Friday, February 14, 2014

Spotted Dick

{The Tower Bridge}

     Did the title get your attention? Thought it would. And if it didn't, you're weird. And if that is a common phrase in your vocabulary, sorry about that and maybe get that checked out. So since Shaun's team is, umm how do I say this…., not good right now, they didn't qualify for the Leaders Cup this weekend which gave them 2 weeks between games. Obviously, we would like the team to be doing well but since we are trying to find the silver lining in things, we took advantage of the 3 days off they were given and decided to head to London. This time it was way more affordable and since it's only a hop skip and a jump over the English channel, it was a no-brainer. We braced ourselves for the notoriously 'crappy English weather' and headed out with a teammate, Tim, and his fiancé, Muriel, for 3.5 days of fun, laughs and exploring. It had been a good bit since my last trip to London (5 years) and since Shaun had never been there, a real good bit for him so we were both excited to see something 'new' and I can't lie, to be able to speak English. The funny thing is that even though they spoke English, to Shaun it was as if they were speaking a different language because of their accent. (Which I find funny since we have British T.V. so he hears that accent on a daily basis…now I know why I kick his ass in trivia game shows, he must not even understand the question.) Although as soon as we landed, he did say 'you sound like you're from London' a gazillion times in an ode to this movie quote and upon seeing Big Ben for the first time, we both couldn't help but think about this movie scene. Maybe we have been in France too long, but we found the Brits to be 'over the top' nice. Don't get me wrong, the French are very nice, especially since we speak French, but they are a little more 'guarded' than what us Americans are accustomed to, especially in the 'customer service' department. In the 3 days we were there, we saw the major sights, took a bus tour and ate all the foods that we have craved for the last months. (I'm talking to you Burger King.) Speaking of foods, I was on a mission to find 'spotted dick' and sadly never found it. (Disclaimer: I didn't try that hard but it was a topic of many of our conversations since the other 3 didn't believe that it was a 'real' thing so I was left asking waiter after waiter if they had 'spotted dick' which then led to uncomfortable looks, laughter and a whole other conversation.) And as for that notoriously 'crappy English weather', it turned out to not be the case for us. Who would of thought we would have to leave the French Riviera and head to London to find good weather? Surely not me.


{Our view of the Southwark bridge at dinner}

{Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace where we ran into a 'fan' of Antibes basket who asked for a picture with Shaun and his teammate Tim…which then led to them believing they were 'internationally known'. Seriously.}

{London Eye}
{Backside of Westminster Abbey}


{Big Ben and Parliament…which led to many jokes from the National Lampoon's European Vacation movie}




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