Hello All! I hope the cool slide show is working above. Let me know if you can't see the photos please.
We had a very relaxing trip to London, as we summarized to some former Londoner Brits we had dinner with last night. It was not as fun as we first expected, since our friends who we were supposed to meet up with had to cancel. This meant no golf for James and more time than we thought we needed to explore the city.
We used this extra time to enjoy the wonderful parks in the city. St James park was a favorite, and Anna loved to play 'hiding' behind all the trees in it.
The Tower of London was our tourist attraction highlight. The crown jewels were amazing! There was a scepter with a diamond called the Cullinan I, also known as the Great Star of Africa, which has over 530 carats. It is the second largest cut diamond and WOW. We walked past it twice to appreciate it from all angles. I was also impressed by a beautiful 'crown of India' which was made and worn only once in India. Apparently, the crown jewels can't leave the island, so the King had one made just for his visit. After seeing these amazing jewels, James told me he never has to buy me jewelry again, as nothing can compare to what we saw there.
Another cool experience for me was attending an organ concert at Westminster Abbey. James & Anna stayed in the hotel to watch the end of the British Open (if you can't play golf, then watch right??) and I set off to enjoy by myself. It was wonderful (and free!!! a regular tourist entry is 12 pounds or $24 per person) and I got to hear a marvelous organist from the Netherlands perform for 30 minutes. I was obviously much more impressed than the older American man sitting beside me who was asleep before the concert even began! All attempts by his wife to wake him did not work, and so this provided for some comic relief as well.
We also throughly enjoyed Trafalgur Square and the free national Gallery. I saw a Monet painting I'd never seen before of Venice that I became quite taken with. We also saw a painting of George Washington in the portrait gallery that is the same image used on the dollar bill. Anyway, it was a cool American moment in England.
And now for my favorite part of vacations (you'll know what this is if you've read any of my other blogs) ---
The FOOD! Our first full day in town, we started off very American, and ate a Cinnabon (I haven't even seen a cinnamon roll since last summer) which Anna loved and then proceeded to have lunch at TGI Fridays--- they had Coke with unlimited refills, pure madness for Europe! We ate ribs, spinach dip with tortilla chips, and Anna & I fought over who could drink an Oreo Shake faster (she won).
This American-fest calmed our subconscious need for comfort food and made us considerably happier than the so-so Indian food we had the night before. The wait staff at the Indian rester aunt was almost entertainingly bad. We watched 6 people leave the restaurant after sitting down due to their arrogance. Then, after we finished our meal, a waiter stood 6 inches from me with a new table cloth & settings practically shoving us out the door. It became much more funny the next day :)
But the best food was found in and near China Town. If you are in London ever, do go to the Imperial Palace for Chinese food--- Incredible. James and I think it may be the best Chinese food we've ever eaten and Anna wasn't complaining over her rice bowl either. We also had Thai, Vietnamese & Sushi; and were so grateful to eat good Asian food again! Yeah for happy tummies!
In the square just south of China town (where we happened on the European Batman Premiere & the batmobile one night) was an amazing homemade ice cream shop. We ate there daily, and learned NOT to give Anna her own spoon, as she is too good at using it for 'Big Bites' and gobbling up our sacred ice cream much too fast!
All in all, it was a good trip. Expensive ($2 = 1 pound, YIKES), but more fun than we thought would have. Now we are going to be staying much closer to home, so I will try to do some Luxembourg updates next.
