An End and a Beginning

Monday Erin and I flew back to Utah. It was a long day but pretty uneventful. I ended up staying away the whole time which I was impressed with. But after 23 hours of being awake my body starting feeling really weird. And traveling all day didn't help much. When we arrived in the Salt Lake Airport we ran into my aunt Jill who was just getting of work at the airport. It was good to see a familiar face. She walked us down to the baggage area where we met up with my cousins Heather and Clark. It is so crazy to think about how far we traveled and that we are back in the United States.  I find it incredible.

In the past day or so I've been amazed by several things about America:
-The roads are HUGE! Really wide and spacious. It is amazing!!!!
-Americans talk louder. That's for sure. Not a bad thing. Just different.
-Restaurants are everywhere!!! Not sure where to go first.
-There is STILL construction on I-15. Will it ever end?
-Stoplights and 4-way stops are annoying. Where are the roundabouts?!
-American people are bigger. Taller and a bit thicker.

I'm sure there are tons more but those are the ones that stuck out to me. I've been up since 3:30am getting organized and such. I'm running out of things to do this early in the morning. Jetlag is tons of fun.

England: Week 26 Christmas

Christmas with the Queen!!!! 

Yes that is right.... we saw Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of England. AND the rest of the family!

We went to Sandringham House where the royal family spends their Christmas. (We went there back in October with Patty) On christmas day people can come and watch the royal family walk from the house to the local Parish. The Queen, of course, rides up in her Bentley (and makes her husband Philip walk... go figure).

The Queen in her car. She's in the back seat.

 The rest of the family walked. The group was apparently pretty small. A lot of them were out of town. William was away on military assignment and Kate spent her last Christmas as a non-married woman with her family. BUT HARRY was there!!! 

Harry and his grandpa Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip aka the Queen's husband)

 After they attend church (which is broadcasted over a loud speaker) the royal family comes out and the queen accepts flowers from the children in attendance while the rest of the family visits with the people there. YES that is right, I said... VISITS as in talks with us.

The Coleman's children in line to give the queen flowers.

The Royal family behind the Queen as she accepts the first flowers. First off the Queen looks FANTASTIC!! Ok and now I'll tell you who everyone is. The Queen is obviously in the front accepting the flowers. Behind her in the green is her husband Philip. Behind him from left to right is Camilla (Duchess of Cornwall and married to Charles) and Prince Charles (Prince of Wales) and the daughters of Prince Andrew (son of the queen), Behind them is someone I don't know and Prince Harry. Behind Harry is Prince Edward (son of the Queen and aka Earl of Wessex). Prince Andrew is here somewhere but just not in the picture.

Prince Charles was super close to us. He was very familiar with Lakenheath base which was AWESOME! The royal family was very kind and very good about making conversation. I was really impressed.

We chased Prince Harry down the walk so we could get close to him. He seemed to talk to everyone who had a dog. He spent a lot of time with these puppies that were dressed up.

Prince Harry was really nice and very good looking. He is a lot better looking that William. :)

Over all - a really great Christmas :D

England: Week 26 Germany

Tuesday we drove to Ramstein AFB, Germany. It was quite an interesting evening. There had been a mix-up with our rooms so it took some extra time to get settled. And on top of that the room we were in didn't have a functioning toilet. So we moved to another building and into a new room.

Wednesday we went to the beautiful ancient walled city of Rothenberg. This city is one of the oldest surviving cities in all of Europe dating back to the 900s at least. It was awesome and so beautiful!!!

We all found our "men" here in Rothenberg.

We walked around Rothenberg and saw all the Christmas Markets that were set up all over the town. At the Christmas Markets they sell various things including christmas decorations, candles, purses, clothes and TONS of food! We also found a museum of the town that had a dungeon. We had some fun with that.

Besides the history, this city is famous for the year-round Christmas Store of Kathe Wohlfahrt. That place was HUGE!!! I snuck some pictures.

We got our dinner of crepes, bratwurst and kinder gluwine at the market. Before we got our dinner, Erin and I were arm wrestling at one of the standing tables in the middle of the square. Some older german man came up behind me and slapped my rear and started talking to us in german. We didn't understand him and he didn't understand us but he cheered us on in our game. It was hilarious!!

