Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Moving the blog
Friday, May 13, 2011
Home again
Day 22 (May 12, 2011)
Itinerary: Fly home
Today we fly home. Tomorrow we get to wear something else other than the 3 shirts we travel with. But, today, we must say goodbye to each other and to our time off.
Mark's flight was at 6:40am, so we had to wake up at 3:30am to catch the train to the airport. I have never seen London so completely void of people! On our walk to the station, we saw one car and only a couple other people all hauling baggage as well. I guess the only people up this early are those of us tourists who are heading to the airport. Luckily our train started running at 3:30am.
I booked our flights so that we were both flying out of the same airport, London Gatwick. London has 5 airports, so at the time of booking that wasn't so easy a task especially since most flights to the States seem to leave out of Heathrow. We had no problems checking into our flights. British Airways was easy. Mark will fly BA to Marseille and then change airlines to Air Algerie to get to Annaba. Checking in at KLM/Delta was a little more time consuming. First I had a passport check where they asked me about 10 or 15 security questions. This early in the morning it is hard to hear the meaning of the question to know if the answer is yes or no because they change it up on you. One of the questions I was asked was if any of my electronics had been repaired past their original function or something like that. I had to verify my electronics were in my carry on as well. The 4 people ahead of me in line at the bag drop all had complicated issues that took about 5 minutes each.
Finally, I met Mark again on the other side of security. His gate number was not announced yet, so we stopped to eat breakfast at a place properly named Eat. We've been seeing Eat at other place in London, but hadn't stopped in yet.
I am sad to say goodbye to Mark. We will next see each other in July for our planned African Safari. That will be a very interesting trip and we can start counting down the weeks. All my faithful blog readers will be disappointed to learn that we will not have internet access on that trip and you'll have to wait until the end of our trip to hear about our adventures. It will be a truly off-grid vacation.
My plane to the States left at 9am and was operated by Delta instead of KLM. This disappoints me especially when I got on the plane to find out that we don't have individual tvs! I was looking forward to seeing some of the movies I didn't see on the way to London. I don't think I've been on an international flights without the individual tvs since before our Singapore trip in 2007. Oh well. The plane is completely full as well, so I am not lucky enough to get an empty seat next to me. Thankfully the flight has gone pretty smooth and fast. I slept for the majority of the flight to Atlanta.
In Atlanta I will need to pick up my checked luggage to go through customs and then wait for about 3 hours before my flight to Houston. I will be arriving in Houston later than normal at 5:15pm and in the middle of rush hour traffic. Hopefully it will not rain on my for my walk home from the light rail station.
And, now several hours later, I am on my flight home, to arrive about 3 hours late. As soon as I sat down on the original 4pm flight from Houston to Atlanta, a member of the ground crew came on the PA and announced that we should all leave the plane. I have to say that it sounded like a bit of a joke since we were just getting on. However, it was not a joke. "The plane broke" were the exact words to describe the malfunction that forced us off the plane. I didn't want to fly on a broken plane anyway.
Eventually, we were told to move to a new terminal and new gate where a new plane was sitting waiting for us to board so we could get to Houston. At the new gate, the one member of Delta staff told us that the new plane was different from the first and we would need to check in again and get new seat assignments. The new departure time was 5:15pm, but I couldn't see how we could possibly leave them if we all had to get new seats.
I sat down and waited for the masses to clear before I got in line for my new seat. The line to get new seats did not shrink until 5:30pm and by now we already knew that the first real Houston rain of 2011 had forced a shut down of the airport and delayed our flight to 6:05p. Just as I was to get to the counter for my new seat, the amazingly patient one staff member said we were going to board and if we didn't get new seats yet, it would just print out as we boarded. Well that sounds easy.
The new plane is a major upgrade from the old plane. It's nicer than my international plane as we have leather seats, padded seat belts, and personal tv screens where we can watch satellite tv or pay for a movie. I did not partake as I brought my own entertainment, but I have to say the flight has been very nice so far. We finally took off around 6:30p, but I believe the pilot plans to "fly real fast" and "make up time in the air" as pilots are known to do. We might arrive at 7:45p or maybe later.
In any case, waiting extra time in the Atlanta airport was not a problem for me at all. It felt downright luxurious because I was already in the States, I had a cell phone with internet, and a seat with an outlet to charge my electronics. After sleeping on a cold concrete floor outside the terminal at CDG in Paris, this was a treat. I'll get home eventually.
