London Day 7

Thursday was a busy day! First we went back to the Tower of London to take a tour. I was really dreading coming here, because I thought it would be all about torture implements... but that was definitely not the case! It was pretty cool! I think Sam figured out what he is going to be when he grows up... a beefeater. haha.

One of the beef-eaters took us on a quick tour of the castle. We ended up at the Tower of London Church. Apparently there is a step coming out of the church that people tend to trip on, and he joked to the crowd saying that he would catch the girls who fell. Sam and I were hanging out a little longer in the church seeing the tombs that were still in there (including Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard). We were the last to leave the church, and as we were passing the dubious stair, the beef eater kind of hugged me and whispered, "You should have fallen." Hehe. Sam and I laughed pretty hard, it was a tad creepy, but funny nonetheless!

ANYWAY... Sam and I split up for a bit to divide and conquer. He went down to the dungeon, and I went to view the crown jewels! Sam was a little disappointed because they didn't have many torture implements down there to see. The crown jewels were beautiful! I really wanted to get a replica from the gift shop, but they were ridiculously expensive!

We then went to see the Henry the VIII: Dressed to Kill. It was pretty cool to see all his suits of armor. They were actually his! Isn't it awesome that we still have his armor and weapons?! We were laughing pretty hard because a few of his suits of armor were VERY anatomically "correct"/generous. A tad awkward!

(This photo was actually in the gift shop. We weren't allowed to take photos in the Henry VIII exhibit! But trust me, it was cool!)

Afterward, we went to the Tower Bridge. We had fun walking all the way up and across the bridge! It was pretty cool to be up over the Thames like that!

(The walkway across the Tower Bridge)

Next we headed over to the British Museum--which has NOT lost its charm. We saw SO many amazing artifacts. Did you know they actually have the remains of the Parthenon there?! We got to see the Rosetta Stone as well as those cool Easter Island guys! And of course lots of cool mummies.

(reenacting our Easter Island pic at the PCC in Hawaii!!)

Sam might have more to say on these subjects. I was pretty dead by the end of the day! hehe. But all in all a very productive day!

So I have more pictures of the British museum... but I think they are all on Sam's computer! So we will probably be adding more pictures to this post!

London Day 6

Wednesday morning we took the bus over to the London Eye. We got a banana covered in chocolate and sprinkles as we waited in line... which I didn't think was very good, but Sam sure seemed to enjoy it. The line was pretty long to get up there, but once we got in the pod, it was worth it! So cool to see the city like that! It would have been much more romantic if there weren't 20 more people in there, but at least we had someone to take our picture!



After the London Eye, we took a ferry down the River Thames. It was pretty fun! We stopped at the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, but decided to come back another day when we had more time to look around as it was already pretty late in the day.

Confession: Prior to visiting London, we were both in the vast majority of people that mistake the Tower Bridge for the London Bridge--which is actually a pretty ordinary bridge just west of the Tower Bridge. For hundreds of years, London only had one bridge crossing the Thames at any given time. As one would was destroyed, another one was built. Whatever bridge was in place at the time was referred to as "London Bridge."

(I saw this Ben and Jerry's vending machine while we were waiting for the Ferry. It made me happy! haha)

We took the ferry all the way to Greenwich. Don't make fun of me, but for some reason I always thought Greenwich was in Switzerland... not sure why. Haha. So it was a surprise to me we could go there! We actually got there after the Observatory was closed, but we still got to see the huge green laser that shows the path of the prime meridian. It was pretty awesome! I think my favorite part was when I asked Sam what time it was when we were walking back to the river. He said it was probably about 9:30 or so. Then we saw a clock and it was only 5! It was quite dark outside!



We then went back to Canary Wharf where we got to see one of the KPMG offices (the company Sam works for) at One Canada Square. Though it is soon to be surpassed, it is currently the tallest building in the entire United Kingdom. Canary Wharf also has some great shopping. Man I LOVED the shops in London!

One Canada Square is the one in the middle with the point on the top.

London Day 5

(The walking trail from the train station to the temple)

On Tuesday, Sam and I had the incredible opportunity to go to the London (LDS) Temple. It was such an incredible train ride out. We loved getting to see the English countryside. The next time we go, we will definitely spend more time out of the city! It was a pretty good walk from the train station to the temple. We walked most of the way, and had fun going through people's backyards on the walking trails! We ended up catching a cab, when our feet started to hurt a bit! I also ate at the temple cafeteria for the first time ever. I was pleasantly surprised! The food was amazing!!


