12 Hours in London – The Adventures of Amy and Sandra

Ever have one of the those seasons where you’re so busy you forget to breathe?

That’s what the past three months have been like for Matthew and me – what with our work keeping us up at night (literally), getting the proper paperwork (and funding!) together to renew our UK Visas, and my 2 triple week trips to California, plus a week in Michigan, we’ve been busier than I can remember being since we first moved here. Plus, I got my hair cut REALLY short.

But during such frenetic times, there are still moments of respite – and I had the honor of spending one of those times with my dear friend and colleague, Sandra.

Sandra was presenting at the Conversion Conference in London in early November and it just so happened to coincide with my upcoming trip to California, so I took the train to London a day earlier and we tooled around the city before both heading back to California. It was Sandra’s first (but not last!) trip to the UK.

What follows is a collection of photos from our 12 hour adventure.

Oh, and Zoe – I made sure to include LOTs of pics of me in this post.
(Zoe recently explained to us – in no uncertain terms – there were NOT enough pictures of me on our blog).

So here you go, Zoe …

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The  Tower of London

Amy and Sandra demonstrate the importance of being serious at historic sites:

Amy waits for inspiration – not too far from where they used to behead people:

Sandra exhibits the Tower of London‘s lower gravity field:

The Tower grounds, brilliantly verdant in early November:

Tower Bridge – and David Wynne’s ‘Girl with a Dolphin” sculpture (Amy and her mom stood together in this exact same spot back in 2000):

Tower Bridge, beautiful at sunset:

Tim (the conference chair and organizer) makes a spectacle while Amy tries not to notice:

Amy misses Matthew, and so texts him to tell him so (while also appearing to chew some toffee):

Sandra and Amy find some cool stairs on the Tower Bridge, so of course Amy poses – and Sandra makes her laugh:

Amy then takes a picture of gorgeous Sandra:

Then we all look back across the Thames to the Tower of London:

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The Queen’s Walk

The Queen’s Walk is where we, um, walked – it’s on the South Bank of the River Thames from the Tower of London:

Oddly enough, other people were walking on the Queen’s Walk, too:

A walk that included cool, diagonal brickwork:

Which, of course, required Amy to get down low for a good shot:

And then suggest people’s feet should move over *just* a little bit:

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St. Paul’s Cathedral

Next up was St. Paul’s Cathedral – and the dome of St. Paul:

Sandra looking like the quintessential photographer (I love, love, love this shot!)

Facing the Great West Door of St. Paul’s (Factoid: St. Paul’s is where Prince Charles and Lady Diana married):

And ever-conscious of the importance of cycling in the life of our beloved CEO, Lance Loveday, we noticed the area behind St. Paul’s is off limits to cyclists. (Amy tried to look appropriately disgruntled):

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Coffee Break!

Luckily, right across from St. Paul’s was a coffee shop:

With an amazingly good mocha (decaf, of course)

Recharged, we then decided to lock Sandra in a phone booth:

Upon her release, Sandra returned to photography, demonstrating how colors in nature perfectly match her hat and sweater:

Then we both contemplated getting our hair cut:

And made an important cultural discovery: a “subway” literally means a “sub-way” – as in an underground passage below the ‘way’:

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Trafalgar Square

Earlier in the day, Sandra took this phenomenal photo of Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery:

To which we returned after our coffees:

And upon finishing our tour of the National Gallery had a warm dinner …

Before *literally* running to see  ‘Billy Elliot‘ – our first London play together (Amy’s very first London play was the ‘Phantom of the Opera’, with her mom, back in 2000):

It never ceases to amaze me how much can be packed into 12 hours – and when you have a dear, wonderful friend like Sandra to share it with, the time flies by!

Thank you for a wonderful day, Sandra – and here’s to future adventures!