London

Last weekend Jay and I went to London. We stayed in a lovely hotel - this is the view...



Our first night we went to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Hammersmith Apollo Theater. It was my first Nick Cave show. Cathy saw him in Montreal and said the show was "a religious experience for the secular". I wouldn't go that far, but he does put on quite a show.

Saturday we visited the Tate Britain - you really can along take in some much art a time. There is so much in there. I saw one of my favorite paintings - the Lady of Shalott. Of course, no photos inside the gallery, but I did take a side view of the gallery.



We then wandered around London. Man there are a lot of people there! And we were in prime tourist real estate on a sunny Saturday. Fighting crowds is a little frustrating. But, saw everything a good tourist should! Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Parliament Buildings, Carnaby Street, the Eye.

This little guy was on a lamp post and i couldn't resist taking his picture.



We were planning on seeing Wicked, but couldn't get very good seats so decided to come up during the week at a later day. It is supposed to be fantastic (the book certainly was) and I really want to see it. We ended up going to a comedy club for the midnight show. Six comedians, including two Canadians. What are the chances of that happening? There was another Vancouverite in the audience, too. I've never seen stand-up live before and it was great.

We got up late on Sunday morning and had to race to the London Dungeon after breakfast because footie (Man Utd. v. Wigan) was on at 3pm. The Dungeon tour was interesting (not very scary, but I did jump a couple of times). We were stuck with a huge group of Belgians - large numbers never move very fast do they? And no one wanted to be in the front and be singled out by the tour guides.

I thought they did a pretty good job. The tour takes you through history, starting with the plague in 1665. There are a couple of rides along the way - yay! At the end, a sweet mini hellevator drop from the gallows. They take a snap shot when the ride drops. Jay looks calm as ever, but I look terrified. I did scream, I fully admit it!

And then, football. Here's us in the pub...

 

I just could not resist buying this off e-bay (it came all the way from china). It's really like Phillip on a bad day.

Baby Needed Some New...

 
 
 

And now Baby is happy!

Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider

I fell asleep on the couch last night and this morning I was folding up the blanket when I discovered a new friend. I really hope it came in this morning.

Arundel Castle

I've been pretty busy since my last post and the weather here is incredible - cloudless hot days with a nice breeze. Hope that doesn't mean that it will rain the rest of the summer...

On Sunday a group of us went to check out Arundel Castle, which is one of the oldest country "homes" in England. The motte (a tall artifical mound) is the oldest part of the castle - built in 1068. I was born in 1968, and using my incredible powers of mathematics (or "maths" as they like to say here), that means this place is 900 years older than I am!

It was really incredible - gorgeous gardens, private chapel, the view from the Keep.

An Update on My Wii Status

You'll be happy to hear I did another Wii "fitness" assessment today and I've dropped 18 years! Now I'm only 43 (luckily I look and feel much younger than that). For those of you that don't know, the target age is 20. So, I've got some more training to do. I'm telling you, the tennis training is quite a work out - I was glowing up a storm (read: sweating) this morning... Then I tried Guitar Hero for the first time. I'm really working on becoming well rounded in my cyber talents.

my beach rock

 
 
 

I found this rock on the beach - I'm told that if I had left it there, the tiny rock inside of it would have eventually bored it's way compelety through.

Luckily, I'm not that bored.