Sister Act

Ordinarily, I don't get too excited about Tube rides, especially not long ones with transfers. But last week, I took the most exciting Tube ride I've ever taken...all the way out to Heathrow Airport to meet my big sister Heather for her holiday in London. Heather actually booked her plane ticket to spend Christmas with me way back in April, almost immediately after I found out I had been matched for an exchange. Knowing she was coming for this visit has been such a blessing and relief for me. I haven't once had to worry about who I would spend the holidays with or what I would do without my family during this very special time. And I've seriously been looking forward to her visit ever since I arrived in Brixton, counting down the months, then days, then hours till her arrival.

And so it's no wonder that I arrived at Heathrow more than an hour before her flight was scheduled to land. Taking the Tube to Heathrow was surprisingly simple, and so I found myself with a lot of extra time to sit around and wait for Heather's arrival. For some reason, I just kept getting more and more excited and nervous and anxious all wrapped into one. You know the feeling--when you can't quite sit still, have to pee every few minutes, and find yourself literally watching the time pass on your watch. To keep myself from going mad, I wrote out some last minute Christmas cards. That occupied my about 15 minutes, then it was on to the waiting.

Spent a lot of time starring at this board, waiting for Heather's arrival.

IB4212 LANDED! Hooray! 

Finally, her flight landed and I moved over to the walkway by the doors to wait for her with the little "Welcome to London, Sister" sign I had made her. I was feeling very antsy watching all the people come through, hoping each one would be her. Then finally it was, and of course, we both burst into tears like a couple of old grannies. We haven't ever in our lives spent that much time apart, not even when we were both in college. And I guess finally being reunited was just a little too much for us to handle. Once composed, we headed out to meet our taxi, which took us straight home to the flat. Heather's journey was ridiculously long, flying first from Seattle to Las Vegas, then to Chicago, and then finally to London, a grand total of 14 hours of flight time plus six hours of layovers. She was really exhausted (or a bit shattered, as they say out here) but after a good night of sleep she rallied like a champ.

For the rest of the week, we spent as much time as we could touring the city together when I wasn't working, and when I was working, Heather bravely took on The Old Smoke all by herself. All I did was show her how the Tube and the busses worked, gave her some maps, and off she went, just like a jet-setting pro. Quite impressive! But while we were together, I really enjoyed showing her some of my favorite parts of London. It's nice to finally feel more comfortable in the city and to be able to show it off to my sister was really fun. Plus having my sister around and all to myself was just awesome!

Piccadilly Circus

Trafalgar Square with the National Gallery 

On the river Thames with the London Eye behind us. After we crossed the bridge, we found a Mr. Whippy stand. That's the soft serve vanilla ice cream I love so much. Even though it was freezing cold, Heather insisted we stop for an ice cream, so we did. And it was delicious! 

Parliament at night

Before Heather's arrival, I planned different activities for us to do each night after work, so went and checked out Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland (a big fair with rides, food, and gifts), took a nighttime tour of the city on an old fashioned bus, and even went to see the musical Scrooge, which was Heather's treat. I absolutely loved Scrooge. It was funny and touching and the music was fantastic. Plus, it really helped me finally get into the holiday spirit.

At Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Winter Wonderland

On the night bus. Very poor photo quality, but you'll get the gist.

London Eye at night. Isn't it pretty? We stopped here on our night tour.

Waiting for Scrooge to start.

On Friday, Heather came to school with me to meet my students and all my fabulous colleagues and work friends. We had a great day at school, though the girls were extra hyper with it being the day before break. Still, we muddled our way through four English lessons before school let out at 1 p.m. The funniest thing, though, was how excited all the girls were to meet Heather. Students I don't even have were running into my classroom to get a look at her. I'm not sure if it was her bright blond hair that got them so excited ("But Miss, why do you have brown hair and she has blond hair?") or maybe just the fact that teachers actually have sisters ("Oh my gosh, that's Miss' sister!!!"), but something made them really freak out. It was quite humorous actually, and Heather was a great sport about it. Each of my four classes got to have a quick Q&A with her, and the girls loved asking her questions about the States. They all wanted to know more about what school is like in America and if Heather happened to know Kim Kardashian. And they also all asked her to do her best British accent, which she did, and which made them all giggle. It really was a fun day.

This way to La Retraite!

Saturday morning brought even more fun when we met up with Natalie and her sister and nephew for a day of London sightseeing. Natalie's sister and nephew flew over from California to spend Christmas with her, and all three of them were spending the holiday in London. We had a fun time together, and even though our Hop On/Hop Off bus was kind of a waste of money, we loved checking out Borough Market where we found Bridget Jones' house (Heather and I are both more than a little obsessed with the Bridget Jones movies--it's a problem, really), and we really enjoyed our Thames cruise and tour of St. Paul's Cathedral. It was great to see Natalie one last time for a few hours before she heads back home (her exchange is only for a semester). I'm really going to miss her!

I love these painted dishes at the market. Wish I could take some home to the States.

Inside busy Borough Market

Turkeys ready for Christmas dinner (well, almost ready)

Aren't the wreaths fun and festive?

At Bridget Jones' house (please, don't ask me why I'm wearing pink on pink...major fashion oversight!). 

Bridget Jones' house

Photo Opp at Tower Bridge

Natalie's nephew Chris, Heather, Natalie's sister Angela, Natalie and I all in front of Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Old Roman wall ruins

Quintessential British moment!

St. Paul's Cathedral. What a magnificent place!

Outside St. Paul's

Outside St. Paul's  

St. Paul's at dusk

Saturday night we headed home to the flat pretty exhausted and ready to rest. We still had to pack for Dublin though, which was where we were headed Sunday morning for a mini-holiday over Christmas. While packing, we realized we were trying to bring way too much stuff, so out of the suitcase came our stockings. We turned on some Christmas tunes, make ourselves a couple of nice hot cups of cocoa (with lots of marshmallows), and took turns opening our stockings. Heather and I were both excited to see what we had gotten each other, just like little kids.

The stockings were hung in the hallway with care...

Skyping the parents!

Then after a Skype session with our parents, we settled in for the night. My sister and I both slept well that night, even with the anticipation of our big trip to Dublin. It had been a successful few days of hardcore touring in London. We needed a little vacation to recover, and that's just what we found in Ireland.