London Calling!

We just returned late Sunday night from a weekend get-away to London. Our friend Dave was visiting London with his dad, so we decided to hop over to meet up with them. We also spent some time with our German friend, Markus, who is dating a girl that lives in London. Coincidentally, Matt also had a few meetings at the London office of Munich Re on Thursday and Friday. So, as they say, the stars really aligned for this trip!

We got into London on Wednesday night. On Thursday, I explored some of the shopping districts of the city while Matt was at work. Although I remembered enjoying London the most out of all of the cities on our trip to Europe in 2010, I forgot how much I really enjoyed it. Plus, it's always nice to be in a country where you can speak the native language :) Since we already did most of the main tourist attractions a few years ago, we mainly spent our time exploring different areas of the city and just enjoying the atmosphere. We made it to Chelsea for the first time, which is a really quaint, somewhat "posh" area of London, with many shops and restaurants.

On Thursday evening, we enjoyed a nice dinner at a cozy Italian restaurant in Kensington. On Friday night, we met up with Markus, his girlfriend, and another one of his friends (and girlfriend) for dinner. On Saturday, we had plans to go to a British soccer ("football") game. The game was Fulham vs. Wigan, two English Premier League teams. The game was at Craven Cottage, which has been the home stadium for the Fulham F.C. since 1896. It's not a huge stadium, but it holds about 25,000 people, so still a decent size. 'Craven Cottage' was originally a royal hunting lodge, and it still stands in a corner of the stadium. To our surprise, we had seats in the 4th row behind the goal! It was really cool to be up that close to all of the action. Although we aren't huge soccer fans, we really enjoyed the experience. The game ended in a 1-1 tie, so we definitely saw a solid match up.

After the game, we went to dinner with Dave, his dad, and a friend of his dad who was in town, as well. We went to a restaurant in Notting Hill, which is one of our favorite areas of the city. The next day, we explored the markets of Camden before heading to the airport to catch our flight. All in all, it was a great weekend. Matt and I often comment on how we would have liked to live in London for a few years, and how we probably could have done that instead of living in Munich. It certainly would have been easier, as the culture in London is much more similar to that of America. And of course, we wouldn't have to learn a new language. But we also both agree that Munich pushes us outside of our comfort zone just a little bit, which we believe is really good for us. Not many people get to have experiences like this and we are so thankful.

We're headed to Austria this weekend for a ski trip with some friends, so we're staying busy during the dreary month of January!

Below are some pictures from the trip, enjoy!

Cheers,
Kristin and Matt