We've had such a good vacation. 3 weeks is a long time. We are so happy that Mark's family was able to join us for the first week and travel in Ireland with us. Mark will not be back in the States again until December, so he was so happy to be able to spend time with his family. Traveling as a group of 5 people certainly made vacation more interesting. With 5 people, we had varying interests and probably visited some places that Mark and I would not have visited on our own. Plus there are more people to talk to and lots of conversation. I haven't planned a vacation for a group of people since 2006 when I planned a trip for 9 of us friends to go to Glacier National Park.
Ireland was everything I imagined it to be and more. 2 weeks was not enough and I want to go back to the green rolling hills and Irish music again soon. We had most excellent both in Ireland and in London. We came prepared for chilly rain every day, but I would say at least 3/4 of the days were gorgeous and sunny. I can only thing of about 2 days where chilly rain changed any of our plans. We are looking forward to coming back to London as well since we really didn't hit up all the must-sees and must-dos in the area. We put in a bid a couple weeks ago for London 2012 Olympic tickets and it'll still be a couple months before we hear anything. We hope to be back here in 2012, though it will be amazingly crowded. It was interesting to read all the London news about the complications even the Brits are having with getting tickets to the games. Apparently 4 times as many people entered the ticket lottery than there are tickets for. and that's just out of the EU allotment. I'm curious how lucky we will end up being.
Thanks for reading and commenting on my vacation blog. I had gotten more behind than usual this trip, but I am all caught up now. I'm sure the bunnies and my friends are looking forward to seeing me again. I know I'm looking forward to seeing them.
Until next time,
=) Joanna
Thursday, May 12, 2011
So Wicked
Day 21 (May 11, 2011)
Itinerary: Shopping, Wicked, The Comedy Store improv
Today is our last day of vacation. As I'm typing this, I think I might have gotten off in my numbering of days. Today should be day 22, I think, not 21. I might have doubled up somewhere, or maybe I'm just confused. In any case, I'll leave it as is.
This morning our goal was to find an inexpensive piece of luggage for Mark to take to Algeria with the recent purchases we've made. Since I didn't bring an action packer full of food this rotation leave, we ended up buying food and beer in London to take. We ended up at an interesting store called Argos. The goal of this store is to have a small front for customers and a huge warehouse of stock. It is an interesting business model and certainly works here. Inside, a table with many paper catalogs was available to us for shopping. We simply browsed the contents of the store via the catalog. Once we found a suitably inexpensive rolling bag, we made note of the catalog number and then went to the front desk to order and pay for it. Once the item was paid for, we moved to the waiting area set up very similar to DMV in the states when you have to wait in that ridiculously long line to get a driver's license. We were the only order being processed at the time, though, so in about 3 minutes, our order came down from wherever the warehouse was. I'm thinking they store the stock vertically on floors above the storefront. Out popped our suitcase, and we picked it up and walked back to the hotel. It was a very simple, easy process. It only works for us because we didn't care what we got. Our 69cm piece of luggage was all of 16 pounds, but it only has to last for one flight.
At the hotel, we started the process of packing. It is time to split up all the belongings and make sure all the right things go to Algeria or to Houston. I'll spare you the boring details of packing. =) Once done, we traveled back to the Texas Embassy Cantina for one last tex-mex lunch for Mark. We really are happy with the food there and out order again today came out great. We also learned that the actual Texas Embassy building to the Republic of Texas was actually at another location closer to Buckingham Palace. Originally we thought this might be the old Texas Embassy turned restaurant. Later on we'll go find the original building.
We made it just in time, after lunch, to get in to see Wicked. We found out the secret to getting good seats is to arrive about 2 minutes late so they seat you in the easiest seats instead of your actual seats. We ended up in a price level higher than what we had purchased and we were happy with our new seats. This probably doesn't always work of course, but we felt lucky with our timing. The performance was fantastic as expected. Amazingly, neither of us has seen Wicked before, so we both enjoyed the introduction to the storyline as well. The set mechanics always interest me and I thought they did a marvelous job with the set design and easy changes. We were both confused by the large model of a dragon above the stage that didn't really do much throughout the show, but it did look cool.
After our afternoon show, the sun came out, and we decided to walk to Piccadilly for our evening entertainment. It helped that it was rush hour and once again they had closed the Victoria Station Underground due to overcrowding. This time, however, we were on the outside unable to get in. It did look quite packed full of people and we had the time to walk, so we did.
Once again the Will and Kate souvenir shop was closed, but we did get to see Buckingham Palace in the daylight. We were amused at two of the Royal guards standing next to each other that had about a foot and a half difference in height. The walk to Piccadilly was very pleasant. We stopped in a tea shop for Mark to find some good English tea to take back to Algeria.
