London! - Football!

While we were in London, the NFL was playing one of two games at Wembley Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers vs the Jacksonville Jaguars. We decided it would be fun to see how another country reacted to the NFL.  This poster was on the wall outside of the tube station.

 Wembley Stadium

 Before the game they had a tailgate open to anyone with tickets outside the stadium. It was supposed to be like an "American" tailgate with American food. It was a good effort.

 

People had very interesting outfits on.  Notice the Raiders fan in between the guys in this picture. 

We knew our seats were low. But we didn't expect to be basically at field level.  They were great seats but if possible, they were almost TOO low.

We were so close to the fire blasters it heated up our faces!

Ne-Yo did a pregame concert.

Both large American flags and British flags were presented.

 Ne-Yo also sang the National Anthem.

The Jags mascot.

Here he was dancing to "What Does the Fox Say?"

 Attendance was 83,559.  Pretty impressive for the quality of a game we watched.

 
The game wasn't great, the 49ers won 42 to 10 but we had a fun time from the 2nd row!

View of Wembley on the way out at night.

On the tube on the way back to the hotel from the game.

Sarah was also in London and we had plans to meet for a beer after the game.  It was a Sunday night and you'd expect places to be open later than 11pm but apparently London is a sleepy town and isn't.  Instead we ended up at Victoria Station and did sneak one beer in before closing.

At least the food stalls were still open.  The sandwiches made for a tasty late night snack.

London! - Red Bus Tour

In order to get familiar with London people recommended us take a doubled decker red bus tour.  We really enjoyed it and got to see areas of London we didn't make it to the rest of the trip.

The Horse Guards Parade

World War II Memorial

The Mall.

The Blue "Cock."  This monument is in Trafalgar Square and once Queen Elizabeth passes away there will be a statue of her erected here.

The Houses of Parliament from across the Thames River.

One of the lion statues on the Thames.

The London Eye.

The downtown London skyline.

Saint Paul's Cathedral.

Monument to London's great fire.

Westminster Abbey.

 

Tower Bridge.  More on that later.

The other side of the Horse Guards Parade.

2013 Year in Review

Wow 2013 you sure went by quickly!! It seems like each year flies by faster and faster than the previous year. I'll try to let the photos do the talking. :)

January

With busy season I honestly don't remember what happened or didn't happen in January.  However in late January Scrubmates hosted Winter Wine & Tea.  We were fortunate enough to have the Colt's super bowl trophy to take pictures with.

February

This didn't happen in February but it aired, our TV debut, on Pawn Stars!

March

A work trip to Dallas to see my buddy Reggie happened in early March.  Then, at the end of busy season, I was rewarded with a trip to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 to see Louisville on their run to the National Championship.

 April

By April, Darren's interviews were in full force.  We coupled an interview at Mt Sinai with a long weekend in New York City. 

 May

During Darren's last interview leg in May, we ended up doing a road trip to Durham, Charleston, Asheville, Savannah and Gatlinburg.   Also in May we went to the Indy 500 for the first time.

 June

In June we went out and celebrated Mollie's birthday with a beautiful cake and a tasty dinner.

 July

 In July we had a BBQ for the 4th and the following weekend went to Chicago to celebrate the wedding of Kristin and Tim.

August

In August I went to my first official soccer game and saw Chelsea beat Inter Milan.  Then we jetted off to Vegas and met up with Jason and Michelle for a long weekend and then spent the rest of the week in Los Angeles. 

September

A weekend in September ushered in football season with the Bears playing the Vikings. 

October

In October we celebrated our first anniversary by taking our first trip to London!

November

In November I got to join Bryan and Carolyn for their baby shower in Chicago and then that same weekend we went to a second bears game against the Lions.

December

Christmas.  So grateful we got to celebrate with both of our families again this year.

London! - Churchill War Rooms

Wow it has been a really busy 6 weeks or so!  Sorry I haven't been back on blog in awhile.  Catching up with work, preparing for Christmas and busy season!

Well what started off the craziness was that Darren and I were able to take a trip to London at the end of October.  We left late on Friday night arriving in London around lunchtime.  By the time we got through customs, got our luggage and got to the hotel it was mid afternoon and we had a few hours to do something before crashing!

We tried to go to Parliament but it was already sold out for the day so we walked to the nearby Churchill War Rooms.

This bunker was used by Churchill and his command during World War II.  This room was the main meeting room where strategy for the Allies and the British was determined.

This room was Mrs. Churchill's bedroom on the rare occassion she stayed in the bunker.

This was called the "map" room, another room where strategy was discussed.

This was the kitchen used to prepare meals for the Chrurchill's when they were in the bunker.

This was Churchill's bedroom for when he stayed in the bunker.  It was also his private office for receiving visitors and making private phone calls.  He often napped here taking short power naps.

This was the door from #10 Downing Street when Churchill was Prime Minister of Great Britian.