We went to the temple to do some sealings, and we very nearly ended up in a French temple wedding! The temple worker thought we were with their group, so they ushered us into the room. We were some of the first ones there, so we didn't even realize anything was amiss until the room was completely filled, and we were the only ones not speaking French! Everyone there probably thought we "must be from the other side of the family." After some reverent chuckles between us, we quietly made our exit before the happy couple arrived.

We loved this tudor-style house on the temple grounds. Does anyone know if this is the London South Mission home?

We had such a wonderful experience here! I just love visiting the different temples when we travel! It makes our memories of our trip that much more special to us. After catching a ride back to the train station from two sweet temple-goers, we took the train back to the city.


That night we headed to the west end to see Jersey Boys (for real this time)!!! We got to our seats and realized they were literally the best seats in the house! We were just a few rows back from the stage so we could see everything, and directly in the middle. Right in front of us sat Tom Chambers (not Tom Chambers) who was in a few British shows and won Strictly Come Dancing (which is the UK's version of Dancing With The Stars). We got his autograph...hehe. Also next to us was apparently a very famous British actress, but we never figured out who it was! We were in the "celebrity" section! Pretty fun! haha.


If anyone has the opportunity to see Jersey Boys we highly recommend it! It was such an incredible show! Sam and I are still singing the songs. For those of you who don't know, it is the story of the Frankie Valli & Four Seasons. All of the songs in the show were their songs! It was the first musical in which Sam actually loved the songs!

All in all, one of my favorite days in England!

London Day 4

(Royal Albert Hall)

On Monday, we went for a bike tour of the city. Such an awesome way to see the city, and your feet don't hurt at the end of the day!

Our tour took us through all of the gorgeous royal parks. Fun fact: Did you know it is illegal to kill a swan in England? They are all owned by the queen!

I could spend so much time just walking around those parks! Can't wait to go back and have a picnic!(Hyde Park Corner)

While riding over to Buckingham Palace, we saw a motorcade approaching. We got a look at the car right next to us and it was actually the queen!! How cool is that? I was pretty excited about it. If you blow up the picture below and zoom in you can see her silhouette. It's a little like digging for buried treasure, so you'd better give it a shot.
We were a little disappointed that they didn't have the traditional palace guards in front of Buckingham. They just had soldiers there in normal uniforms.... sigh...

We saw pretty much everything there was to see in London on our bikes including (but not limited to) Hyde Park Corner, Westminster Abbey, Parliament (and heard some DISGUSTING torture stories here), Princess Di Memorial, Trafalgar Square, and The National Gallery. Such an exhausting, but fun day!!(Princess Di's Memorial)

(Westminster Abbey)

London Day 3

(right outside the Church)

Sunday in London!!

We had so much fun going to church in London! We went to the Hyde Park Ward, which is actually my sister-in-law Maria's old ward! Pretty fun! There was a seriously cute little boy in the pew in front of us! He reminded me of one of the little hobbit children from Lord of the Rings--from the smile, down to the curly locks! hehe. So fun!

The V&A is basically next door to the church, and we had high hopes of going, but we were both so tired. So, we went back to our hotel and took a nap!

We went to the restaurant in our hotel for dinner that night called Chino Latino. It was quite good! We had ribs, so they brought this cool bowl of lemon water for us to cleanse our hands in. Luckily, the server instructed us what it was for, because neither of us had a clue why it was put there on the table. That said, it worked brilliantly. I think we need to start doing that at my dad's house when he makes his amazing (and messy!) beef ribs.

London Day 2

I was so excited for this day to come! Sam planned most of the trip, but this was one thing I was insistent on--antiquing at Portobello Road! I know that probably sounds weird, but man, I was excited! Portobello Road is just past Notting Hill Gate. For those of you who have seen the movie "Notting Hill" (and who hasn't?), that is the street just in front of his book shop and the market he walks by all the time.

We saw soo many beautiful things! Gorgeous chandeliers, candelabra (...are you a candle-a-bra?? Think Amazing Race.), amazing vintage costume jewelry, silver tea sets... oh man, I was in heaven! After a few hours of walking down the amazing stretch of the market, we finally settled on an amazing silver candelabra! It is a smaller version of one my parents got from England that I have always been in love with!


After walking along Portobello Road, we headed over to Oxford Street for some more shopping! It was so overwhelming!! We had no idea where to start. We of course headed over to H&M, as well as Top Shop, Selfridges, and Accessorize... all stores I am now in love with! Then we headed over to Harrod's. We so wish we had more time to spend in Harrod's, but we got some cool Christmas decorations!

