Greenwich Park Views and the Meridian

Actual date of this event: 30 June

Sunday was HOT! By hot, I mean 79 degrees. If it is warm enough for me to wear shorts, sweat, and get sunburned, then yes, it is hot! I have come to realize I am definitely a cold climate gal - I can still recall the miserable hot weather from Houston/Louisiana, but have a difficult time recalling the miserable cold from Aberdeen which occurred only 4 months ago.

Luke and I headed to Greenwich Park (pronounced grenn-itch) for the first time since our arrival to London. We had heard it was really nice park, so we packed a backpack with water and a beach towel to enjoy the sun. Plus, the park houses a really really cool thing (keep reading and you'll find out what that is!). We walked around in the town first, then made our way to the park. Greenwich is a really cute area, and it's super close to the river. There are a variety of pubs, restaurants, shops, and a few markets available, so there is plenty to do other than the park.

We came across the Cutty Sark ship which sailed from 1869 until 1954. It cost around £12 to enter and explore the ship, and we decided to save that for another day. That didn't stop us from taking pictures though.

The ship is located right on the River Thames across from Canary Wharf. From this area, you can get some pretty nice views of London. We could see the London Eye and The Shard in the distance.

Then, we walked through the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, which is now used for a variety of things. Way back when, the site was the home of Greenwich Palace, which was the birthplace of King Henry VIII and his daughters Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I.

As we crossed Romney Road, we came across the Maritime Museum. Behind the museum were the open fields of some of Greenwich Park. We could see the Royal Observatory up on the hill, which was our the secondary focus of our trip to Greenwich Park.

As we walked along the paths, we passed a small pond which had tons of paddle boats. It was a really small pond and kinda ridiculous to paddle boat in, even for just one paddle boat. Anyway, we climbed up the hill to the Royal Observatory passing through lots of green!

Eventually, we reached the top of the hill and OH.MY.GOODNESS. Such beautiful views!! Really, one of the best places to see London!

Not only did we have fantastic views that we wanted to gawk at for ever and ever, but we also wanted find 0° aka The Prime Meridian! Yes, we wanted to find the line and put one foot in the Eastern Hemisphere and one foot in the Western Hemisphere! We had seen signs to enter the Royal Observatory, which had an admission fee. I was pretty bummed because I didn't want to pay to split my body between two hemispheres. So I took pictures from outside of a gate where other people were doing the über touristy activity. Then, I saw it. Through a free gate, a line where I could take a picture. Yay! So so cool! Really cool!!

1.) ignore my white legs, 2.) Luke was not ready and people were waiting - oops!

After that, we did a little bit more walking around before laying down the towel and enjoying the views of the city from the hill. It was a beautiful day, and it looks like everyone was enjoying just it just as much as us!

We got so caught up in the views from the northern area of the park that we didn't even venture to the southern part. Maybe next time, we can focus on the southside, but it's going to be real hard to do that!

RANDOM FACT:
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the same as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC; which was introduced in 1972). Since 1972, a variety of names refer to GMT: Zulu Time, Universal Time, British Mean Time, and Western European Time.

Low-Carb Stuffed Peppers with Ground Beef

A few weeks ago, my mom mentioned that she missed my Tasty Tuesday's, and then, soon after, Luke mentioned that my blog should not have recipes on it because I should stick to the travels. I agree with him BUT last night, I made a good one! So I believe that I should share this one with you for three reasons, 1.) to satisfy my mom's want for Tasty Tuesday, 2.) so I can document the recipe for future reference, and 3.) Luke doesn't tell me what to do.

I always do the same thing with minced beef (British term for ground beef). Tacos. Always tacos. Don't get me wrong, tacos are delish! But I gotta mix it up every once in a while. So after Jill made stuffed peppers a few months ago, I have been wanting to try them. I changed things up a little in the recipe I found to satisfy the Carb-Nazi, and also because I like a little spice with my meat (TWSS)!

Low-Carb Stuffed Peppers with Ground Beef (click title for original recipe)

Recipe from About.com (seriously, who would have thought About.com had good recipes?!?!?)
Time: approx. 1 hour 30 minutes (don't be intimidated by this, it is not difficult!)
Servings: 6 stuffed peppers


Ingredients:

-6 bell peppers (I used green, red, orange, and yellow because that was cheaper than only green)

-1 tablespoon of olive oil

-1 chopped onion

-1 can (14.5 ounces) of chopped tomatoes

-8 ounces of Passata (tomato sauce)

-3 cloves of garlic, minced

-1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

-1 teaspoon of dried leaf oregano

-1/2 teaspoon of dried leaf basil

-1 teaspoon of Tony's

-2 teaspoons of salt, divided

-1 teaspoon of ground black pepper, divided

-1 egg, lightly beaten

-1 1/2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce

-1 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef or chuck

-1/2 cups grated of Parmesan Cheese

-2-3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Preparation:

1.) Cut tops off peppers; remove seeds and membranes. Rinse peppers under cold water. Place peppers in a large pot; cover with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain peppers and set aside. 

