I'm not lost- I'm on an adventure!: London

So I finally made it to London! It was such a wonderful Christmas break- thank you so much Karyn and family!
I loved just hanging out at their house and taking it easy. We went to the temple the first day, which was awesome. I love going to the temple, especially since I only get to go a couple times a year if I'm lucky. The London temple was really pretty and in such a pretty setting. We didn't have time to really walk around the grounds but it is beautiful. That evening Karyn and I met up with her mum and a friend for a Christmas Carols concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields, this really great old church in the middle of London. The concert was fabulous and very Christmasy. There were parts where the congregation was asked to sing along and apparently we were sat next to a few professionally trained singers- they really belted it out and were amazing.
Christmas Eve we went into London and watched Les Miserables which was so fun. I mean, the show is depressing but it was fun to go to the theater in London. I had never seen Les Mis on stage. Christmas was lovely. Super yummy Christmas dinner complete with a Christmas cracker- very British. :) Boxing Day was spent with Terry's family and again we had a nice meal and great company. I really just loved hanging out with family for the holidays- even if I had to borrow the family. Apparently I didn't take any pictures of this- sorry.
The following day Karyn and I headed into London again to do this Hidden City scavenger hunt. I had done something similar in San Francisco with my friends Jeannie and Toshi. Basically we were sent different clues via text. We had to find the answers in certain locations, text the answer back, then receive the next clue. It was so much fun. This version was better than the San Fran version because this one required that we interact with people more. We had to go into different pubs and places and tell them, "The Queen has sent me," and then the worker would give us something for our next clue. We could tell there were a few groups a little behind us on the hunt and it seems it's pretty popular. It was really awesome. I'm so glad that Karyn and a couple of her friends were willing to try it with me. After that Karyn and I went on an open top city bus tour of the Christmas lights. I was a really fun and wonderful day. I had such a fantastic time over my winter break.
The next day I was off to Paris. It was such a lovely time and I will definitely need to go back!

Right outside their house is this holly tree.

I thought it was festivily appropriate

London LDS Temple

This was my first view of Big Ben- we walked out of the subway and this is what I saw. Hello London!

I love Big Ben with the double decker red buses- very London.

And of course- the red phone booths.

We couldn't take pictures during the performance, but this is where is was in St. Martin's

We thought it was funny that I was sitting on a bench that was marked with this from "American friends"

St. Martin's

This is St. Martin's from the outside. (taken on a different day) The middle arched window is the window in the previous photo with the red and green lights and the empty chairs.