home again

We are home, safe and sound, after a very fun but tiring trip south -- first to Wales, and then on to London. 

We left early on Thursday morning.  It was quite an adventure just getting out of Glasgow, which was snow-bound and icy!  Our train to Birmingham was scheduled to leave at 10am and to catch it, we had to get from our house on the West End to the train station in the city centre.  We phoned for a taxi first, thinking that would be the most reliable form of transportation. . . and were informed that no taxis would be available for at least an hour, if at all.  Well, that would have made us miss our Birmingham train, so we decided to walk to the nearest train station and hopefully catch a train into the city centre, since supposedly the local trains were running.  Well, we reached the station after a treacherous and difficult 15-minute hike through the snow dragging our luggage. . . and when our train arrived, no one was allowed to board it!  Because so few trains were back up and running, those which WERE running were hugely over-crowded, and the conductors refused to let anyone else board the packed train.  Now we were starting to really get concerned.  It looked like we were going to have all our plans scuppered simply because we couldn't journey the 5 miles from our house to city centre in time to catch our train south.  We had two choices - we could wait at least 30 minutes for the next train to come through, which was severely delayed and which we had NO guarantee they would let us board.  Or we could walk back down to the main road and hopefully catch a bus which would take us to city centre. . . a risky choice, since the buses were only running once every half hour and were facing severe delays because of slippery roads.  But that seemed to be our best option.  Thankfully, the Lord controls all these things and we were able to quickly catch a bus which got us to the city centre train station FIVE minutes before our train was scheduled to depart!!

At which time we were informed that our Birmingham train was canceled and we would be placed on the next train to London which was leaving 45 minutes later.

So we boarded that train and finally left Glasgow after a chaotic, stressful start to our journey.  Unfortunately, being on the train to London meant that we would have to transfer and catch a different train part-way through our journey, which just added to the nail-biting experience.  The whole way south we were wondering if we were going to make our connection in Birmingham.  It was touch-and-go because the train was so delayed and because the transfer took up precious time.  We arrived in Birmingham at the exact time our bus was scheduled to LEAVE Birmingham -- but again, the Lord was gracious to us, and even though we had a frantic 10-minute walk from the train station to the bus station, our bus was delayed long enough that we caught it with PLENTY of time to spare!  Isn't God good?  :)

So then we were on our way to Cardiff by bus.  It was a smooth and uneventful ride, apart from being delayed and arriving in Cardiff an hour later than expected.  We then caught a local bus to get to our friends' house where we would be staying.  David thought he knew where we were going, but he didn't, and we got off the bus at the wrong place and were lost in Cardiff, in the dark, in the freezing cold.  Thankfully we called our friends and they came out in the car and rescued us!  It made for a very long, stressful day of travel but we were thankful to arrive in Cardiff in one piece, and very thankful that in spite of all the hiccups, we didn't have to re-book any of our tickets because the Lord worked all the timing out!

We had an absolutely lovely weekend.  It was fun staying with our friends Todd and Kathyryn and their four children.  For David it was a renewal of old acquaintances (they went to seminary together) and I was enjoying getting to know them for the first time. 

On Saturday we attended the wedding of our dear friends Colin and Victoria. It was a beautiful wedding with lots of smiles and laughs, good food and amusing speeches.  We are so happy to see them married and starting their new life together.

On Sunday we worshipped in Cardiff with Todd and Kathyryn, and had a restful day.  Then we were up bright and early Monday morning to catch our bus to London.  Thankfully the bus trip went more smoothly than our previous travels!  The background to our London trip (for those of you who don't know) is that on July 11th, 2008, David and I met for the first time in London, and that meeting was what eventually resulted in us getting married exactly one year later (on July 11th, 2009).  We weren't able to go back to London for our 1-year anniversary on July 11th, 2010 because we had a newborn baby occupying our time and attention and mama wasn't up to traveling either.  :)  When we were planning our trip south to Cardiff, David suggested that we take a detour on the way home and spend one night in London, to retrace our steps from 2008.  :)  It was a romantic suggestion which I eagerly accepted!  So that's why we took the bus to London. 

We arrived in the early afternoon on Monday and took the tube to the place we would be staying.  Before I go any further, let me just say that it is SO difficult juggling two pieces of luggage, a diaper bag, a suit bag, a collapsible stroller, a backpack, and a baby up and down flights of stairs to get around on the tube!!  Even with the two of us (and we are both strong) we were struggling to manage it all.  We were very thankful for the few tube stations which had elevators!

The Highbury Centre is a Christian guesthouse in North London which provides reasonably-priced B&B accommodation.  David and I each stayed there in 2008 and so we planned to stay there again, only booking one room this time.  ;-)  We left our luggage there (oh the relief!) and headed back out (it was late afternoon by now) to retrace our steps.  We started out at the British Museum which was where our evening had started in 2008, but we took it at a bit more relaxed pace this time.  Then we headed out in search of the particular Chinese restaurant where we had dinner together in 2008.  The thing was, we didn't remember what the name of the restaurant was OR where it was located!  We only had a vague direction that we knew we needed to walk in, and we both remembered that it was on a corner on the right side of the road, and it was a two-story restaurant.  Amazingly, we found it!!  And it took less than 20 minutes.  The food was good and we enjoyed our dinner together.  Then we started out again on our walking tour of London.  We walked to Trafalgar Square and then to Buckingham Palace before making our way towards the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey.  By the time we had gotten that far, Elijah was cold and tired and very unhappy being in the stroller. We wanted to find a cafe or something where we could sit and have something warm to drink while I nursed him, but we couldn't find one and he was crying.  So I ended up having to sit on a damp wooden bench in the garden behind Westminster Abbey, nursing Elijah outside on a damp briskly cold night!  Ahhh, the joys of motherhood.  Brrrr, just thinking about it makes me shiver!  After that we were all a bit worn out and Elijah was becoming undone, so we just took the tube back to the Highbury Centre and settled in for the night, having worn ourselves out completely.

On Tuesday morning, after having a leisurely breakfast and assembling our luggage once again, we maneuvered our way through the tube to King's Cross where we would later catch our train home to Glasgow.  There we left the two heaviest pieces of luggage so that we could travel a bit lighter, and then we headed out by tube towards the Tower of London.  We walked from there across Tower Bridge, which David and I both have clear memories of doing together in 2008 -- we were paying more attention to our conversation and enjoying each other's company than we were the scenery, I think!  Then we went in search of a place where we could eat lunch, and after wandering around for more than half an hour, we found an Indian restaurant close to London Bridge.  YUM. I was really in the mood for some Indian food and that hit the spot.

Then we returned to King's Cross but we still had a long time before our train left, so we walked down to the British Library, which we had never been to before.  Another of my husband's brilliant ideas.  :)  We specifically wanted to see the Gutenberg Bible, and we did!   We also saw the Magna Carta.  I could have walked around in there for hours.  It was such a fascinating place.

Our train left London at 3pm and we reached Glasgow at 9pm.  Those hours were spent cuddling a tired baby who was  ready to be home, and trying to keep him happily occupied.  We are so thankful to have a little boy who is such a good traveler, and who will sleep anywhere!  It would be very difficult to take these trips and to travel by bus or train for hours if that wasn't the case.  Hopefully he will do just as well on his first transatlantic flight next month.  :)  Today we are resting and recovering -- all three of us are worn out, but it was a fun time and brought back many happy memories (and made new ones).  We took lots of photos which I have posted on Facebook, and I will try to post a few on here eventually.