Love Story*

The * represents each time I successfully and/or cleverly reference TSwift songs - I imagine you hearing a high pitched "ping" in your head like VH1's pop culture bubbles

We are never, ever, ever*… coming back to America! Just kidding! Maybe…

As most of you know, because I've been ranting about how excited I've been for the last 100 days, we went to London last weekend.  It was my first visit so of course there was site seeing to be done, but we also happened to have tickets to British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park with headliner Taylor Swift.  All I can say, people, is that it was the best day.* Just kidding again, I have plenty more to say than that.  It was really the perfect weekend getaway and I feel this is the beginning of a beautiful love story* between London and myself.  The city is incredibly enchanting* and like no other city in the world.  Don't get me wrong, I don't regret our choice to live in Brum.  London is insanely expensive and quite touristy, and I think part of it's charm for me is its accessibility from where I am now.  I can opt in and out when I want - the perfect relationship, right?

Saturday started with an early morning train to London.  It's an easy 1hr 20min ride costing us about £20 for each round trip ticket thanks to booking in advance.  We arrived around 9:30, caught the tube to our hotel, checked our bags and went to check out the scene at the concert entrance.  I'd go into detail here about how well laid out and easy the tube is to manage, but I think it has a fairly well-known reputation that doesn't need further touting.  We found the entrance to the concert and were surprised at how few people were lined up, so we decided to do some walking around, stopping to snack on our packed lunch and enjoy the park.  Around 1 we walked back by the entrance and the crowd had thickened so we jumped in the queue.  With a sold out show of 65,000 concert goers, we were ok waiting 2 hours in the sun (enjoying the most glorious UK weather) to be able to enter calmly and collectedly.  Kudos to the event organizers - that was one tightly run ship.

Chilling in the queue

Taking up a large portion of Hyde Park, the festival had 3 stages, numerous food and beverage stations and entertainment for kids and adults.  We rarely had to wait in line for refreshments or the bathrooms.  Call me crazy, but I could totally be a festival goer if they're all like this. I'm sure 22*  year old Jordan is rolling her eyes at me now while 19 year old Adam (in the Bonnaroo shirt I met him in) is grinning over how his plan to convert me is working out so brilliantly.

There were 9 other artists leading up to Taylor starting at 3:30.  We chose to stick to the main stage where 4 of them played to warm us up and got to hear some very talented rising British artists, all of whom you may recognize via one or two of their songs.  Ellie Goulding, a worthy opener, is someone I'd have paid to see on her own, so I was pretty excited when she came bouncing across the stage... literally.  See videos below courtesy of Youtube; you can find our home videos later in the blog.

Rae Morris

Vance Joy

John Newman

Ellie Goulding

We found a nice spot to park our blanket for a while, but when John Newman started, we had to get up.  That guy is a performer, so we quickly made our way towards the front, or as close as we could get.  Ellie was all that I'd hoped for - I have a serious girl crush here. However, not to be shadowed by anything or anyone, Taylor came out swinging and put on one heck of a show.  I haven't been to a concert like this since NSYNC in 1998, and even Lance Bass agrees that they had nothing on Taylor.

Photo courtesy of Jen Cornett

Dressed to the nines in leather and sequins (proving neither of these fashion trends will ever go out of style*), she was fearless* and flawless.  It was tough to see her at times as the crowd was insanely thick, but she performed for 2 straight hours and even Adam was impressed.  After the surprising guest appearances of celebs like Karlie Kloss, Kendall Jenner, Serena Williams, Cara Delevingne and Gigi Hadid, she wrapped up the show and we crashed.

Photo courtesy of Leslie Petro

We spent almost 10 hours in the sun and were exhausted so we took it easy Saturday night saving our sight seeing of London for Sunday.  Depending on the lineup next year, we'd definitely consider going back.  I'd also see any of those artist in concert again.  Taylor Swift is an incredible performer.  Just ask Emma Watson or Gwyneth Paltrow who were also amongst the Swifties.

As if Saturday hadn't been glorious enough, I still had all of London to see. We grabbed a quick bite and tube passes and made our way across the city successfully cramming in several sites - The London Eye (disclaimer: we didn't wait to go up, maybe next time), 10 Downing Street (where I'm pretty sure we saw PM David Cameron leaving, though I can't be sure as the windows are tinted and you aren't allowed down the street), Big Ben & Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey (where we had the chance to sit in on an Evensong service), The Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.  After all that site seeing, I took advantage of the need for rest and a caffeine deficiency to finally have high tea, legitimizing my blog title!  Big day people, big day.

High Tea at Caffe Concerto

I'm fairly certain the crowd wouldn't have cleared Kate's security detail, so I didn't see her.  I'd say there's a shot next weekend when we venture to Wimbledon, but she has Charlotte's christening, which is quite the reasonable excuse, so no bad blood* here.  You heard me right, though - we're going back to London next weekend, because why not?  It could go without saying, but this is a blog so I'll say it anyway - London, I love you, forever and always.* See you soon.

Below are some videos and pictures from our collection.  Enjoy.

Festivaler

Festivaler

Taylor on the big screen

Parliament and Big Ben

London Eye

Trafalgar Square