Sunday, August 10, 2008

Snapshots






Before I left for our trip everyone said "take lots of pictures"  they were right of course,  but I keep finding whenever I travel that I am not really good at documenting my journeys pictorially.  I want to live in the moments I experience and  somehow I feel that when I am taking pictures I am focused on documenting it not living it.

So the photos I have from my trip are of the standard things, the monuments and churches, the scenery of our trip.  I offer above a few of my favorite shots from our trip, they are either beautiful or they make me smile,  or a little of both you can decide for yourself which does what. What I hope to hold onto more than the things we saw are the sensations I felt, those thoughts and feelings I am not a gifted enough photographer to capture.  

So I offer my pictures in words:

Sitting on the plane, in our free upgrade seats,  holding my husband's hand with a sense of starting a great adventure.  My heart just welled up with love for him for wanting to make this trip happen.  We just smiled at one another every time we caught each others gaze the entire way.  Also, LOVE the video on demand feature on British Airways. Then that  sense of WE ARE REALLY HERE! as we landed in London.  That feeling of starting out on a wonderful journey with someone you really like spending time with is one of  my all time favorites.  No matter what happens you just know it is going to be great.

The sensation of clotted cream melting on my tongue, somewhere between whipped cream and butter, it is one of the richest, creamiest, yummiest things I have ever tasted.  Spread over a warm scone, a little bit of jam to top it off, with sips of tea between bites, looking out over the food court at Harrods.  Now, I just have to figure out where I can find a tea like that in Southern California. 

Feeling my face gradually turn red with embarrassment as an entire room full of people I do not know sing me happy birthday.  Happy,  but red faced receiving a glass of champagne and enjoying every sip as we swap travel stories with a group of newly made friends over dinner.  After dinner we get on a barge to cruise down the river Thames to see all of the landmarks as the sun set and the buildings and trees were lit up along the shore. Magical.   I cannot tell you what I was doing on most of my birthdays in recent years but I think I will always be able to say where I was when I turned 46.  

Sitting in a restaurant looking out over Leicester square just watching people go by.  The variety of languages and ethnicities is like watching the world go by on parade while you sit in one place.  Strolling along after dinner through Chinatown on our way to the theatre, finding the perfect motorcycle jacket for Lloyd on sale along the sidewalk and actually bargaining the price down 20 Euros (I hate bargaining, so it was a proud moment for me).  Capping the night off by seeing Spamalot, with its quintessentially British Monty Python humor, then strolling back to the underground afterward singing "always look on the bright side of life" with a whistle on the end of course. 

Many more moments to come, but there are a few postcards from London.


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