Travel Report: London (and a little Chicago)

We're leaving our first stay in London tomorrow to head to Stratford and Leamington Spa, but we've had lots and fun and crazy things happen to us so far. During our eight hour layover, we headed into the city of Chicago to see the city. An hour in by subway brought us to flash flood central as buckets of rain came down. We persevered, deciding to buy an umbrella and forge onward. Two under an umbrella meant our cameras stayed dry, but we got drenched. We saw a bit of Millenium Park, ate some Chicago food, and talked to some locals before heading back, soggy. Almost two hours of delay for our flight met us at the airport, yet we made it to London by 11:00 am on Wednesday.

Another hour-long tube ride brought us into the city, where we found our "dorm" stay, which is sparse but works. We got out of the cramped room to be met by another flash flood, circa London, while exploring Westminster Abbey area, seeing the Houses of Parliment from the outside and on Westminster Bridge. We walked along the Thames where only Star Wars fanatics were out, and got a little more soaked. Why does it always rain on me? We grabbed a pub dinner before heading in, jet-lagged and ready to sleep.

Thursday met us bright and early, so we headed to Tower of London. We saw the Crown Jewels and took a Beefeaters tour. The Tower was great and full of history. We had lunch in St. James Park and walked to see the outside of Buckingham Palace (right near our dorm). Kristin took a run along the Thames, while I took a quick look in the Tate Modern. We had dinner at Covent Garden and took a look at the spectacle. After dinner (and a yummy waffle), we headed to Leicester Square in the mood for a possible show. We turned a corner and found a huge crowd in front of Avenue Q. We asked about tickets and got some. It's Sesame Street with a little sex, depression, and closeted homosexuality. Plus, they defined the word Schedanfraude. If I didn't spell that right, you can laugh at me.

We're off to Stratford and Leamington Spa tomorrow. Wish us luck and no more rain.

Travel Tip #2

GET YOUR PASSPORT BEFORE YOU GO!!! I just got mine in the mail today -- cuttin' it close... These are some ecstatic pictures of me, my passport, and my travel gnome.

Travel Tip #1

The travel books are helpful, but they aren't helpful in packing light. As Rick Steves suggests, tear out the pages you need and take those with you. Rick Steves says to paper clip the chapters together and give them away when you're done, but I like to get a 5 by 8 inch 3-ring binder to put them in. I turn pages easily as opposed to fumbling through loose pages. In my handy photo, you can see the comparison of four Europe books to the binder of pages I'm taking with me.

Lots of new babies

Here's a blog to pay tribute to all the cute babies born to my family and friends in the last year. I've been to more showers and hospital waiting rooms in the last few months than ever before. Here are some photos of the three girls and one boy new to our world this year (I painted the RHCP onesie.)

Embarrassing Moments

I had something really rare and really embarrassing happen to me a couple of weeks ago. For a few days, I didn't want anyone to know about it because I felt so stupid. The more I look back on it, though, it was sort of funny. It made me think back to the top few embarrassing moments in my life. Picture last week's moment: 8th inning of the May 25th Dodger game after a Dodger dog, a margarita, countless peanuts, and the 7th inning stretch, I was discussing the Lost finale that was airing at that moment with my friends next to me. All of a sudden everyone sitting close by was standing, awaiting a foul ball coming our way. I dreaded this moment, having been smacked in the head by a foul baseball/basketball or two. I did my best earthquake duck, knowing that standing would only lure the ball to my awaiting nose. Then I felt it, "Smack!" on the back of my head, and then my friends saying, "Oh my gosh, did that hit you!" I didn't want to pick my head up; I wanted to die sitting there in my seat. The worst part was that some loser behind me grabbed the ball after it bounced off my head and claimed he had "caught it". Whatever JERK!

In homage to this embarrassing moment, I thought I'd list a few others:
1) The many times I peed my pants while laughing too hard, spanning through college.
2) While running to show my elementary school friends my new birthday present teal stirrup pants, I tripped, ate it, and ripped a hole in the teal stirrup pants.
3) While walking home with a high school cool girl to practice a dance we were in together, she decided to take a short cut through the drainage ditch. The three foot leap over the drainage gunk would have been easy without an enormous backpack and ballet flats. I slipped on the stepping stone and fell backward into drainage gunk galore.
4) Driving the Oldsmobile Omega next to some hot guys, while my friends turned up crazy, attention-getting music and ducked.
5) More that I've since blocked out of my memory.