2.) Meanwhile, chop the onion and the edible part of the tops of the peppers and put aside. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat until hot. Sauté chopped peppers (from tops), chopped onion, and red pepper flakes for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add the minced garlic and stir until garlic becomes fragrant, about 30-60 seconds. Add chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, oregano, basil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

3.) Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine egg with remaining 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon of Tony's, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir with a fork to blend. Add the raw ground beef, parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of shredded cheese; Use clean hands to mix well. Add 1 cup of the tomato mixture when it is finished simmering, and mix well using a spoon. Stuff each pepper with the meat mixture (if you can, over stuff them) and place in a 3-quart baking dish. Pour the remaining tomato mixture over the stuffed peppers. Bake at 350°F/175°C for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the meat is cooked (cut into one with a knife). Top the peppers with the remaining shredded cheddar cheese with however much cheese you like. Bake until cheese is melted.

If you have extra meat that cannot fit into the peppers:

Make small meatballs. Add the meatballs to the dish after the peppers have been cooking for 25 minutes (giving them about 20 minutes to cook).

I am a little lot irritated with myself because I did not take a picture of the finished product which is why you are stuck with a picture of the lone pepper. Sorry, if it looks gross, but it was so not gross!!

Peppers after they have been boiled:

 Pre and post cooked veggies:

 Peppers after they have been stuffed, and then topped with tomato mixture:

 One of the finished peppers:

I ate some toasted bread with a garlic herb butter as a side because I like a little bit of carbs with my meal, but other good options for a small amount of carbs would be quinoa or brown rice. Amazingly, this was enough food for both Luke and me and we even had two whole peppers and three small meatballs (that I made with the remaining meat) leftover!

Luke told me to "add that to 'this list'" meaning add it to my 'make this again' list which seems to be growing and growing. Glad that he enjoyed it! I hope you can enjoy it one day as well :-)

The Wimbledon Tennis Experience

Actual date of this event: 29 June

It's kinda an unwritten rule that if you live in Wimbledon, you must attend some matches during its two week Major Championship tournament. And since I am a rule follower, I decided to try it out this weekend with my friend Kristin (from Aberdeen), Emily (who also lives in Aberdeen, but for some reason never met her AND she knows my good friend/sorority sister, Tammy, cray cray world), and Chris (who just moved to London from Houston). Like all things, we had some idea of what to expect from some intertrons reading, but it wasn't clear cut. And my jog last Tuesday didn't give me a whole lot of information either.

We arrived around 2:30pm and entered "The Queue" which is for non-ticket holders. If you are a baller, then you just might have tickets. If you are not a baller, there is no way you would get tickets beforehand. We had no tickets, but we wanted tickets, so we had to enter The Queue <cue "dun dun dunnnnn" sound effect>.

Entrance to The Queue
We entered Wimbledon Park off of Wimbledon Park Road (specifically it is where Woodspring Road meets Wimbledon Park Road) and The Queue entrance was on the right labeled with signs. We walked through a long line of railing while on the right of this railing we saw hundreds of people laying down on the ground waiting. Things did not look good! As we entered, The Stewards were shouting that it would be 3-4 hours before we entered the grounds. I kept walking and walking until a person directed me to go to the green flag with a Q on it. This was the end of the line. When I reached the end of the line, I was given a "ticket" which noted my place in The Queue. The other three members of my party had arrived just a few minutes before I did, so I went to wait with them.

I am assuming people were camping out to get in the Queue early on a specific day or Championship day?

Waiting in The Queue
It sucked. The positive to waiting in The Queue is that you can drink. You can eat. And you can visit the toilets for free! And you can enjoy good company, if you brought some with you :-) Luckily, Kristin had read this on the intertrons before so she brought wine and beer. If I had known, I would have mixed a jug of Pimms to sip on. There was an ice cream truck in the park, so lots of folks got a cone. And there is a cafe in the park as well. It was a beautiful day, so we were lucky that we got to sit in the sun. Perfect day for sitting in a park! We sat without moving for about an hour and a half, then we moved about 50 or so yards up, and waited some more. This happened for the next hour and a half, until we finally reached the "ticket" check around 5:30.

An umbrella to block the sun!

Because I arrived a few minutes after my group, I could not enter when they did. I had to wait and enter when my number came up in The Queue, which was 75 people later. It wasn't a big deal though because they just waited for me once they went through. What's a few more people when you have been waiting for 3 hours? Thanks to them for waiting for me!

After that check point, we waited some more, but in a better line that actually moved, but very slowly. We saw signs posted that said things like "You are 300 yards from entering." We walked by the bag check area where if you had "too much stuff" from camping or something, you could turn over your items while you enter the grounds. Eventually, we reached security check. All bags go through screening, and every person goes through metal detectors. After that we were pretty much in!

