London 2012 Part 2

One of the best parts about the trip to Kazakhstan, is getting to do some sightseeing in Europe on the way back and forth. I posted about a daytime excursion to central London a few weeks ago. On the way back from Kazakhstan I was really excited to finish the book I have been reading in the Jack Ryan Series.

I have really enjoyed this series, and almost got done with my book by the time I landed in Salt Lake. 

We got to London about 4:30 and grabbed our luggage and headed to our hotel. We got on the tube (subway) and headed down one station to our hotel, the Jury's Inn. We really wanted to go see Wicked and hurried and put our luggage down and then went to go get back on the subway so we could make it to Central London in time to get tickets to the 7:30 show. We got to the station around 5:15 and figured we had plenty of time to make it to Central London for the show. It usually takes about 1 hour to get from the airport to central London the the subway. As soon as we walked in to the station we saw them turning everyone away! Apparently there was some incident on the line and the entire line from the airport to central London was closed. They said it would be 30 minutes to and hour before the line was up and running again. We thought it would be too long waiting for a subway, so we needed to find another way downtown. So we caught a bus that would take us over to another subway line. Unfortunately, the bus ride to Richmond Station was a little longer than we planned since it was rush hour, it took about an hour. 

We rode a bus just like this one.

We got to the Richmond Station and got on the line to head to Victoria station. However, with the long bus ride and switching stations it was already close to 7 and we knew it would be close to get there. We got to Victoria Station right at 7:30 and ran outside to try and find the theater. We finally found it and ran up to the doors. This guy poked his head out and asked if we had tickets and we said we didn't and asked if we could still buy some. He told us the box office was closed and the show had started. We were so bummed. We walked around the building trying to figure out what we wanted to do. The doors we went to the first time were on the side and so we ended up on the side with the box office. We decided we might as well ask again if we could still get tickets. We walked up to the counter, and they said it had started, but that they could still let us in! So we bought four tickets and they led us to our seats, we were only about 15 minutes late, so we did not miss much. The Theater was amazing and so was the show. We had a great time!

Here is me outside the theater after the show. 

After the show, we headed home on the subway (now back up and running). It was tough to stay awake on the ride home because with time changes and everything, we had been awake for about 24 straight hours. We had a great adventure and I really think London was so fun to visit. We slept for about 6 hours and then headed back to the airport. A flight from London to New York and then New York to Salt Lake City later I was back home with my two favorite people in the whole world. 

I had a great time and am grateful for a good job, and even more grateful to be able to come home to my two beautiful girls!

Kazakhstan 2012

Here are a few of our pictures from my adventures in Kazakhstan. You will notice most of them involve food since we work late and then try to find a good place to eat. However, I tried to include a few pictures from our weekend excursions as well.

This was our only fast food outing of the trip. We thought we would give SFC (Southern Fried Chicken) a try. Let's just say KFC does not have anything to worry about.  

This is from the restaurant Alasha, where we had a really traditional Kazakh meal. I am holding up the horse meat sausages. They were not nearly as good as the bread on the table in this picture. 

Here is the rest of our traditional meal. Most of it was really delicious, some of it was not worth blogging home about.  

While we were waiting for our food, I kept hearing chirping and had no idea where it was coming from. Then  one of my coworkers pointed out the cages (wrapped up) hanging from the chandeliers. You could hear chirping as the cages swung back and forth. Apparently if you order whatever bird is on the menu, they climb up and let you pick out which bird you want for dinner.

On Sunday we got to go to the only branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Kazakhstan. The whole meeting was in Russian, but it was still really enjoyable. I was impressed, they had about 80 members there.  

My favorite traditional Kazakh meal is Shashlyk. This is my favorite restaurant, the Venetian. We had some delicious chicken and pork Shashlyk. It is very much like Shish Kebabs, they season and then cook it on a fire (usually a wood stove) and it is fantastic. 

My co-worker Brian and I visiting one of the beautiful Russian Orthodox Cathedrals. 

We did manage to find the "American Bar and Grill" for a little taste of home. However, it really served pretty much the same stuff as everywhere else, including the poor attempt at a good hamburger. There really is not any place to get a good burger and KZ. However, they do a pretty good job with....

banana splits. This was absolutely delicious. 

Here is the finished product.

I am really grateful for such a great job that allows me to support my family. It is hard to be gone from Shantel and Lydia for so long, but great to get to experience another culture and travel the world.