Mark had time for some Ben and Jerry's before it was time to get out seats for our evening comedy improv show at The Comedy Store. We watched many of the same comedians that we saw at the utterbelly festival a couple days ago. The show was very similar with the same games, but because the audience suggestions were different, it was a very different show. We were nearly rolling in the aisles laughing at the routines. What a great night of British comedy and a great way to end the vacation in London.
Tonight we finished packing, and finally got to bed. In 3 hours we'll be waking up to head back to the train station to get to the airport where we will say goodbye to each other and to London. This has been another most excellent vacation.
To be or not to be
Itinerary: Hamlet at Shakespeare's Globe Theater, Tate Modern,
walking in London
Vacation is starting to wind down. Today we realized that we only
have a few more days together before we have to go out separate ways.
We plan to get as many shows out of London as possible before we
leave, so this afternoon we headed to Shakespeare's Globe Theater to
see Hamlet.
We booked ahead online to be groundlings at the show for only 5 pounds
each. It is certainly the cheapest show in London. The groundlings
stand around the stage and to get spots along the edge of the stage,
we needed to line up about an hour in advance. In the area, we had a
leisurely lunch before we got in line. We at at a place called Pizza
Express, but it was actually the same restaurant as Milano that we
visited in Ireland on the first night we were there. We remember the
food being excellent and it still was even in England. Actually,
contrary to popular belief, all the food we've had in England has been
great.
Shakespeare's Globe was rebuilt as the original does not exist any
more of course. The first version burnt down, the second was
eventually torn down, and now this one, the third, I think, was
finished in 1997 on the bank of the Thames River. I always pictured
it in a more rural area, but we were still in central London
surrounded by buildings and skyscrapers. Down low, The Globe Theater
is hard to pick out. The inside was just as you would picture it.
The area is small as the actors do not have microphones. There are 3
or 4 levels of seating on balconies vertically stacked. We stayed on
the ground floor in an area that would hold up to 700 people, though
that would be a tight fit. We got in early enough to grab a spot
along the edge of the stage, though it was off on the side rather than
the front. This meant that some of the view was obstructed by a large
column holding the roof over the stage, but most of the action
occurred in plain view. The stage was probably just over 4.5 feet
tall as I could just barely rest my arms on the stage to watch.
Standing for 3 hours of Hamlet would have been tough without the stage
to lean on.
The show was well done and it was quite an experience to see the play
as it was meant to be seen. There was a short intermission between
acts where all of us groundlings were able to sit down and take a
break. It was certainly interesting to see the same actors play a
variety of characters. A change of coat or over-shirt made the
difference between the characters. All the changing took place in the
wings on stage as I can imagine it would have been done in
Shakespeare's time. This did not detract from the action out front,
but it does make me appreciate all the modern technology in today's
theater.
After everyone died, and then took their bows, we wandered next door
to the Tate Modern museum. We only had time to visit one floor of
this free art museum, so we viewed modern art on the 5th floor made of
every day materials and generally from the 1960s. This is the kind of
modern art similar to putting a broom in the corner of the room
upside-down and calling it art.
At 6pm, the museum docents kicked us out and we made our way back to
the hotel to change for the evening. We had dinner reservations at a
steak restaurant that Mark found and picked out. This place was
certainly focused on cow. I'm sorry to all my vegetarian friends for
the description of the restaurant. We walked into a meat-eaters
wonderland. The walls, stairs, and chairs all had the black and
white cow hide. Before we ordered, the waitstaff brought out a tray
of the uncooked meat and pointed at and explained each cut so we could
see what we would be eating. We could see exactly how it was marbled
and the size. The menus were long and thin, about 2 inches wide, but
opened up in accordion style to reveal all the different meats to
order. First pick a cut, then pick how much you are going to eat. We
had to do a little conversion from grams to ounces to make sure we got
the right amount. The entree was just the meat, so we ordered a
couple sides to go with it. I certainly do not go out and eat steak
on my own in Houston and Mark doesn't get good steak in Algeria. So
we both enjoyed the treat as the steak melted away in our mouths.
Okay, veggies, you can start reading again. The weather had been
gorgeous all day with blue skies, sun, and a few clouds during the
day. Tonight was clear and pleasant again, so we walked along the
Thames River near the London Eye again and around Westminster before
heading back to the hotel for typing and bed.
Tomorrow is our last full day together and the last day in London.
