Look kids - Big Ben! Parliament!

We just got back from a quick trip to London - 4 days.  Like the classic first-born-Type-A peeps that we are, we planned and approached this trip as an experiment.  While we live on the East Coast, we would like to hop over the Atlantic fairly regularly and see many of the sights.  But how can we do this on limited vacation time and limited funds?  Answer:  the 4-day weekend.  We took a red-eye on a Thursday night (read:  after a full day of work, therefore guaranteeing sleep on the plane) and arrived first thing on Friday morning.  We left on Monday evening and, because of the time difference, got back home late Monday night - resolving to pull our sorry butts out of bed NO MATTER WHAT and go to work like normal on Tuesday morning.

Our goal?  To see and experience as much of London during the given time period as we could.

Lesson learned - 5 shots of espresso within an hour is a VERY EFFECTIVE CURE FOR JETLAG!  I MEAN, THAT STUFF REALLY WORKS!  WHEN YOU ARE USED TO ONLY A SMIDGEN OF CAFFEINE IN THE DAY, THIS DOSAGE WILL CEEEEERTAINLY KEEP YOU AWAKE AS LONG AS YOU NEED.

Big Ben!  Parliament!

Lesson learned - no trashcans.  Before I left, a coworker told me to watch out, that we would have a hard time finding trash cans in London.  I was like, OK, thanks.  Then a mere 24 hours later, I was all, "THERE ARE NOOOOOOOOOOO TRASHCANS IN THIS CITY!  Like, anywhere!  What the CRAP?"

Be prepared to cart your rubbish with you at all times, my friends.  Cuz you ain't finding a trashcan!  We think this is because of the IRA attacks around the city in the past; apparently the terrorists placed bombs in trashcans.  So, no trashcans, no bombs...

We never looked more like dumb American tourists than we did when we would descend upon the rare rubbish bin with uncontained glee.

The classic cab.  Just for irony's sake - notice the rubbish bin in the background.  Rare, they are.  Rare.

The London Eye.

The Tower Bridge - probably my favorite British touristy site.

We lucked out with some great weather.  It was unseasonably warm and sunny during our entire trip.  Several people told us that the weather was nicer than it usually is in the summer.

It was nice not to have access to our phones (they don't work on England's global service network).  It felt odd at first, and we each had freak-out moments of thinking we'd lost our phones somewhere, but I have to say that it's fascinating how good it feels to be disconnected.  For a bit.  Then of course I'm texting and blogging as soon as I get back.  :)

St. James Park.

By Buckingham Palace.

Stonehenge!  Who knew it was right outside London?

The trip was a much-needed (quick) break and a real blessing.  More pics and stories to come!  In the meantime, I must catch up on Vampire Diaries!  And Mad Men!  And Hunger Games!