World Tour

July 24-28 Monday through Friday London My sister had found us a studio in Bayswater just bordering Nottinghill. It's called the Vancouver Studios and we thought it was going to be air conditioned but when we walked in the only thing resembling cool air was a fan and an open window. Luckily we were on the ground floor, unfortunately, London was still in the middle of its heat wave and what we would later learn had been it's hottest month "Ever." according to the news reports. You could believe them too because it was friggin hot except early in the morning. Late at night it was pleasantly tolerable and there was a day of thunderstorms which left the city a hot sticky mess. We all agreed that while there was about a million different sites to see there just wasn't enough time, and no one was interested in running all over the city to do a hundred and one sites in a day and the heat just wasn't making things very pleasant. What we did end up doing was picking and choosing a few sites but otherwise just hung out. It was great because Jon and I didn't have to worry about the bikes, where we had to go and when we had to be somewhere, food, water and a flushing toilet were always nearby and we had a bed to sleep in everynight - and a TV. We went to an afternoon matinee in Bayswater which was significantly cheaper than downtown London. We saw Pirates of the Carribean and Jon saw The Da Vinci Code towards the end of the week. Going to the movies provided a little bit of levity and more of our old lives into the trip which was nice. I think we had dinner in every night and Mary bought us lunch at Harrods at the Tapas bar which was a lot of fun as I don't think I've ever done Tapas before. We got a variety of dishes serving smaller amounts of food - just enough to enjoy but not stuff yourself on. Harrods, of course, was a must. It was great shopping with a girl instead of dragging Jon along. We split up and agreed to meet in a couple/few hours near the sundae counter in the food hall section (which is massive). I could have spent the entire time in the food hall itself wandering around. It's a bit of a maze but getting lost there wasn't such a bad thing. We made it to the top floor and found gifts for family and ourselves with the Harrods logo on them which I believe is a requirement to have in your possession before leaving the country, we were all too willing to oblige! On our way out we stopped by the Diana and Dodi statue which I must say were pretty darned cheesey. I think they made Diana's nose too big for her face. The Tube never seemed to reach a comfortable temperature no matter what time of the day we rode it. We went to the Britsh Museum of History. That place is incredibley massive. The three of us split up. I tried to go to the temporary exhibits but got lost after a while, I did see the Rosetta Stone though which was cool. Jon had fun in the Clock room and I forget where all Mary went. The three of us went on The Eye which is basically a giant enclosed ferris wheel located right along the Thames. You get an amazig overview of the city. We got there early, half an hour before the ticket doors opened and didn't really have to wait long at all once our tickets were purchased - once again proving that getting up, while initially painful does pay off in the end. Mary and I went to Portabelllo Road and wandered in and out of all the little shops while Jon stayed at the studio and power read the Da Vinci Code before going to see the movie later that day. Mary found the coolest wooden block pattern used to paint fabric - a real treasure. Mary had befriended the studio owner's daughter. I forget her name - maybe Mary remembers. This little girl, who is around seven years old can speak four languages! I thnk that's pretty impressive - I'm envious. We watched some DVDs that we were able to rent from the building we were staying in: Notting Hill (I had never seen it and since we were right next door we were able to recognize many of the scenes. Mary and I had been in the travel bookstore the same day we watched the movie!), Man on Fire, and Collateral. I don't watch movies as much as Mary and Jon so they were all new to me. On the last few days of our trip we had a little furry visitor to our room, a cat, usually dropping by in the afternoon or evening. The first time I was half asleep when I heard Mary say, "Quick Jon, close the door!" A long haired cat with a bell on it's collar had come into our studio. We had been keeping the door open while we were there in hopes of allowing for a breeze of any kind to come throught the room. I don't know if this ever worked but we did it everyday anyway. Mary scooped up this big fluffy kitty and we all gave it a little pet before she put the cat back on the floor. The cat then proceeded to sniff around, sit on top of Mary's suitcase to see if there was anything appealing at this slightly higher elevation and then proceeded back out the door when it had been determined that there was really nothing of interest going on in our room although he did get a good back rub from Jon. Maybe this is what kept him coming back every evening. One time we were out in the small courtyard in the back and I could hear the jingling of what could only be a kitty collar bell. Sure enough, the cat was climbing over the wall, through the bamboo screen and proceeded to get in the back rubbing position for Jon and I. It was just a really relaxing, laid back week. We had a toaster in our room. Many people don't know my love for toast so I was especially excited to find the toaster in our studio when we first arrived and proceded to have toast for breakfast everyday we were there.