BIG FAIL!

security check

Entering the Grounds
After we went through security, we walked over a bridge (that goes over Wimbledon Park Road), and did a tiny bit more walking before we arrived at the grounds ticket entrance. By this time it was about 6pm, so we had waited for about 3.5 hours in The Queue. It was £14 to enter the grounds, cash only (price of entering the grounds depends on the time you enter and the day of the tournament). This ticket allowed you watch any match except for those matches on Centre Court, Court 1, and Court 2 (and maybe Court 3 also) - there are a total of 20 courts at Wimbledon.

This is what you see right when you enter the grounds.

I think this was Court 19.

Resale Tickets

We wanted to watch a "good" match (one on the special courts), so we went to find resale tickets. Resale tickets are ones that ticket holders have turned in after they leave for the day (which is so nice of them, by the way). Any money made from resale tickets goes to charity. Centre Court resale tickets were £10, and Court 1 and Court 2 resale tickets were £5. We would have LOVED to get Centre Court tickets because Serena was playing an hour later, but the line for Centre Court was so long that it would have been impossible. The line was Court 2 was only about 5 people deep, so we went for that. Coincidentally, we got to see a doubles match between a German-Czech pair and a British-American pair! Go Team USA! And Go Britain, too. They ended up losing, but it is still super cool to say we got to see an American play at Wimbledon for £19! Without mentioning the fact that we waited almost 4 hours to do so. 

The German was a beast! And her partner, the Czech, was a firecracker!

Kristin and me

Emily and Chris

We sat at the top so we could see over the wall onto other courts.

On the Grounds
The grounds were packed! Some areas were shoulder to shoulder, and we had to move very slowly. The players walk with everyone, but are escorted so they get special treatment (aka everyone is told to move aside.)

We looked at flats in these apartments. Would have been AWESOME!

There are a variety of food stalls on the grounds and luckily alcohol is not frowned upon! We each got a Pimm's which is a delicious 25% liquor best mixed with lemonade (British term for Sprite) and some fruit thrown in with it. So yummy! Wimbledon has a few traditions, one being the spectators eating Strawberries & Cream. We got a couple bowls full, and the "cream" was basically milk. We had the option of sprinkling sugar on top, but we waited too long to make that decision and a lady shoved me out of the sugars-reach way.

Pimms!!!!!

After watching our doubles match, Serena was playing on Centre Court, so we sat "on the hill" to watch her play. This is literally a hill where everyone sits on the grass and watches a big screen showing Centre Court's match-up. It reminded me very much of tailgating and not having tickets into the big game. We could hear the crowd cheering inside as we cheered outside.

Around 9:1pm5, we decided it was best to start making our way out of the grounds since Serena was kicking butt, and the others didn't want to deal with the mad rush at the tube station (I walked home afterward as it was only 1.7 miles).

Helpful Tips
Food/Drinks - Each person entering the grounds is allowed to bring in 1 bottle of wine OR 2 550mL beers. This is nice because if you plan to sit on the hill, you can enjoy your own snacks and beverages. You are also allowed to bring in food. If you plan to wait in The Queue, I highly suggest being prepared with food and drinks.
Toilets - While waiting in The Queue, there are free toilets in the park that you can use. There was also one right inside The Queue "ticket" check area.
Transport - The best tube stop to get off at is Southfields on the District line, which is about a 0.7 mile walk to the Queue. There are also buses that drop off right at the entrance to the Queue, although the bus stops right in front of the entrance to the grounds are temporarily closed. There are also loads of cabs, but lines for cabs are pretty long at the stations and at the grounds.
What to Bring for the Queue - I highly suggest bringing 1.) a towel to sit/lay on, 2.) an umbrella to be used for either rain or blocking the sun, 3.) food/drinks, 4.) sunscreen, 5.) things to do like headphones to listen to the music, a book, cards, etc. 6.) wear proper clothing as you want to be comfortable while sitting for hours (as far as I could see, there was no strict dress code for entering the grounds, but I believe Members have one).
Bag Size - There is a limit to how big your bag can be, so coolers are not allowed. If your bag is too big, you will be required to check it and pick it back up when you leave.
Cash Only - Not once did we see an option for cards. There are a few restaurants on the grounds, and they may take cards, but I cannot be sure. Be prepared to buy everything with cash.

It is really really cool to say that I went to Wimbledon. Never in my life did I think I would get a chance to do that... but never did I think I would get to live in London. If there was another nice day, I would definitely do it again. I would just be prepared next time! It wasn't as bad as it may sound, but everything is better with good company!

RANDOM FACT:
Wimbledon players are required to wear all white uniforms, although some of them try to get around that by adding bits of colors to accessories. Federer was told he could not wear his colorful sneakers this year (some claim that is why he lost) as it is a rule for the male players, while the female players are allowed to wear colorful sneakers.