hosting.

Special thanks to daddio for letting Mom and Carly come out and visit me. They got here on Wednesday and were greeted by hugs and screams from me... I was just a little excited! I had such a blast with them here, and boy, did I keep them busy!

Wednesday night we went and saw the Christmas lights on Oxford and Regent's Streets. We went into Liberty, the cutest Tudor department store in the world, and Hamley's, a 250 year old toy store!

It was freezing!

Thursday was our big day. We stopped by Leicester Square to get show tickets for the week and walked over to Picadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. In Trafalgar Square we attended the Armistice Day ceremony, went to the National Portrait Gallery so Carly could see an Andy Warhol, went to the National Gallery to see some of my favorites: Turner, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet, Picasso, and saw St. Martin's-in-the-fields, where our great (x8 or so) grandma was married.

They became Tube pros by the end of the week, always remembering to stay to the right on the escalators and they even started pushing their way through crowds, just like locals!

After that we headed over to Harrod's, saw the Parent Trap House, walked around Knightsbridge, went to the V&A to see the fashion exhibit, and saw Kensington Palace. We rested up a bit and then hit the town at night to go see our family's favorite musical... Les Miserables :)

In Picadilly Circus right before the show

My mom has lost track of the number of times she has seen Les Mis, she is somewhat of a Les Mis addict. The number she can keep track of is 5... the number of times she has seen it in London! I am only at 3 for London and I have lived here for 2 and a half months! Our Jan Valjean and Eponine were incredible, the best I've ever seen.

On Friday I took them to Borough Market to go food tasting and from there we walked through a cool business district to the Tower Bridge. We walked across the bridge and hopped on a bus to St. Pauls Cathedral. After seeing St Paul's and the Millennial Bridge (a Harry Potter 4 (?) movie site) we headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner and Lion King, where we were accompanied by the lovely Natalie!

Tower Bridge with my beautiful sister. Notice the poppy, so patriotic!

View of the financial district. I love the Gherkin, that cool rocket-shaped building. 

Saturday they met me down at the Houses of Parliament after my tour for school and we took some classic London pictures, had lunch, and headed to Camdentown. Natalie came with us again which was so fun! I loved having her meet some of my family, they loved her, of course. We saw Camden Market, bought some great touristy things, snapped pics at the spots from What a Girl Wants and headed out. Next we went to Platform 9 3/4 for the perfect Harry Potter pictures... I really wish I wouldn't have given up in the first 100 pages of the 2nd book... it doesn't seem fair that I get to be here when I don't appreciate all the Harry Potter madness!

Isn't she a babe?!

I took my Mom to Church with me on Sunday. I am so glad she got to experience what I have been talking so much about. She was greeted with a hug by Sister Funky, heard the prayers in intense African accents, and heard a crazy testimony about "socialist lies." I love the Clapham Commons Ward. After that we walked through Green Park to Buckingham Palace, walked to Big Ben and ran into a Veteran Parade for Remembrance Sunday, and went to an Organ Concert in Westminster Abbey!

Green Park with Momma Masters!

Oh you know, just visiting our cuz's house. Congrats on the engagement Cousin Willy!

It was so great to show my Mom and Carly around my city. I loved it. I loved laughing and hanging out with them. One of the greatest parts was that we went to Pizza Hut 4 times and TGI Fridays and Hard Rock Cafe each once. I love my taste of America!

More to come!