Day 1

Melissa and I are off to Europe for three weeks! We're visiting my extended family, celebrating our engagement (practice honeymoon), and spending time together. This photo journal is to share our experiences with friends and our future selves.

We left from our respective homes in San Diego and Mountain View, and met in Philly just in time for dinner. Melissa got one last order of chicken nuggets Micky D's to "serve as a comparison with those in France". 

We celebrated the start of our vacation with a beer at the bar pictured below, where I forgot my credit card after paying. Luckily, the waitress tracked us down a few gates away before we took off!

Fast forward 8 hours and 3500 miles later later, our auntie Joanne and uncle Mike picked us up at Heathrow in London, 10 am local time. We drove back to their home in Harpenden and immediately had some much needed tea, having been up for 24 odd hours (with a couple of naps on the plane).

We were dropped us off in nearby St Albans ("Stalbans" for short) to explore and stay awake. The name comes from the first British christian martyr, who was beheaded in 308 C.E. The Harpendem and St Albans are on the top left in the map below, about an hour from London.

Melissa and I walked around like zombie tourists, and explored the local Abbey and local gardens. No rain yet! Apparently, it's been a very rainy season, making for very green trees and bright flowers. Those flowers below are the colors of the St Albans coat of arms.

Melissa and I are tourists! 

Everything is centuries old. In the case of the buildings near the abbey (built 1000 years ago), you could see distinct layers of reinforcement in the brick edifice. How many can you count?    

The big rocks are actually large chunks of flint, which is kind of neat. I wonder if it ever causes  accidental fires from unintended sparks.

The inside of the St. Albans abbey was busy with school children visiting. The wall sculptures were painted a vivid blue.

It was a little too commercial for our taste, so we sought out the smaller cathedral in town - St Peters. It was completely empty. Except for an organist and his teacher, practicing. We sat here a few minutes and enjoyed the private concert.

At this point in the day we were about to pass out. 

Take two! 

Lots of old graves. We felt like we had just been pulled out of one.

We headed back home (not before getting quite lost) and had dinner with our aunt and uncle, and passed out within minutes of 9pm.