Tourists

This weekend marks the what I will call the official start or our European Vacation. So far its been all house stuff and buying this and that and trying to get settled. Luckily this weekend we got what was being described as a heat wave so we decided to venture out to see some sights. We didn’t make it very far because our Russian handyman Vasyl was supposed to come fix the radiators (which by the way he didn’t show......three housecalls and no heat) and ended up visiting Trafalgar square and the National Gallery. Its pretty cool the majority of the museums in London are free to attend so you don’t feel bad if you only see half of the exhibits. We essentially only looked at the things we knew about, Di Vinci, Monet, Michelangelo, and Picasso. Not the most recognizable pieces but pretty cool all in all. The Di Vinci, and Michelangelo stuff was the best. I have to admit it felt pretty surreal looking at a 500 year old chalk drawing. I would highly recommend a visit. But maybe not at this time of year every year. Which is the lead into the next highlight of our trip. Remember I said we went to Trafalgar square? Well yeah it was the African festival. Not really sure what the African festival consisted of, but kinda distracted from the normal scenery. I know they were protesting stoning at one point, and I think someone wanted me to donate money to dig a well, but other than that I didn’t pay much attention. Took some pictures overlooking the square and the stage of the African festival at what I would consider to be Typical London. You can see the Eye in the background

Made a quick visit to Piccadilly Circus on the way home, which seemed pretty stupid to me. They say its like Times Square, and I guess I agree with them but wasn’t much going on other than people and shopping. Neither of which was on my list of exciting attractions so it was rather pointless. We did have to make one last trip to finish off the necessities (including buying a bed for all of those coming to visit) so we ventured to Ikea on Sunday. I can tell the story really quickly by just saying that Ikea = Hell, but to put it in a little more perspective I will share some of the highlights. To get there we had to change tubes three times and catch a shuttle bus, which we missed. The store is without exaggeration twice the size of Mathis Brothers, in Tulsa. It easily had 10 times the people as Mathis Brothers as well. It felt like the midnight madness sale at Garden Ridge. Their stuff was pretty amazing and super cheap, but not sure it was worth all the congestion and people. Kristen broke the most expensive thing we bought before we got home, but other than that all was successful.