Amy Visits London: June 21 -25

I've already shared with you about Amy's and my visit to Wimbledon, but I'm a bit tardy in sharing the rest of our time together in London. Amy visited back in late June, so being that its now August, you can tell how remiss I've been. I guess stress and exhaustion can do that to you. :( I guess though, that's why I've been so blessed by the visits of Lori, Mike and Amy. God always knows what we need and provides it. May and June I really needed visitors and these delightful friends abliged.

Amy arrived on a Friday around noon. This was back when our office was in Paternoster (we've since moved to London Bridge) so it was easy to cut out in the middle of the day and greet her. We chatted a bit, got a bite to eat, and then I sent her off to visit the magnificent Tower of London.

After work, I met her up by Regent's Park, where she was visiting with another friend, Jill. We enjoyed some time at Jill's and then set off for a walk in the park. The Queen's Rose Garden was in full bloom... unlike when Kevin and I visited a few months ago. We took lots of fun pics. Later that evening, we enjoyed a delightful dinner at an Indian restaurant by the BT Tower. I took her for my famous evening stroll (Trafalgar, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Thames at night) before heading home to crash.

We had a relaxing morning, topped off with coffee and croissants, before setting out to Borough Market. After all these months, I still hadn't been though its practically around the corner. Its a traditional European market with all sorts of cheeses, flowers, wines, vegtables, fruits and other products. We grabbed a nice selection of cheeses and some bread for a snack later.

From there we headed to the center of town to visit Covent Garden. We wandered around there and discovered this delightful children's book store. After visiting there a bit, we went to the tea shop Mike and I had found. Unfortunately, at this point we realized Amy had been pick-pocketed and her camera was gone. We obviously were very disappointedd. Amy being the Godly woman she is though, handled it like a champ. I would have been freaking out. Though sad... after we did what we could, she insisted we carry on and enjoy the day. We journeyed to Trafalgar to sit on the National Gallery's steps to enjoy our cheese and bread.

Late afternoon it was time to head out for our main event of the day, Hyde Park Calling. This event is a big music concert in Hype Park. Headliners were Crowded House and Peter Gabriel. Crowded House was amazing. Unfortunately the weather wasn't and it began to pour so hard I'd thought we'd drown! We're tough though, ha, ha. Peter Gabriel started out a bit slow, but in the end, we were quite pleased to have seen him and he completed his second encore with "In Your Eyes". After a brief scuttle with a drunk Brit (don't ask) we worked our way to the Tube. I've never been on it so insane! When we arrived back at Blackfriars, getting off was like being spit out of an alien! Quite funny actually...

When we got back, we stopped by the flat to get my camera and then returned to Paternoster to recreate some of the photos lost to our theif. St. Paul's is just amazing at night; we had to capture it.

Sunday we slept in again and then head back to Regents Park. We had a bit of time before heading over to Taste of London, so we went back to the gardens to recreate some of those photos. I mean, the camera was a clear loss, but the photos were still the greatest disappointment. We wanted to recreate all we could. Unlike the crazy rain the afternoon before, this day was a bit clearer and just fine for photos and a stroll. Its always a delight just to hang out with Amy and chat about life, so it was a great setting to just do some catching up we hadn't gotten to do for a while.

Taste of London was a lot of fun. Great food, nice wines, and we got to see Gordon Ramsey do a cooking demonstration. Another leisurely afternoon at a fine event.

To tidy up the evening, being Sunday and all, I was thrilled to take Amy to HTB to see this church I so love. It was a special evening, where the set up was quite different and Tim Hughes actually played (he only rarely leads worship these days). Made it the perfect night for Amy to visit because the whole service was even more amazing than normal. The Lord is so present there, his Spirit so alive. I'm learning a lot from this church. In many ways its quite like MBC at home; but in other ways quite different. The two are a nice balance. Anyway... that whole evening was another nice experience. After church, being still stuffed from Taste, we got a snack for home and just chilled the rest of the evening. We had Wimbledon to prepare for!

Well... I've already written on our journey to Wimbledon. Amazing experience. If you haven't already read that one, check it out and see the pics. Later!