After finishing up at Harrod's we had to rush over to the Prince Edward Theater in the West End to see Jersey Boys! We got turned around a few times after getting off the tube, and got a few conflicting sets of directions, but finally got to the theater about 5 minutes late. We thought we'd be ok, but they said they couldn't find our tickets! We were so upset! Sam pulled out his phone to show the email confirmation of the ticket purchase, and they pointed out that the tickets were for the night before! We couldn't believe it! We were both so exhausted and frustrated, Sam just collapsed from mental exhaustion in the middle of the lobby! The people who worked there felt so bad for us they offered us AMAZING seats for the Tuesday showing for a really good price! So off we went feeling a bit better about ourselves.

Next we had plans to go to the Franz Ferdinand concert later that night at the O2 Academy in Brixton. Sam had already purchased tickets for that, as well. Unfortunately, when we got there we were met with even more frustration. The clerk at Will Call was being very difficult, and wouldn't even talk to us half the time. Finally, we figured out that our credit card company cancelled our tickets without telling us! (Apparently lightning DOES strike twice.) They thought someone had stolen our credit card! How ridiculous is that?! But this time we were still able to get tickets for that night at the box office. We had so much fun at the concert! They really put on a great show!

London Day 1

First of all, Sam had about 2 weeks in London before I came, and he will blog about those later. So the next few posts will be about our trip in London together!

Have any of you ever flown Air New Zealand? It is a phenomenal airline if I do say so myself! Big fan! I had the whole row to myself, so I got to do some serious napping!

After touching down in London, I was anxiously awaiting seeing my sweet husby! I found him waiting for me with a sign and an old man's cap! hehe. What a cutie!!! We had one of our ridiculously public and romantic airport reunion scenes... my favorite!

Sam had to go back to work after picking me up from the airport, and I had high hopes of going down to Oxford Street and shopping.... yea, that definitely did not happen. I crashed on the bed for a few hours and slept through my alarm! I had to meet Sam at his office to go out to dinner with his coworkers, so I had to hop on a few buses and finally got there! I LOVED meeting Sam's British coworkers! Such fun and sweet people! We went to a pub and hung out for a bit before heading to an "ordinary" part of town for great Indian food! It was my first time having real Indian food, and for those of you who REALLY know me it was a big accomplishment... haha. I gotta say, not a fan of kebabs!

Sorry no pictures of Day 1!

London and Paris

I am leaving for London tomorrow morning to meet Sam! We will be there for a week, then Paris for a week! Hooray! There will be fabulous European posts in a few weeks!!

New Favorite Picture of Sam

Hehe couldn't resist posting this! You just can't help but smile while looking at it! That is Sam with Sam the dog (his brother's mini schnauzer). SO cute. Sam and Sam bonded quite well on our Utah visit!
Sam around puppies...possibly one of my favorite things!

WoW! What a day...

Man everything goes wrong when your hubby goes out of town doesn't it? Today just seemed non-stop! I can't believe I was so excited for the rain to start!! Haha.

Rain is not so fun when you manage an apartment complex aparrently! Apartments flooding, hallways flooding, parking lot flooding, slippery stairs, slugs (ok that was just me that was creeped out by that I think...haha), etc...The lights were flickering all day. SOOO nervous they were going to go out. Normally I love it when the power goes out...NOT when Sam is out of town though! Half of Los Gatos was out...so I am seriously glad it didn't hit us! I don't know what I would do without lights and a TV with him gone. haha. But alls well that ends well I suppose.

Anyone else enjoy the storm as much as me? I suppose I should count my blessings because at least we didn't have any major tree branch problems! I hear that was a big thing today! Can't wait for Sammy to be home!

Heading To Europe!

The Lentz family is heading on our European Adventure! Hopefully we will fair better than the Griswold's! (Btw did you hear they are making a new "vacation" movie?!?!) Sam is heading over to London for work so I am going to meet him there! He is leaving me on Sunday for TWO WEEKS (longest we have been apart since I was in Hawaii...sigh), then I get to meet him in fabulous London! We will be staying about a kilometer away from EVERYTHING in downtown London! So excited to shop on Oxford St. and Portobello Rd...Oh and probably see some cool sights too. haha.

We will stay there for a week then head to...PARIS! We will be staying in this absolutely gorgeous hotel in Versailles. I have been brushing up on my french....haha...We could not be more excited!! Although I have to say I am seriously dreading the two weeks alone....any good craft project ideas????

(and yes I know there are a ridiculous amount of exclamation points in this post, but hey! We are excited!!!)

Paramore and No Doubt Concert!!

Sam and I got to go up to Shoreline Amphitheater to see Paramore (one of Sam's favorite bands) and No Doubt! It was incredible! We had sooo much fun dancing and singing (not too loud...) along!