When I picked up Terissa from the airport at London Heathrow it was a beautiful day. Although the weather was freezing cold and the sky was overcast, we didn’t notice. Reuniting after a three month absence has a way of overshadowing everything else in the day. On top of that we had big plans for London, e.g. visiting the parliament building, the London eye, the Tate Modern, etc. but decided to enjoy each other’s company for the two days before leaving for mainland Europe instead, and catch up on the London sights in the summer when the weather will be much nicer.

We did however have an early Christmas dinner at my host counselor’s home. Dick and June prepared a great vegetarian meal for us, in the traditional British fashion. We had baked beets, carrots, onions, and brussel sprouts, with a baked loaf, sparkling cider and traditional home-made mince pies with custard for desert. It was great for the Nathans to finally meet Terissa and to spend the evening with them celebrating the holidays, since we’ll be on our own in Paris for Christmas.

It was fun taking Terissa on a tour of my campus and the surrounding areas where I spend most of my time. I showed her the library where I study, the gym where I exercise, and we even ate at the Hare Krishna stand where they give away free vegetarian meals. She had a great time putting places to all of the descriptions I’ve been giving her these past 12 weeks.

We also went to see the Lion King at the Lyceum Theater in the West End, just two blocks from my campus, in commemoration of our engagement last winter in January. It was a great show and before seeing it our biggest question was whether or not Simba and Mufasa would have British accents…and they did. Seeing the show, hearing the music, and walking through the city streets in cold weather recalled fond memories of us last January in New York.

Last year, Wednesday January 19, when I picked up Terissa from work in Orange I told her I was taking her out to dinner. What she didn’t know was that morning after I dropped her off I went home and packed two bags for us to fly to New York that night. I also got the three envelopes I had prepared. At dinner I gave her the first envelope, our flight itinerary – LAX to NY and back in two days. This is us on the plane.

When we got to New York on Thursday morning, we only had 24 hours before our flight back to LA, so fortunately I had booked a room 1/2 a block from Time Square so we could spend the day there.

That afternoon I gave Terissa the second envelope that had two tickets to the Lion King on Broadway, at the Minskoff Theater.

During the intermission we were standing in the lobby by the windows overlooking Time Square, and by this time Terissa knew what was coming, just not when. Right before we went back in to see the second half of the show I gave her the third envelope with two tickets of admission to the Empire State Building, and then she knew (but was kind enough to let the evening play out the way I had planned it, and acted just as surprised as if she didn’t know anything).

After the show we took a cab to our final destination, arrived around 11:30 p.m., and at the top…

To round out our short trip we stopped by Grand Central Station to see if there were any penguins planning an escape, but they were already back at the zoo by the time we got there.

That was our trip to the big apple. I know this post was supposed to be about London, but we didn’t get any pictures in London because Terissa kept forgetting the camera, however, we’ve learned our lesson and now take it everywhere. The next post from Portugal will be out tomorrow because we have internet for the first time on our vacation, and have some catching up to do.

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