This weekend went by way too quickly, but it was wonderful just the same. Mark came down to London this weekend so that we could celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas (henceforth referred to as Thanksgistmas) together since I will be heading home for the holidays. Mark was so incredibly lucky to be able to make it down with all of the snow delays and cancellations- he got the one train out of Fife for the day just as I was giving up hope!
I picked up a veggie sub from Subway for the starving boy and met Mark at the train station (and believe it or not he hugged me before taking the sandwich even after travelling all day on an empty stomach... that was actually a test). Mark showed up Friday night with an extra blanket for me since my heat had been broken and it has been so cold lately and a whole wallet full of Twenty-Pence coins so that I can do laundry. Now if that's not love, I don't know what is :)
We actually did Thanksgiving and Christmas in reverse (Chrisgiving?), celebrating Christmas on Saturday and Thanksgiving on Sunday. I had Saturday's itinerary all planned out a week in advance. We set off to experience Christmas in London starting with the Christmas Markets at the Southbank Centre. We strolled along the river looking at holiday booths, food, and decorations. We then headed across the Golden Jubilee Bridge to Trafalgar square to see the large (real!) Christmas Tree in the center of London that has been donated annually by the Norwegians since World War II as a gesture of gratitude to the British (see what a good London tour guide I am getting to be!!! ). We then headed to Covent Garden for a stroll around the shops, dinner at a vegetarian burger joint, and a nice evening of listening to a quintet play some lovely tunes. My itinerary included a trip to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, but after a full day of Christmas in London we were worn out, and the rain signalled that it was time for a return home.
Sunday evening we set to the task of preparing a Thanksgiving-in-London-for-two-poor-students-one-of-which-is-vegetarian dinner courtesy of the care package my mum provided. The menu included a (fake) chicken/gravy/stuffing casserole of sorts, greenbean casserole, mashed potatoes, and corn. I'd hoped to top off the evening with pumpkin pie, but alas could not find the right type of pie shells or a pie pan, so we had apple crumble instead. The dinner turned out very well and the company just happens to be one of the people I am most thankful for, so it turned out to be a great Thanksgistmas!
I was sad (per usual) to say goodbye to Mark at the train station today, but so thankful for a wonderful weekend of celebrating the holidays in London!
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| Me with good ol' Big Ben |
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| Mark and I at the Christmas Market at Southbank |
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| The Carousel at the Christmas Market |
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| View of the Market |
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| Trafalgar Square and the Norwegian tree- sorry my camera isn't the best! |
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| Covent Garden |
