london london

whoops, didn't mean to be gone for a whole month! life just got in the way, i guess. here's the last bit of my trip report and then i'll be back to regularly scheduled blogging again. i miss being here!

the last leg of our trip was five days in london (it should have been six, but it was shortened due to the aforementioned flat tire (tyre) to visit jared's good friend, rae. i'll admit that i wasn't really looking forward to spending that long in london. jared and i had both been there before (separately and together, on our last trip to europe six years ago), and we had already been away for two weeks. but given rae's schedule, we decided to stay for five days so we'd have time to spend together. and let me say, it was worth it. since we had already been there, we didn't really feel the need to do anything touristy or make sure we saw all there was to see.

we spent a day in battersea park, which was close to rae's flat. it's a beautiful big park and i had just read about the opening of a brand new garden the day we were going. i was excited to see it- i read about all kinds of flowers and herbs that had been planted. when we got there, we were stopped at the gate by a security guard. apparently they were having a big opening party that we weren't invited to. instead, we headed to the herb and vegetable garden where i proceeded to blow about three rolls of film. it was incredibly beautiful and inspiring. there were wonderful signs detailing some of the different medicinal herbs and i loved seeing the different ways that the vegetables were planted. the interplantings of different veggies and herbs and flowers, interesting trellises, beautiful cold frames, and i totally had to stop myself from the "plants for sale" table. (ahem, we were nowhere close to home).

i also got a chance to stop by liberty of london and peruse the beautiful fabrics. i held back and only splurged on a couple of remnants. i also went over to cloth house, on the recommendation of eireann. it was an absolutely beautiful shop and i especially loved the exclusively dyed fabrics. sadly, i just couldn't think of what to use it for and i didn't buy anything there.

oddly, we had the best weather of the entire trip while we were in london. we walked around a lot, hung out in rae's flat, which had the most incredible view of the city, and spent some time with jared's very very good friend who we hadn't seen in over six years (hopefully it's not that long before we see her again!)

all in all, it was a truly wonderful trip. i'd love to go back to all the places we went, and it definitely reminded me how important it is to get away from it all. i know we can't go to europe for two and a half weeks every year, but even weekends away up north can do the trick. must remember that.

most of the photos i took in london were at battersea park, you can see more of those and the rest of my trip photos here.