London

Living overseas nearly 9 months now, we finally made it to London!  For many people, it would be one of the first stops...but it just did not work out that way for us.

This trip was exciting for a few reasons - our good friends Drew / Kristen flew over and the Cowboys were playing a football game at Wembley Stadium.  Give Drew / Kristen credit - they are troopers for seeing London and Scotland with two kids!!

The first two days, we ran around seeing all the sites we could hit.  

Buckingham Palace

Westminster Abby

This is where Prince William and Duchess Kate got married....

Big Ben

US Embassy Park

Tower of London

We happen to go to London the weekend that the Tower of London was covered in Poppy's. Each Poppy represented a soldier lost at war since WWI. It was a beautiful site. There was 888,246 ceramic Poppies. Ava learned about the Poppies in school before we went, so she was really excited to see them.

London is beautiful. You have the old charm / palaces with skyscrapers in the backdrop. 

Tower Bridge

Many people actually believe this is the London Bridge.  This is actually the Tower Bridge, right outside the Tower of London.  The real London Bridge is actually is Lake Havasu, Arizona.  It was sold and transported from London to Arizona in 1831.  

Ava was our tour guide for the day and wanted to read the maps for us between sites....

British Museum

Our little tour guide...

Rosetta Stone

As always, our kids were great traveling around to all the sites with us.  

Covent Gardens

Covent Gardens was incredible.  The streets are filled with amazing shops, restaurants, and fun places to see.  We really loved our hotel (Grosvenor), but ended up heading back to Covent Gardens every night to have dinner and walk around.  Next time we go to London, we will definitely try to stay in this area.

Since moving to the UK, I have fallen in love with Indian Food. We went to Punjabe. It was amazing!! 

The Christmas decorations were just coming out.  London is going to be so beautiful during the Christmas...

Harrods Department Store

Harrods still has the ring for Princess Diana. 

Football Game

We went to the Dallas Cowboys/Panthers American football game. It was really cool to see all the people get excited for American football. We got to take the team bus!  

Before the game, they took time to honor fallen soldiers.  If you look in the stands, those are Poppies that are being made by fans.  

Trying to get to the subway after the game was crazy!

Berlin

We have heard about how wonderful the German Christmas Markets are and that it really brings the Christmas spirit alive. Unfortunately, flying home to be with family/friends was not an option this year; so instead, we decided to go to Berlin over Thanksgiving.  Being there for only two days, we tried to pack in a much as we could see in such a short time.  Berlin is a huge city; but to our advantage, most of the markets and attractions are relatively close to one another.  

Leaving Glasgow, I think the kids (especially Ava) will have a picture taken in these cutouts every time.  They love it.

The Markets

Our attempt at a family photo did not quite come out as clear as hoped, but we'll take it.  John was hoping for snow, but thank God that did not happen.  It was already freezing and the wet would have been tough to handle.  

Berlin was buzzing with Christmas spirit.  It was everywhere!

A staple for European Christmas Markets is hot spiced wine, Gluehwein.  Each market has a special mug design and you can pay extra to keep it as a souvenir.  Funny enough, the mugs ended up being the only things we bought.  After asking around, we heard that Berlin is more known for being big, and having unique scenery / atmosphere.   The smaller markets in other cities have the better Christmas goodies.  

We also heard that people from Germany fly to Edinburgh, Scotland to visit that Christmas Market....ironic!  We are heading to check that out this weekend, so more to come...

Weihnachtszauber Gendarmenmarkt 

This market is the oldest and most famous in Berlin.  It sits between old buildings and has an amazing atmosphere.  

It was an extremely cold night and poor JL was freezing.  It was so cold that when we took his gloves off, his hands had turned red.  They snuggled in their stroller and peeked out every now and then to eat a hotdog or have some chocolate.  

Berliner Weihnachtszeit market

This market was big and was a mix between a Christmas Market and a carnival.  They had a farris wheel, Ice Skating, Horse Riding and a ton more.

Ava definitely had to take a turn riding the horses.  She loved it!

Weihnachtsmarkt am Gedächtniskirche

We visited this market during the day.  It was as big as the one prior and was centered around an amazing church building.  

Ava found a Reindeer (Rudolf) that she loved.  Needless to say, Rudolf now lives with us in Scotland...

They had these small booths to bring your spiced wine and take a bit of a break...

In researching before we went, I read about this fried potatoes and I loved them!!

Around Town

 Berlin is a large city. Since it was so cold, we took a taxi almost everywhere.  The advantage of that was having an opportunity to talk to a few people and get so much history. To me, Berlin was not architecturally beautiful, but the beauty of the city is in the people and the stories of living through the Berlin Wall. 

One of the places we stopped by was the Radisson Blu Hotel.  It has the largest cylindrical fish tank in the world.  The kids (including John) loved it....

Berlin Wall

Holocaust Memorial 

                                      
                                                         

Brandenburgh Gate

                                   

                                                             
One taxi man told us that in the 1970's, West Berlin did not want anything old, so they bulldozed every building and built new ones. 

We went to the second largest Department store KaDeWe in West Berlin. I liked it so much more than Harrods. It was huge but easy to get around. They have a large section for chocolate!! 

I loved these little sugar cubes. 

                                                                  East Berlin

Since East Berlin was communist they did not have the money to rebuild things. That means that the old buildings are still in place.

Berlin Dom (Cathedral)

                                                               

I read that East Berlin in the only place in Germany that still has trams.  It is apparent as you see the different areas because West Berlin has wider streets.

Walking through East Berlin, we saw signs for a shopping area.  As you walk in, we quickly realized they were actually apartments that had the lower floors converted to shops. As we walked through each quadrant, you could look up and see people's flats right above.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

On the night of Thanksgiving, we had to make sure we found a good place to eat.  Weinersnichel is no substitute for turkey, stuffing and all the fixings - but it was good to be together and have some laughs.  We are very thankful for this wonderful experience and all the memories we are building.

We miss our family/friends and are excited to come to Arizona and spend time together for Christmas!