London Calling...

..."Yeah, I was there, too..."
well, I will be in a week and a bit! woo hoo! :)

And, yes, I am a massive fan of The Clash... I actually believe they strip you of your British citizenship if you say you're not... lol ;) Same with the Beatles, Queen, the Stones, you know, all those other iconic English bands... (*sigh*... new music sucks!)
OK, so maybe in the case of bands like The Clash and The Sex Pistols, the government actually likes you better if you say you don't like them! heh... However, I will argue that dissent is the highest form of patriotism, so... ;)
Just don't let on to the Queen if you don't care for Sir Paul!

So, back to the point of this blog post! ;) Check out these other fabulous things I found to do while we're in the motherland! lol... (couldn't resist)

First, I should probably tell you where we'll be. DH has never been and I haven't been back in 11 years (homesick much..?) so we are doing a bit of the touristy stuff and trying to see a bit more of the country than I normally would.
*We're starting out with 3 nights in London (I'm not a city person so any longer and I think I'd probably implode). I have not been to London since 1986 (when my dad ran the London Marathon) so it's been a while! Think it's changed much? lol :)
*After London, we're heading to Bath which is one of my favourite places on the planet. We're having 2 nights there.
*Next stop, Caernarfon (don't worry, I can't pronounce that either!) which is a lovely little coastal town in North Wales. Just one night there (I wasn't kidding about *little* town...)
*After that, it's up to York for 2 nights. York is just so bloody lovely. No trip to England is complete without a stop in York.
*Finally, we'll be spending the last week and a half in the Lake District which is my home. :) You think a trip to England is not complete without a stop in York... well, it's even less complete if you don't get to go up to the Lakes! ;) No, not biased... it really is a gorgeous area and full of history (um, the whole country is..) Plus, it's right on the Scottish border so you can have a quick hop up there while you're at it!
We're staying in bed and breakfasts (which is really the way to do it if you go to the UK) in London, Bath, Caernarfon, and York. In the Lakes (since there will be quite a few of us), we've actually rented a house which will be great!

No, I will not be driving..! lol :)

Here are my finds:
**London:
Well, it's basically all the obvious stuff... however, some *not so obvious* things on my must-do list are the Tate to Tate Cruise on the Thames (that would be pronounced Tems, not Thaymes...! heh) which goes between really great museums and also makes stops at the London Eye and the Tower.
There is a restaurant called the Wapping Project which I'd like to check out. For whatever reason, eating dinner in a converted power station is strangely enticing to me...
Get really lost on the Tube... (actually, I love the Tube! And it's really hard to get lost on it... great, just jinxed that!)
Oh, and a trip to London without going to Harrod's is absolutely out of the question! ;)

**Bath:
Oh my gosh! So, I was reading more about the glass-blowing thing (I did post about that in my vacation post below, right?) and found they have this thing where you can blow glass with Mr. Darcy! lol :) How funny... great idea for a bachelorette party or a girls' night out!
Yes, I was very tempted to make a dirty comment about that blowing glass with Mr. Darcy sentence but I'll leave that to your imaginations... ;)
There is a museum of costume in Bath - a fashion museum! How fun! :) I'm not, by any means, into fashion but I do love the history of it so that's on the list!

**Caernarfon:
So the big pull of Caernarfon is the castle. It's a great castle that's still in very good condition. It's also the place where the Prince of Wales is crowned. Read: Tourist Trap but whatever... :) Should be worth a look around.
Caernarfon is also in the Snowdonia National Park. Excuse my ignorance on this, but Mount Snowdon is something like the tallest peak in Great Britain... oh bugger! Now I have to look that up :) OK, well, I was *almost* correct - it's the highest peak in Wales and the highest in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands.
Figured I'd enlighten you all with that piece of useless information... You'll thank me if you're ever on Jeopardy!

**York:
So there's obviously the stuff like York Minster but here's the other goodies I found...
Jorvik - it's a viking centre! I'm pretty darn sure I have quite a bit of viking running through my veins so this is on my list for sure!
The York Brewery Tour. I won't deny the fact that I love my beer! :) Well, look where I'm from! I think beer makes up the remainder of what's in my veins..
They have a river cruise I'd like to take as well as a walking tour through all these haunted places in York. Yorkshire is known as one of the most haunted areas of England so that should be, um, chilling! :)
Oh! And the golden nugget of my York research - I found this York Pass thingy that gives free or reduced admissions to a ton of attractions. Obviously you pay up front for it but it pays for itself in no time!

**The Lakes:
Um, yeah, I'm just excited about going home for the first time in 11 bloody years! There are some touristy things we definitely have to do but it will be mostly about catching up with family and my best friend who I haven't seen in, you guessed it, 11 bloody years!

And, for your listening pleasure, here you go ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqO1b-5RsAs

Yes, I realise the song is maybe just a bit *anti-London* but whatever... it was the punk/anarchy era! What do you expect?!
And I can still use it in my post about being excited about going to London! So there... heh :)

"I never felt so much a' like..."
(so that's what he says at the end... lol)

Jealous yet? :)