Second Guest in London

We finally had our second official guest in London.  Kristina, as part of an 8 day around the world whirlwind stopped in London for a few days coming from Singapore prior to her trip back to Philadelphia.  Since most of the time she was here was during the work week Jolene took it upon herself to entertain and be the tour guide.

Jolene, Kris, and new friend (?)

The two of them went on a full day trip to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath and also attended one of Jolene's bootcamp training sessions across town early the following morning.  The three of us did get to go to a few fun restaurants (Pinchito's and Master Gunner) along with spending a full afternoon downtown seeing the famous buildings of London.  No matter what Kris says about her London stop I'm sure she slept well on her flight home!

Shrek - The Musical

We finally took advantage of being close to the theatre district in London and picked up some discount tickets for a Saturday matinee.  While in line for tickets, I really thought that I was picking Shrek because it seemed like something Jolene would enjoy, but it has been brought to my attention she has always known I'm a fan of Shrek.


Either way, it was a really good time ... even if we were the only people in there that didn't bring a kid.

Afterthoughts : Jolene loves the talking gingerbread cookie, the short/evil prince (fake legs - actually on his knees), and thinks that the guy playing donkey really should take some acting classes.

London - Under Construction

As we ever so quickly approach the summer of 2012, the construction taking place in London grows in an attempt to be ready for the Olympic Games that it will host.  Stadiums, train stations, apartment buildings, and repairs to existing roads and railways are all in progress.  Even from our window you can see signs of this on the skyline.

Everyone is already discussing their nervousness about whether the construction will be done in time and if the city will be ready to handle all the people that plan to attend.  The common advice is "plan to walk during the Olympics."

Saturday Sunrise from our Flat

British Museum - London

Soaking up history on a free Sunday afternoon, we headed down to the British Museum (this was on our list from Uncle Jay. He wasn't happy we hadn't been there yet).

I take history very seriously.  Not going to smile.

As one of the only free museums in London, it has some great Assyrian/Egyptian artifacts and statues along with an entire section dedicated to historical items they've dug up from the island of Great Britain.

Jolene finds it very convenient that the small section dedicated to Ireland is closed with warning tape across all the empty exhibits.  We've also learned that it doesn't matter how old pottery is .... we just aren't impressed.

New Year's Eve (Welcome to 2012)

For New Year's Eve we went to an underground microbrewery in north east London that is known for the Indie Rock music their bands and DJ's play.  We were there with a small group of friends and one of them was friends with that night's DJ and his girlfriend so we inherited a group of locals as part of our group.

The pictures below basically sum up the night ...

Robin Hood - aka the Bartender

Gathering my thoughts between British beers and shots of Jameson 

Yes - they are with us.  Eccentric crowd.