We've got some more shows lined up and some final shopping for Mark.
"I'm just a mad man with a box"
Day 19 (May 9, 2011)
Itinerary: Buy discount tickets at the tkts booth for a show tonight, visit the Doctor Who Experience at Olympia, see the Tower Bridge open for a large ship, eat Thai for dinner, go see Billy Elliot
I stayed up too last last night trying to catch up on the travel journal and then this morning Mark woke up early and typed up the last 2 days. So this morning we were all caught up! Amazing! I can actually type up today's experiences tonight. Thanks, Mark, for your help.
So after all this work, we got a slow start to the morning. Luckily after our grocery store visit, we had breakfast in the room consisting of muffins and peaches. This turned out to be our only meal until dinner, but that's later on. Our first stop once we got moving was at the discount tkts booth similar to the discount tkts booth in Time Square. Here you can pick up half price tickets for broadway shows going on tonight. We opted to see Billy Elliot since it originated here rather than one of the more long-running classic broadway hits. Also, we did pass up Shrek, the musical, and Legally Blonde, the musical, as well. Maybe next time.... We were able to get our half price tickets for the 4th row from the front.
Satisfied, we headed off to the Olympia Exhibition Center to visit the Doctor Who Experience. This really was our main attraction for London. For the uninitiated who might be reading, Doctor Who is a long-running tv series dating back to the 60's. In 2005, a new Doctor Who show started up again and we've been watching every episode.
We had a bit of a confusing experience using the Tube to get to the right place, but eventually with the aid of Google Maps on Mark's phone, we found it. The Experience was awesome! We both had a great time and spent several hours here, much more than the suggested 90 minutes. There was no need for advance tickets as we were the only ones there for a large chuck of it. First, we passed through a series of rooms that put us inside of an episode of Doctor Who. With Matt Smith, the eleventh Doctor leading the way, we got to stand inside the Tardis, operate some controls. We fought off several Daleks, and passed through a dark and foggy wood full of the weeping angels. We finished with a 3D experience inside the pandorica saving the Doctor so he could save the world....again. Though the staff tried to wait for more people to arrive, we ended up going through the experience on our own.
After we saved the world, we entered the free-flowing part of the exhibit. We saw costumes from all the Doctor Who companions from the current season. Both Mark and I think Rose was the best companion. We got to see costumes from all the Doctors as well starting with the first Doctor from the 60s. We went inside the Tardis from the 9th and 10th Doctors. This was really cool. Definitely an experience. Finally, we walked through the monster section where a model of all the various monsters/aliens from all the episodes were on display. Most interesting was the progression of Daleks from the 60s to today. They really haven't changed much. The Cybermen, though, have changed a lot from the 60s version to today.
With the power of video screens located through the whole event, we learned that this whole experience was built over 2 years!! And of course there was so much more. I don't want to give it all away. If you are a Doctor Who fan, this is definitely worth the trip. =)
We purchased some Lego figurines and Tardis at the store. We also tried to get tshirts, but all they had in stock was XL and no more shirts until Friday. Dude, this is the second time I've tried to buy a cool London shirt and been denied. Yesterday the Texas Embassy only had small shirts and nothing for me to buy. So, needless to say, I'm very disappointed. =( Boo.
Next stop was the Tower Bridge, usually known as the London Bridge, and a major London icon. We arrived in time to see the 5:30 raising and lowering of the bridge to let a large ship through. Ships need to schedule in advance when they need the bridge to open and then all the times are posted online.
Oh and did I mention that today was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day. The clouds today are classic, puffy, cumulus clouds and my photos look like I photoshopped in a fake sky. We sat outside in the grass before we had to high-tail it back to eat dinner and make it to the showing of Billy Elliot. On the way back, we were interested to see them need to close Victoria Underground station due to over-crowding. They actually close the gates and didn't let anyone else in until it cleared out. Wow.
Billy Elliot was a very cute play that I would see again. There are a lot of kids in the production, as the main character is a 12-year old boy of course. There was one adorable 4 or 5 year old that stole all our smiles as well. The actor who played Billy was excellent and deserved the standing ovation we all gave him. He sang, he danced, and he did it all with great style. Awesome show and seats so close to the stage that we felt the need to back up as we were almost underneat the actors. Victoria Palace was a small theater, but had the classic feel of a Phantom of the Opera type theater. During intermission, we were surprised to see the vendors selling ice cream and soda in the aisles.
