Dreams do come true.

I’ve wanted to see Europe ever since junior high when all my friends went and I couldn’t afford to go. Very sad at the time.  As cool as something like that seems when you’re a teenager, I’ve decided that pretty much everything is better when you’re old enough to go it alone and aren’t crammed with 10 other hormonal teen girls into one room.  Or that could be the jealousy talking.

On February 9th I left for Europe.  First stop was NYC for the day (my second time there and just as good as the first!) and then to London (Heathrow) before hopping onto a train and making my way to the countryside.  My first official visit was to Framlingham, about 1.5 hours outside of London, where my friend Jo lives and teaches.  A very pretty little town (sorry, village) with some great history!  These first shots are from Framlingham Castle…it’s where Mary Tudor found out she’d be the first queen of England! Very exciting stuff. Unfortunately it was cold enough to freeze off your extremities the day I was there….

Check out the remaining chimneys, they were never functioning, they were a sign of wealth…the spiral one on the right was neato!

The only remaining house within the walls; the Poorhouse. Originally where Mary and other royalty would’ve stayed, but was later converted to a house for the poor (hence the name…pretty straight forward).

This is just a small part of the school, it’s really quite beautiful from the front! This is a little side road I thought was sweet.

It was cold and snowy for the few days I was in Fram, but it was still fun to get out and explore a little before heading to the city! I know this is skipping ahead, but to see all the in-between snapshots you’ll have to add me on Facebook! On Saturday Jo and I, plus a couple of fantastic English gals Jo works with, drove to London where we saw Avenue Q. I won’t go into detail about the show, all I’ll say is that it was wildly inappropriate and wildly entertaining at the same time! The next morning Jo and I went out on our own and explored so much of London it was a bit of a whirlwind, I have to look at all the photos to figure out where we went Firstly, a boat ride down the River Thames where we got a fantastic view of Tower Bridge (not London Bridge as most people think)…

Then to The Tower of London to see first hand where Anne Boleyn was beheaded! That’s apparently what you get for being accused of sleeping with your brother…oh and we also got to see the Crown Jewels that are housed here, so freaking cool!  I think one of those jewels was also the largest single diamond in the world.

And then, drumroll, off to 5 Abbey Road where the Beatles recorded Abbey Road (again, pretty obvious).  It was magical! This is me grinning like a fool…

I had to write something on the wall, and in the moment I sort of froze and signed “NFLD” which makes no sense anymore since Newfoundland has been abbreviated as NL for years and years.  I guess you gotta represent!

Again, skipping ahead of all the other delightful tidbits, this is Jo behind Big Ben where there are rows of those red English phone booths for photo ops! And yes, they work.  I tried to make a call and a bunch of tourists kept trying to get in to take photos.

Me infront of Big Ben!

Jo, aka Secret Agent Oksana…

And finally to the grueling task of picking out postcards! I, apparently, take this responsibility quite serious…

I wish I had more photos for you right now,  I’m heading to Cuba tomorrow and still have to blog about IRELAND! There are a lot more photos to come, plus when I’m back I’ll have Joanne & Mark’s Cuba wedding photos to show off!   ENJOY YOUR WEEK and I’ll be back soon with more photos :)))))

- Lori