A few weekends ago, Matt and I took a quick jump across the pond to London for a long weekend. We went for a wedding (Matt's co-worker, Benoit). It was a fun trip and beautiful wedding. We got there on a Thursday morning and checked into the hotel we were staying at in Blackheath, which is just southeast of the central part of London. Blackheath is a cute little village close to Greenwich.
After we got settled into the hotel, we headed into the heart of the city. I had recommended that Matt go to the Churchill War Room museum since I went last year and loved it. So, he did that while I went to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen...I mean, the state rooms and an exhibit about her fashion sense and wardrobe.
It made sense to split up because Matt would have loathed having to go see hats and dresses. I, on the other hand, loved it. And he loved the War Room museum. It was a beautiful, cool afternoon, so we enjoyed just walking through St. James Park too and seeing the swans and people out playing football on the lawn.
That evening we went to the West Ham football match at the Olympic Stadium.
It was an interesting experience. Everyone was really intense, as we were expecting. The chants and songs were loud and unifying. The part we weren't expecting was how quiet it got when they weren't singing or cheering for a goal. The crowd was just super-focused on the match and so there was no side conversation or chit-chat going on, like there is at a baseball or American football game. It felt a little unnerving, but we enjoyed it. Matt decided not to become a West Ham fan after they lost. Oh well.
Friday we got up and headed into the city again to Regent's Park. We boated around the lake on a "pedaloe" (paddle boat) and looked at the roses and other pretty landscape.
Then we walked to a nearby pub for lunch and then over to the British Library to see the exhibit of historical texts, like Handel's Messiah, the Beatles' lyrics for Can't Buy Me Love on the back of a birthday card, original Shakespearean sonnets, etc. Interesting stuff and quick enough to not wear us out. That evening we joined up with the out of town wedding guests to have dinner and drinks in Greenwich. We walked from Blackheath to the restaurant through Greenwich Park, which is big and gorgeous. We stopped briefly at the Prime Meridian to take a few pics at sunset.
Dinner was fun and quite international. Gulnaz (the bride) is from Wales, but her mom is from China and her dad from Pakistan. Part of her family lives in Toronto. So, that side of the family was already really diverse. Add to that Benoit's family is from France and we are from America, it was quite the mix of people. Everyone was really happy and excited about the wedding and we had a lot of fun.
The next day was all wedding. In true English fashion, it started early in the day. We got on the chartered double-decker bus at 12:45 and went over to the venue, Eltham Palace.
It was a beautiful 1930s Art Deco mansion and an English Heritage site.
(from www.english-heritage.org.uk)
Some ladies wore fascinators; I'm glad I didn't because I would've just been distracted the whole evening with it. Then we wandered around the grounds of the palace for cocktails and oer d'oeuvres. There was bocce set up and a singer doing gentle accoustical 90s music on guitar (awesome). We started dinner early, but there were about 5 courses, so it lasted 2 1/2 hours. It was French food, in honor of Benoit's family (and let's face it, it's just so delicious), and some of the best wedding food I've ever eaten. That was definitely a part of the affair that wasn't neglected. The champagne all night was good French champagne too...suffice it to say we ate and drank well. Then there some toasts by family and best man and dancing commenced. It was a live band and we, in true Sink fashion, occupied the floor for hours and burned lots of the French food calories off.
After a while there was a cheesecake cutting. I was kind of far away from the table, but they did the traditional cutting together and feeding each other a piece and it was nice and we all clapped. But, later I realized that they hadn't passed out pieces of cake. So I went up to the table to see if there was some left and saw not a cheesecake, but a cheese...cake. There were rounds of cheese stacked up in the form of a cake and that's what they had cut. They had already served a chocolate peanut butter ice cream dessert with the dinner, so I guess more cake wasn't necessary.
The dancing came to an end at 12 and we boarded our bus to go back to the hotel. There was an after-party there, so we didn't get to bed until 2 am. That, apparently, is very typical in English/European weddings. Usually, we were told, it started earlier in the day, say at 9 am, if the ceremony was at a church. I don't know if I could do the all-day wedding very often. American weddings from 5 or 6 to 11 or so are just fine for me. This was special, though, and we were honored to be there and had a great time.
The next day we rallied and had brunch, then took a long walk through Greenwich Park again before catching the train to the airport. All-in-all, it was a lovely long weekend. Now we're back into the routine of school and work and choir and connection groups, etc. Fall is here and it feels like it today. We've enjoyed doing some new things around the city: Drunk Shakespeare, going to a Young the Giant concert at Radio City Music Hall, and trying some new restaurants.
We're going to Boston in a few weekends and apple picking later in October (I'm planning to turn apples into apple butter). School is going well for me and work is going well for Matt. It's looking like fall will be filled with lots of fun things. Hope yours will be too!