Today was another day that didn't feel too touristy, but we had an absolutely great time. We are already planning to catch several more shows and theater performances before we leave London. Tonight we are booking tickets for Shakespeare's Globe to see Hamlet, a performance of Wicked, and also another turn at improv with The Comedy Store guys. We might not get to all the London must-see sights, but we sure are having a great time here.
Local for a day
Day 18 (May 8, 2011)
Itinerary: Stop being a tourist for a day.
Now that we're in the 3rd week of this trip and after a busy few days in Dublin, its time to take a break from being a tourist for a while. There is just too much to do in London, so we already know we're not going to be able to see everything and we're tired of fighting the tourist crowds for a bit.
After sleeping in a bit and researching a few things we'll want to do later in London we head out on the town in search of lunch and internet. Mark really likes having internet on his phone so we searched out a Pay-As-You-Go SIM from the 3 store. For only £10 Mark was able to purchase a SIM and feed his internet addiction a bit longer. It's nice to have a phone with a constant internet connection for maps and the random questions that come up every day. I'm still sad that my iPhone is too old for a sim card.
On the way to the 3 store we found brunch at a lovely outdoor cafe in Chelsea. The weather was cooperating and it was a beautiful and warm sunny day outside. The wind picked up a bit near the end of the meal and a nearby tree started raining down pollen and little seed pods everywhere. The air was a bit thick with pollen and we were both sneezing at the end. The food was great up until then between some eggs Benedict and a tuna melt, but the pollen dusting put our noses into overdrive, and it was time to make a quick exit. Next we hit the grocery near our hotel to pick up some breakfast supplies and stock up on food for Mark to take back to Algeria. This recent trip has reminded Mark of all the good beer that *isn't* being served in Algeria so we picked up a case of Guinness and a 4-pack of Duvel. Without a car there's definitely some limits on what you can buy at the grocery, between the beer, sugary snacks, Oreos and breakfast food it looked like a lot in the cart, but it actually packaged up rather nicely into just 5 plastic bags. Our walk back to the hotel loaded down with groceries was rather easy actually. Our hotel room is already rather cramped as there's no dresser or closet so the groceries are stacked in a few corners until we can figure out a container to pack them in for the airline.
Satisfied we had enough to keep Mark going for another 8 weeks it was time for a night on the town. Using Rick Steve's guidebook for London we found Westminster Abbey had a free 30min organ recital on Sunday evenings so we headed into Westminster to stand in line. The line was longer than we would have guessed and the seating area was full with still some people standing in the back by the time the recital started. While it was only a quick 25min concert the organ music was beautiful in the large hall of Westminster. The high ceilings and hard walls gave the organ a large chamber to reverberate around in and the larger organ pipes filled the space with sound. Using the opportunity for a free look around the Abbey we found a stained glass wall dedicated to engineers on the north side of the Abbey. In particular across from our seating area was a window dedicated to Civil Engineer Sir Benjamin Burke who designed the first Aswan dam and the Forth bridge. Mark used his new cellular internet access to look up Benjamin Burke on Wikipedia, and was later warned by the priests to please put away his mobile phone. During the whole ceremony they were prowling the aisles looking for people using the cell phones or recording the performance. It felt like school again with proctors scanning the students for cheaters during a test. We were then quickly ushered out for the prayer service starting shortly afterward. A free organ recital is a definitely a cool way to experience Westminster Abbey for the first time.
Moving back into modern times we walked to a nearby cinema and just barely made it in time to see the movie Source Code. The A/C wasn't working in the theater so it was a bit warm, but just short of being uncomfortably so. No free drinks from the theater in compensation for the warm theater. Boo! London can't quite accommodate the sprawling mega-plexes we have back in Houston, so they solved their problem by stacking the seven movie theaters vertically. Our particular heated theater was up on the 4th floor.
After the movie we visited the Texas Embassy in London. This restaurant tried to bring the Tex-Mex experience to London, and they actually did a pretty good job. Mark had fajitas and Joanna the sour cream enchiladas. The rice and beans were a bit off, but overall it was decent Tex-Mex food. They hit the decor of an old Mexican building spot-on so the atmosphere was right too. The waiter speaking in a French accent broke the spell though. :-) So if you're missing out on your Tex-Mex food while you're in London, like Mark was, the Texas Embassy does an excellent job of filling that need. We finished off the night with a trip to Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream and people watching on a fountain near Piccadilly Circus.
It felt good to do some non-touristy stuff and just live in the city for a day. We're looking forward to seeing the Dr. Who exhibition tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
London, after the wedding
Itinerary: Pack for the flight to London, fly to London.
