London (winding down)

London has been a perfect way to wind things down.  As Court mentioned in her earlier post, we're staying at Hallman and Mike's flat in South Kensington.  It's perfect and they are so practised at having guests, they spoil you with their own personal guidebook full of restaurant, pub and shopping suggestions, your own tube passes, etc.

Here is the coffee shop/bakery/cafe just around the corner from their flat.  If you are ever in London, I beg you to try the almond and chocolate croissant from this place.  Amazing.  Mike swears they make the best cappacino in Europe, hard to argue.

We were so exhausted by the time we got here, we literally slept 16 hours the night of Jan. 1.  Our legs are giving out and there is just no more room to store information, so we've turned into just walk by, point, snap a photo tourists.  This is a square in SoHo, Leicester I think, that I liked.

Courtney doing her best Beatles impersonation.  I have the feeling I'm misspelling a lot of words on this post, oh well.  That is Abbey Road Studios (those are?) in the background.  Did I mention we're exhausted?

Our wonderful, overly gracious, highly cultured hosts, Mike and Hallman Ray, paying for OUR beers (wait, how did that happen?) at a fun pub last night.

The happy couple.  Guess who is wearing all new clothes, all purchased in Europe (not me); take a look at whose drink is already empty (not me); and finally, guess who is not reading over my shoulder and editing.

This is some famous gjioun' in London, and it's pretty.

London Eye, more impressive from the ground than Paris's Wheel of Excellence, to be honest.  Court and I's conversation about whether to ride it...me: "wanna ride it?" court: "naaah, you?" me: "nah."

That's been pretty much our same conversation for every sight, including Big Ben, which you can't go up in anymore anyway because it is now sideways, for those of you who have not been following the news from London.

Including Buckingham Palace: I'm no longer allowed to take the 'couple in front of famous thing' pictures because my face reveals the very intense concentration required of me to perform such a simple task.

This is a funny picture and will mean more to those who have known me for a long time.  Apparently, the same thing was written on my 1st birthday cake.  Yes, I have been made fun of by my family since I was 1.

Oh, but we did go to this amazing exhibit at the Hayward Gallery today of all this Andy Warhol stuff.  That guy was a cook but pretty dern amazing.  Easily the best art exhibit I've been to since I've been in Europe, including the Louvre.  We learned all about Warhol (although I'm suspicious Court already knew a great deal) and got to see a very large chunk of his work.

Headed home tomorrow, flight lands in the afternoon and Bo is picking us up from the airport because Matthew again refused.

Can't wait to see everyone.  Thanks for all the emails and messages of congratulations.