Family Vacation Part 1: England

Hey Everyone!

I'm so excited about these next couple of blog posts because I get to recap my favorite part of the semester: when my family came to spend 10 days in England and France with me!

I'm splitting this recap into two parts because I have a lot of pictures from our adventures to share with you.

On the 19th of December, when I was leaving Venice, all that was on my mind was Sunday and seeing my family again.  That Saturday was a resting day in a hotel in London.  I was wayyyyy too anxious and nervous to go out in London that day.  I was going to sleep in London, and my parents and sister were boarding planes to travel to Chicago from Nashville and then on to London just like I did four months ago.  I tried to get some sleep, but I did not sleep well that night.  I had the flight tracker open on my laptop, and I was too worked up to sleep.

The next morning, I got to the airport two hours before they arrived.  I wanted to make sure that I was there when they got there.  I couldn't keep my eyes off the arrivals board to check the progress of their flight.  When the words next to their flight number finally said arrived, I went to stand by the barrier to greet them.  I made a sign a few weeks back at Harlaxton, and I was nervously gripping onto that.  They came out of the door and around the corner, and as soon as I saw them, I couldn't hold back to the tears as I was trying to anymore.  My dad didn't even get to me before we both started crying.

I've had a lot of great feelings and experiences this semester, but my hugging my family again has to top the list.  I was so excited to show them around and have a great trip.

We made our way to get our rental car.  Those first few hours of the trip were stressful, however.  Dad was getting used to driving on the left side of the road and roundabouts.  It took us four hours to get to Grantham when it should have taken us about two and half.

My family loved seeing wind farms for the first time

But we got there safely, and that's all that matters.  Catherine snapped a picture of our Jeep Cherokee for the trip from a window in Harlaxton.

We checked into our hotel and freshened up, so we could meet my Meet-A-Family, the Baths.  It was so nice to see them again.  They did so much for me during the semester and taught me so much about everyday life in England.  I loved having my my family meet them and have a nice Sunday roast dinner at The Gregory.

The next morning, it was time for me to show them around the place I lived, ate, and went to classes in for a semester.  They loved it! Someday, I want the rest of family to see Harlaxton in person.  It's such an amazing place, and I was so lucky to have had the opportunity to live there.

Showing them the Long Gallery (Catherine's pictures will be noted with her name)

I never got to take silly statue pictures like these in British Studies lectures.

(Catherine)

(Catherine)

Showing them the grounds (Catherine)

My favorite picture (Catherine)

The conservatory (Catherine)

taken by Catherine

Me and my red towel - taken by Catherine

I even got to show them the room that I lived, and they were surprised that it was smaller than they thought.

taken by Catherine

After I gathered my bags and drove down the drive to Harlaxton for the last time (for now), it was time to start the next leg of our journey.

Off to Liverpool! I was excited to go to a new place and explore it for the first time with my family.  The to Liverpool was so much fun.  Down the road from Harlaxton is a place called Belvoir Castle that I heard about during my time there.  Dad saw the signs for it, so we took a little detour to go and see it.  It was beautiful.  I'm using Catherine's picture of it because apparently mine wasn't good enough! Haha!

After driving for about two hours, I wanted to stop back in one of my favorite places from the semester: Holmes Chapel.  I took my family around the village to show them what it was like, and we went to the bakery again because I can't live without those gingerbread men or millionaire shortbread!

While eating our delicious treats from W. Mandeville bakery, we made the final stretch of the drive to Liverpool.  Our hotel was right across from Albert Dock and a short walk from the main shopping district.  After checking into our hotel, we ventured out onto the streets of Liverpool to find a Nando's of course!  I think I fell in love with Liverpool.  I could see myself living in that city!  I love it!

The Ferris wheel on Albert Dock

My last Nando's for a while

Tuesday morning was finally the time for me and my sister to drag our parents on The Magical Mystery tour.  I think my sister and I both agree that this was one of our favorite days on the trip.  There was some major Beatles fangirling going on.  The tour was amazing and we got to see so many cool Beatles things.

The Mersey River

Roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour

Penny Lane is in my ear and in my eye

Strawberry Fields Forever

John Lennon's childhood home

Paul McCartney's childhood home

George Harrison's childhood home

Me, Catherine, and John Lennon

Our parents are awesome and let us go to the Beatles Story museum on Albert Dock, and we loved it!

Rare picture of the Beatles on Albert Dock

Highlight of the museum was John's Imagine set-up

Rocking some John Lennon glasses

After grabbing some frappuccinos  at hands down the best Starbucks ever, we made the drive to London to return our car at Heathrow.

The best Starbucks ever

We had about a 45 minute ride on the tube to Westminster station.  I wanted to take my family to Westminster tube station, so they could have the same wow moment seeing Big Ben when you first walk out that I had the first time I went to London.  We walked to our hotel and checked in.  We were laughing so hard because Dad blended into the curtains with his sweater.

 The first thing we did the next morning was head to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.  It was so cool, and they played Christmas music. I even got to pet one of the Royal horses. We were standing right in front of the gate, so we had a great view.  Mom and I started laughing so hard during ceremony because we were being squished up against the barrier by some Asian tourists.

The horse I got to pet. You can take the girl out of Kentucky, but you can't take Kentucky out of the girl!

The Royal Horsegaurds - taken by Catherine

taken by Catherine

We grabbed lunch at this Italian/French restaurant over by Green Park, and it was delicious.

We got back on the tube and went over to the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

The tower of London - taken by Catherine

The rest of the day we walked along the southbank beside the London Eye.

London Eye - Taken by Catherine

taken by Catherine

Christmas Day started out with service at Westminster Abbey, and it was incredible!

Mom got sick, however, so she stayed in the hotel the rest of the day.  Dad said that it was the best day Mom could've come down with the stomach flu because we didn't have anything planned other than the service.  While Mom recovered in the hotel room, I took Dad and Catherine on the walk that I first took on my first visit to London.  We walked across Lambeth Bridge.

Then, we walked down the southbank and across Westminster Bridge.

taken by Catherine

 After that, we visited the Royal Horsegaurds and the Royal Horsegaurds Hotel where I had some fancy tea.

Then we walked down the street to Trafalgar Square!

A new statue in Trafalgar Square

Overall, the first half of our trip was amazing.  I was super sad to leave England because I love it so much, but I have no doubt that I'll be back many times.

I'll be back with you on Thursday to recap the second half of our trip in France!

See you soon!

Love always,

Alexandria