After a late night of bar-hopping in Dublin searching out traditional music players we were tired and like all good procrastinators packing in the morning sounded much better than packing last night. Since we're traveling light we were able to shower, pack, and have a leisurely breakfast before our 11:30 flight from Dublin to London.
We dutifully arrived 90min early per airport recommendations using the Dublin City bus system, but it only took 9 minutes to get from the bus stop through checked luggage drop off and security. This is was a rather nice and painless airport travel. With the extra time we dropped off our receipts the VAT refunds and poked around in the airport stores on the way to our gate. Mark finally found a Nintendo 3DS to play around on. They have remarkably few demo models to play around with in Algeria. The demo system had no games of course, but we had fun taking pictures of the cute puppies on the Nintendo dogs poster using the 3D camera.
The Ryanair flight uses first-come first-served seating like Southwest used to, but our fellow passengers weren't interested in queuing early like we used for Southwest. It was only about five to ten minutes before they opened the gate when we moved to stand in line and we were second and third in line. The flight was quick and the transit through London Gatwick was easy as flights from the Republic of Ireland don't need to pass through passport control. There were three lines, UK/EU passports, non-UK/EU passports, and then hidden in the corner were the Irish flights which skipped passport control altogether. So no new stamp on our passports for this flight. After a quick train ride and a short walk we were back at the same hotel we used on the way to Ireland. It was rather relaxing to land in a new country and already know where your hotel is and how to easily get there. Almost like being at home again.
After a quick unpacking session we headed out for a late lunch in a nearby cafe. On the plane we only had a rather unhealthy, but tasty, lunch of gummi bears and cheesy Doritos. :-D We found a nice little cafe to eat lunch at 4 in the afternoon. London is so different from small-town Ireland as we can pretty much find food at any time of day! It seems as if the locals dine here and we weren't surrounded by tourists. We've been tourists for 2 weeks now and it's time to mix with the locals for a while.
Our next stop was at the underground ticket station to get some 7-day passes. We are only here for 5 days, but there isn't a 5 day pass. As it turns out, we might not have even needed 7-day passes because later we will walk almost everywhere instead of taking the tube. With no destination in mind, we boarding the District line headed towards the Thames River. Apparently the track was closed after the Embankment stop (we were going to continue to the Tower of London stop), so we ended up getting off at Embankment. We poked our heads above ground to find ourselves across the river from the London Eye.
We chose a direction to walk and just meandered about. Eventually we found ourselves in some sort of South Bank Festival. The festival held a mix of tourists and locals alike. Along the shore was a small sand beach, complete with children building sand castles. We also found a huge model of a fox built out of straw on top of a building. Lining the festival walk were several little huts each housing a different exhibit having to do with South Bank. One of the huts described several machines located at some other South Bank location probably on a boardwalk of some sort that were the old style coin-op types. For instance there was a coin-op machine with giant robot arms in oven mitts that would frisk you. Our favorite was the dog walking machine. You walk on a treadmill with a machine dog. In front of you was a video screen showing where you were walking and down below was one that showed what the dog was looking at.
Then, we found the giant purple cow. This giant purple cow, or the utter belly, was lying on her back, feet and utters in the air above the tree line. It is a tent with stage hosting various events over the course of the festival. We went ahead and purchased tickets to the Comedy Store improve show tonight. It will be very similar to Whose Line is it Anyway?
With 2 hours to kill before the show, we continued to wander aimlessly. We crossed the river again and found Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and several other nice looking buildings. For dinner we ate in the beer garden outside the utter belly and had some good Mediterranean style food. The Comedy Store act inside the giant purple cow was hilarious. If there was room, we might have been rolling on the floor laughing. The place seemed to be full of locals, too, so we felt satisfied we were staying off the tourist path.
We managed to walk all the walk back to our hotel, even though it wasn't the most direct path. On the way, we saw that Trafalgar Square held a large countdown clock to the 2012 Olympics. We plan to be back for that. I was also surprised to see that our roundabout walk took us to Buckingham Palace. This is how I knew we weren't taking the most direct route, but it was neat to see it lit at night. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera gear and tripod with me tonight, so no good night photos for me. The grounds of the Palace have been stripped of all the flower beds I saw 2 weeks ago when I visited before the Royal Wedding! That is a little disappointing. In any case, from here I knew my way back without the map and soon we were back in the room staying up too late to try and catch up on blogging.
Maybe tomorrow we'll figure out what we want to do in London. Or maybe we'll just take another day off from vacation and be a local for a day again.
