London Day 3 - August 14

Went to the National Gallery...saw so many wonderful pre-1500 works. My head was spinning. Found their Hieronymus Bosch and looked at some 1500-1600 work too. Then looked for the van Gogh and Seurat pieces. Dave liked seeing those.

Came to a conclusion - I despise the Italian tourists. They are so rude, pushy, indignant and just plain horrible. Note: I am part Italian. And despite my Southern mother's claim that they must have all been Northern, many of them looked short, pudgy, and just like all our relatives. Mom, your stereotypes are wrong... All the other tourists speaking other languages were polite and nice.

Walk over to St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Happen upon the musicians practicing for that night's Vivaldi concert! What luck. Very nice....

Walked over to the Thames and the Victoria Embankment Gardens. The nice weather had everyone out in all the parks. Walked around Covent Garden. Cannot for the life of me find the Dr. Marten's store! I am walking around with three-holes with holes in the leather hoping it doesn't rain and I can't even replace them 'cos I can't find the damn store!

Found the Tourist Info Centre after the endless search and find the address for DM. They don't have my size!!! But...they have a super pair in Dave's size and on sale! Oh the injustice...

Went to Magma, this super-cool art and design store with lots of great books, publications and knick-knacks. There was one in Manchester. Wish there was something like it in the US. The closest was Atomic Pop in Baltimore.

Ate dinner at Wagamama in Covent Garden... Brit family on holiday next to us. The mother sees me looking at my list of things to do. She says "you'll never pack it all in." So true...

Found a local pub - The Swan - to get fish and chips dinner some other night. Nice and cozy...

London Day 2 - 13 August

Full sun - this is better than New Jersey...

No sleep - maybe 3 hours, if that - jet lag or I just need Millie...

Breakfast at EAT. The US really needs this kind of place, not the crap that's there. There would certainly be more healthy people.

It's warmer than Manchester. Liking this place is sneaking up on us after the getting lost previous day...

Things we did today:
1. British Museum - a couple of blocks from our hotel. This place is amazingly huge, packed with stuff and FREE! After viewing just a portion of stuff, we almost forget to look at the Rosetta Stone. Nice tall French man takes pity on small me and lets me in front. I am amazed at how precise the text is. When looking at the floor plan, we realize we just scratched the surface of this place.
2. Looked for the Britain/London tourist info centre; wander fruitlessly and have no idea where the heck it is. The info centre in Picadilly Station is tiny.
3. Went into the famous Liberty store. Though it is faux Tudor, the buidling is so beautiful. I just love it. Went to top floor to look at Liberty prints. High prices keep me from buying the tiniest trinkets. Londoners must be wealthy.
4. Find a nice small cafe off Carnaby Street and have a super egg mayo sandwich for lunch. Carnaby Street is sort of crowded.
5. Foolishly decide to walk Oxford Street. The book that labelled it the shopping capitol of Europe was not kidding. YIKES! So many people, and that's alot coming from someone who worked in NYC. Dave said it looked like worker ants. Well put.

London Day 1 - 12 August

Plane - chic, manly man with the deepest voice we have ever heard sits next to Dave on the flight; we are amazed by his clear voice and perfect diction.

Walking - F-ing lost and no other way to put it! Everyone has a map in their hands and with good reason.

Dinner - Wagamama! Don't know if there is one of these in the States but if it is, it is probably in NYC and they would undoubtedly ruin it; post meal my lips and mouth are on fire - just the way it should be!

First day sampler to prove how environmentally advanced the Brits are: Prius count - 9; SUV count - 8; and the SUVs here are the small ones. Not a Suburban or Escalade sized behemoth in sight.

Dave's thoughts for the day - "can't gauge the scope of the city yet - so easy to get lost, so confusing" & this gem "We're doomed." I agree...

Sun!

So the sun finally made an appearance! I thought it would never come. I was actually looking into the train ticket price to Brighton. Considering the Pacific Northwest is getting abnormal hot weather, I figure everyone else must be getting better weather than us. Got the British money today? Why is it that when you check the exchange rate online, it's one thing and when you get to the place, it's another? Well, it's still better than the last two years.

I actually reached 47 MPG with the Prius! And mostly highway! It's supposed to get better MPG in city driving. My goal: 50 MPG.

Getting excited to go to London. We will be staying round the block from the British Museum. There is a store that sells used magazines. My dream is to find a secret stash of early 80's Smash Hits. I might faint if I find them...I am going to miss Millie a lot. I really wish she could come. But I know she warms up to grammy and gramps real fast...too fast? She's shameless...

I am thinking of taking the fisheye Lomo, the Diana, the digital and the Canon film cameras. I will pack for wearing things more than once so I can fit it all. And I got lots of film and a mini flexi tri-pod from Mandy! Yay!

Great quote from across the street just moments ago: "Sigh! I'm exhausted from doing nothing!" That's my white trash mama Sweeney! Crack open a cheap beer and smoke one for me! And why work when you have three mouths to feed when you can sit on your porch and watch TV and burp all day! Hey, at least one out of the three should end up being their ports meal ticket, right? Jeez...