London Part One:

So we recently made not one, but TWO, yes two ladies and gentlemen, jaunts into London in the space of two days! :) Many of our English friends thought we were insane (possible) but as an American and Irishman respectively, we pooh poohed this perspective and jaunted happily. The first jaunt was a Saturday and we went expressly to meet up with Brooke and Dan as we felt it had been too long since we'd seen each other. As they live in Cambridge, and we live in Bristol, London is the best place to meet up. I use the term 'best' rather loosely as we would all far rather meet up in say, Oxford but according to everyone over here, London is the black hole of transport. Oh, don't get me wrong: the airport is one of the best in world and if you've been through it, you already know it is not the black hole. No, I am referring to the insanity that is the British rail system. Due to many complicated and hard to understand reasons (they don't get them either, so don't feel badly) there is no direct rail link from Bristol to Cambridge. In fact to get from the west side of the country to the east side, one HAS to go through London. Just how they did it. This has led me to speculate frequently as to how the British get ANYWHERE (their roads are better but still odd) but then it is these little oddities for which we love them. No one does anything about the appallingly out of date state of the rail network because that would mean a politician sacrifices his current popularity for something that has long term future generation benefits. Okay, sorry about that rant on rails; I just finished a book called Eleven Minutes Late, about the history of how the British rail network came to be. I promise, it's not boring. But you are left wondering if the British will continue to use a system from 1914 until it just falls apart and they have to replace the whole thing!!

So anyway, we met up with Brooke and Dan and had a grand time in the London drizzle. Well, we didn't stay in the drizzle, we went into the National Gallery since it's free and dry. But we did have fun casually 'meeting up' in front of Buckingham Palace. It is useful. :) So here is London Part One in pictures: 

Brooke posed for me in Trafalgar Square. If you peak over her umbrella, Queen Victoria is watching you.

And there she is unobstructed

Do they look English or what? (Well Daniel is so.....)

These are statues of Queen Elizabeth and King George VI. After seeing the King's Speech and adoring it, I felt it was right that we stop and pay a bit of homage here.

I just love the lions in Trafalgar and can't resist taking their picture

The fountain is also quite nifty

What are they all looking at you ask? An Asian church in a side street. 

Do I need to explain this? It's just cool

So we went to a burger place for dinner and I looked up to see a picture of my parents back in the....well a decade beyond memory. :)

That is exactly what it looks like:  a giant ship in a giant bottle. 

My awesome mood shot of Brooke and Dan in rain with bus in background. 

Lions! (Wouldn't it be cool if they came alive at night like Night in the Museum?)

We popped into this church where this fantastic group was practicing Vivaldi. It was amazing.