View of London from some bridge
Egyptian Obelisk
The London Eye, a slow ferris wheel
A building
Parliament I think
Also Parliament
More of Parliament
Clocktower (Yes...we know, Big Ben is the bell inside the friggin clock tower)
Westminster Abbey or Parliament, I think it's Parliament. Check out the cool purple colors. Andrea did something with the settings on the camera.
This is the LSD setting
More of the Magic Mushroom setting
This is Alice in Wonderland settings here
This is part of Westminster Abbey, I think.
The buildings often have things hanging off them, people, animals, gargoyles, etc., so here is a representative picture, as we have a million pictures of things.
Check out the windows. (This is still London)
Honestly, this might be Westminster Abbey, in any case, it is London
Their phone booths
The guards are trained to sit perfectly still. Andrea actually ate a traditional English breakfast, and let something flutter out in this picture, and he did not move a muscle. The horse died though.
This was great, The 4th guy from the left had a stirrup come off. He got a "royal" ass-chewing for this. ("Royal" as in they are literally "Royal" guards. Oh boy...
And, there is the stirrup.
The back of the Queen's Horse Guard building.
The tunnel between the front and back.
Again, Andrea has let something light, airy, and borne of the bowels waft through her left trouser leg into the air, and yet the soldier stays on. The plume from his helmet fell off though.
Our first pub. England does beer right. The best are the "cask ales" which are served from cellar-cooled casks, and have to be pumped via a hand-tap. The beer there is great. Some of our favorites were Doom Bar, Youngs Black Bitter, and Abbott Ale. BTW, Guiness Red is horrid.
Andrea opted for Silver Bullet.
The pub names are cool.
Quirky sign in a pub.
Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square, London.
Trafalgar Square.
Lion at the base of the column.
Me on the lion.
Andrea pretending to use the phone. She then noticed someone had coughed up something on the earpiece. (It was me)
I think heading away from Trafalgar Square.
Coffee shop at the hotel (Premiere Inn, King's Cross.) Great coffee.
Great gal, great coffee.
Picaddilly Circus. (A circus is a roundabout in the UK)
I just purchased a pair of shoes. I brought one pair, and they were not meant for walking, so I bought these. I then bought another pair the next day, as these literally sawed through my achilles tendon.
Andrea and I in front of Piccadilly Circus.
You see lots of green roofs.
Pat and Lari and the girls came down, and no one does a look like Pat.
A street in London.
Pat and I on the tube. Someone dissed us, and were we getting geared up athis point.
More London.
Andrea insisted on taking this picture. Wonder why.
Tower of London - an ancient castle/keep/fortress/armoury in London. Dates back from 1066.
Tower of London
Right before this, Andrea was asked to choose one thing she would keep forever and get a picture with it - the guidebook or me.
Andrea and Lari "having words."
Our tour guide, the Yeoman Warder, great guy. He was a Gulf War veteran, as am I. At the end, we gave each other the knowing nod that only combat veterans can give.
Yeoman Warder - Fellow War Veteran
Yeoman Warder, explaining to Audrey and the crowd that they cannot possibly understand what we, as war veterans, went through. Shortly after this he broke down and told them all to just go on about their pathetic lives, and we would try to go on with ours. Bastards.
Another Guard. Andrea had complained of a hangover, and then silently positioned herself next to the guard. She said the next sensation was something "warm, billowy, and definitely not of this earth" being expunged from deep inside, and still, the guard maintained this same position. His bayonet melted off however.
Tower of London. This was a toilet. I was actually using it, and Audrey thought it would be funny to walk in.
Tower of London. This was actually used to chop people's heads off.
Tower Bridge.
An old building.
Dinner that night with Par and Lari. I branched out and had Fisherman's Pie. It was different. We had a great time.
Pat shares my love of beer and facial hair.
Leon, our waiter.
Lari likes beer too.
Audrey's eyes stayed like that for the next 2 days.
This was on a bike taxi around Lecister Square.
Piccadilly at night.
Some bridge.
Southwark Cathedral, built around 1212.
I squeezed Andrea so hard in this pic she made a little mud.
So did Lari.
Pat's looks - priceless.
Cool sign.
Cooler sign.
Wall.
This was at the Clink, a prison on Clink St, and the origin of the term "Clink" for jail. Also, Zoe's face is priceless in this.
Great shot.
Andrea accidentally grabbed a real axe. But honestly, she is taking this a little seriously.
Globe theatre, a re-creation of the original theatre.
Bridge.
I belive we are on Fleet Street, one of the financial districts.
Fleet Street.
Great names for taverns.
Pub.
This was a cool pub, Charles Dickens used to go here, it is old.
This was a great locals only pub. This cat lived there. It went nuclear when Andrea took its picture.
Various London buildings.
Temple Church, where some of Davinci Code was filmed.
Temple Church
This is the dividing line between the Cities of London and Westminster.
Pub
Alley
Ye Olde Chesire Cheese House
Wow
They mush their peas. Gross.
St Paul's Cathedral
Big pigs in blankets.
We saw Jersey Boys, and afterwards found a great Italian restaurant. Good food, and the people were great.
Andrea liked her pasta.
Our waitress.
Waiter, sharing with me his love of American Classic Rock.
Half in the bag at this point.
Now moving on to scotch.
And more scotchy-scotch.
3/4 in the bag.
9/10 in the bag
The Nissan Note. Sweet wheels.
And we are off to Bath.
The motorway wasn't bad.
Stonehenge.
More towns.
Salisbury.
Country roads.
So, here is driving in England. Right hand side of the car, and driving on the left hand side of the road.
And, yes, this is a two-lane road.
Countryside
Our hotel in Bath, it was awesome.
Bath
Roman Baths, some 2000 years old
Classic
The drawing room at our hotel, they had a full-serve-yourself bar. We did.
Hotel in Bath
I think I was expostulating on the wisdom of the division of the various abbeys and their relationship with the Anglican church. Also, I think I tooted.
Ahhh yes, the jazz trio in Bath. Too bad I didn't get a picture of Andrea sliding a 5 pound note into one of the guitarist's guitars.
Scotchy-scotch.
English Roads.
This is what the road looks like to Andrea.
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Tor
Glastonbury
Chalice Well
Chalice Well, you can drink the water from here.
The actual Chalice Well, said to have been used by King Arthur. Classic moment. There is a sign that says "This place is mean for quiet reflection." I looked at the setting and thought, "How beautiful and peaceful is this." At the exact moment I heard Andrea say "F**k this is nice."
Now we are in Brixworth, and headed out to the surrounding towns for sightseeing.
Some house
Princess Di's childhood home
Thatched roof
This church is in Brixworth, 5 minute walk from Pat and Laris, and was built in 858.
Saxon church.
Kenilworth castle pic taken by Andrea
The guide
Kenilworth castle
Kenilworth castle, the wind has worn the grooves in the sandstone
Stratford upon Avon.
Shakespeares birthplace
This awesome pub, check out how the timbers are bent, it was dated from the 1500's.
Our last night in Brixworth, at The George.
Pat leading us to the freeway.
Heading back to London.
Our bike taxi ride.
And that's it!
