older English couple who were on their way home from a business trip that had in London over the weekend. We finally arrived in the cute town of Sheffield around 11 or so at night and we were tuckered out! We had a small trip to the hotel where we checked in and then passed out.
The next morning (April 14) we packed up our luggage and left them downstairs with the hotel staff to hold on to while we went to Chatsworth House! Or Pemberley #1 as mum and I called it! We had an hour long bus ride where we got to see some amazing countryside and mum kept repeating that she felt like she was in the movie and that "your dad would love to ride these hills".
When we finally arrived at Chatsworth House, we had to walk the outside grounds for a bit until it opened at 11. We didn't have a problem exploring a bit.
We were both SOOOO excited to be there! I wish I could have found that little clip from Pride and Prejudice (2005) when Elizabeth Bennet sees Pemberley for the first time and giggles, because that's how I felt! We spent all of our time outside exploring the grounds and we barely saw a fraction of it! Unfortunately because we were on such tight a schedule, we didn't have time to explore the inside of the house, but we were able to go into the gift shop where we found something as equally important!
The sign underneath said "No Kissing!". It made me wonder how many people did just that before they needed to put the sign up.
Apparently the statue room is an actual room inside the house and after paying a fee, you are free to tour the gorgeous rooms!
I heard some older women commenting on the Pride and Prejudice souvenirs while we were in the gift shop and one of them said "Where's Darcy? I want a picture with him?" I pointed out the bust to her and she turned and told me that she "Much preferred Colin Firth's Darcy because he was a lot more rugged and good looking". Made me laugh to know that women of all ages have that one celebrity or fictional character they are obsessed about.
After our brief time at Chatsworth House, we had to take the bus back to our hotel, grab our bags and purchase train tickets to Disley, an hour and a half train journey North. We rode on some quite small trains between some of the smaller towns.
While it wasn't that small, they typically had only 2 carriages and could only hold 100 people or so.
Once we finally made it to the Disley train station (it was so small the attendant who sold us our tickets had never heard of the station before), it was a rush against time to check into our Bed and Breakfast before heading to Lyme Park before it closed.
Surprisingly, we made the last shuttle up to the house and thank goodness we did because there was a 3/4 mile walk from the park entrance to the house or Pemberley #2!
Let me tell you, it was soooooo pretty! I fell in love with the grounds very quickly even if they were much smaller than Chatsworth House, they were still breathtaking.
And yes that is the pond that we see lovely Colin Firth emerge from behind the trees when he is in a very improper state of dress!
The house and grounds closed at 6, so we were only able to browse for a half an hour or so. We then made our way back towards the park entrance, taking our time and enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather.
On the way back to the B&B, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up snacks for dinner because there weren't many options in the town to choose from. The rest of the evening was spent watching telly and snacking on our dinner. (I unfortunately thought orange juice sounded like a wonderful drink to have, but we forgot we didn't have a refrigerator to keep things cold. So I ended up downing a good portion of the carton and made myself sick. I still can't look at OJ without shuddering a little inside.)
The next morning was a short train ride to Wales, more specifically, Prestatyn, where we were off to see the lighthouse my mum's great great great grandfather (something like that) was born in! May I point out that it is the most northern point of Wales, so it was quite chilly and rainy while we were there.
We stayed with a very cute Welsh couple who gave us directions on how to get to the lighthouse because it was a bit out of the way. Before heading out to the lighthouse, we stopped by a fish and chips place for lunch. It was probably the best FISH I've had while I've been in the UK! The lady took our orders and then pulled out two pieces of fish and dipped and fried them while we were watching!
We then hailed a taxi because it was a 4 mile hike to the beach where the lighthouse was!
Because it was low tide, we could walk out to the lighthouse and take pictures up close. However, I'm sure you can imagine that once the tide is high, there's no walking out to the historical building, it's swimming time.
After we had had our fill of beaches and cold water, we started the long trek back to the B&B we were staying. We had made it about 2 miles of the way back with no cab in sight, when suddenly a cab pull in front of us dropping two passengers off. I quickly waved him down because I was really tired of waking and we got a ride back to the train station. And then we walked back to the B&B where we relaxed until it was time to eat some dinner!
Our hosts recommended an Indian food place where we were quickly seated next to a birthday celebration going on at the table next to us. I ordered my first dish of Chicken Tikki Masala (the fated dish that has supposedly beat out fish and chips as the most popular dish in England). While I did enjoy it, there was no way I could finish it all and there was no way that it would be fish and chips on my most popular list!
We headed back to the B&B for showers and bed!
The lady who said that about wanting the Colin Firth Mr. Darcy didn't even know her houses. She should have been at Lyme Hall for that Mr. Darcy! We walked a lot. But it was all worth it!
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