Our last part of the day was walking around the ancient wall that surrounds the city. It was so cool!! Such a great view and incredible to think of the history of the wall. There were some neat places to check out but because it was dark and very cold we decided to not go on extra adventures.

I think of the whole week, this place was my favorite. The Germans are just so much nicer than the French were. They are also louder and more friendly that the rest of Europe that I've seen. I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to go to this old city and walk around. 

England: Week 25 Paris

Paris Day 2

We started off the day by going to the Louvre. This place is as big inside as it is outside. We had to really plan out what we wanted to see and really watch our time. Not only was the art amazing but the building was incredibly looking inside as well. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Code of Hammurabi, Psyche and Cupid among tons of others.

Our next stop was the Eiffel Tower. We went up to the middle section (the top was closed because of ice) and it was awesome!

 After we came down we were chased down by some street sales guys trying to sell us little Eiffel towers. They were intense. But we stuck to our guns and got them to bring down the prices.

 

Next we saw the Notre Dame.

Right outside of the Notre Dame is a monument that is the center of France.

Paris was awesome!!! We did so many things in such a short amount of time. Next stop Germany!!!

England: Week 25 Paris

Paris Day 1

As we were driving to Paris it started to snow. One thing I have learned is that Europe DOES NOT handle snow well at all. They freak out. We hit one of the biggest traffic jams in Paris history (according to news reports) and it took us FOREVER to get to our hotel. We figured there must have been a car accident for them to be stopping all the huge trucks. But no, they just didn't want the trucks driving on dust covered roads. The roads were not bad at all!

Our hotel was awesome! We were in an area of Paris called Val D'Europe. Right next to Disneyland and outside our place was an awesome mall that we spent a good amount of time in. 

We were excited about the snow... 

This is what it looked like the next morning.

We took the train and underground into the center of Paris. These trains were two levels! A few differences between Paris and London underground: Paris has 2 level trains! London's musicians are at the station in Paris they are ON the trains. Paris people beg for money on the train. The stations seem A LOT dirtier. Trash everywhere.

Day Two in Paris we got museum passes and went to see Monet's Water Lilies at Musée de l'Orangerie

Some random guy looking at art

 These are pictures I took outside of the Lourve. We went back the next day but I didn't get any outside pictures. So here is the outside :) I was in awe of the building! I mean... really.... This thing is HUGE!!!

Although the snow made for pretty pictures, it sure was cold!!!

We walked down the famous shopping street and also saw the Christmas Markets they had out. And being in a big city isn't complete without the street shows.

Our afternoon was spent at the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed the steps to the top and had a beautiful view of Paris.

Those who pass under will make it home safely :)

England: Week 25 London

Our week long Pre-Christmas adventure began in London on Friday night.

We found the Christmas Market at Hyde Park. It was great!!! Galaxy hot chocolate and German bratwurst.

My last time in London for this year. It was perfect! Got to see Big Ben and London covered in Christmas lights. We also found some awesome car shops.

England: Week 25 Birthday

 Erin is 19 years old!!! CRAZY!!! 

We celebrated by having a tea party at Kieri's house! It was a lot of fun to just hang out with the girls. I'm gonna miss these girls.

Kieri Kimble, Megan Mickenberg, Me, Erin and Alice Dominey

England: Week 23 & 24

Week 23 was pretty uneventful. Erin and I went Christmas Shopping in Norwich and found this really cute alley. Saturday we went Christmas Tree shopping in Elveden and LOVED it!

The shop we went to had Newfoundlands hitched to wagons. These really cute and very big dogs would pull the tree to your car. It was awesome!! Really made me think about how much I missed Buddy!

Week 24 was also pretty chill. Erin and I took a weekend babysitting job which was a lot of fun! We had four children who were absolutely wonderful. Being responsible for kids is a lot of work. I'm grateful they generally come one at a time rather than four all at once. :)

One highlight from the week was on December 7th. My little friend Elena turned 3 years old and her birthday just happened to fall on my mom's Relief Society presidency meeting so Elena came along as usual. I knew it was her birthday and was prepared with a present for her. Lets be honest, they were super cheap gifts. I probably spent $5 max on her. Stickers and color pencils and a paper doll house.  After she opened her gift (which was wrapped in a pink bag) she very cutely said thank you and asked me if I could get her the same thing next year. :D How can you say no to that?