At the Top of the Hill!

Well my last day in my twenties was something special.... ( I feel kinda bad posting this the way it is...I could have literally wrote a book about everything, but its already ridiculously long. Click on the pics to see full-size)

Kristen has covertly planned the whole weekend so all I have been told is what to wear and when to be ready to leave. Lots exciting, little scary.



Full English Breakfast

 Out the door bright an early and a stop off at our little breakfast place, just down the street, right in front of the Tube. Could do without the beans but other than that it is great. Probably my favourite cup of coffee in London.



Bob enjoying his Full English Birthday Breakfast

 Next we set off to the first destination of the day, and while Kristen had been dropping hints, I really had no idea where we were going. Even as we stood smack dab in front of it, I was still unsure, just too many options in the heart of London to pick just one. Turned out we had arrived at our destination at Westminster Abbey. Sorry no cameras allowed inside but got some good pics outside. The internal architecture and monuments is twice as impressive as anything you see outside. I am sorry to say but I really can't describe the inside of the abbey. Just incredible! And maybe most interesting is that it isn't a church in the tradition we are used to but a collection of thousands of monuments and tombs. I have hijacked some info from the web so you can get the feel, but at the end of the day its something you just have to experience.


The original Abbey dates back to appx. 650, and has stood in its current state since 1750, although it has seen numerous restorations since. Its been the home of coronations since 1060. Some of its most famous tombs are to St. Edward, (as well as most of the monarchs and members of the royal families), Geoffrey Chaucer, T.S Eliot, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Oliver Cromwell, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin. The list could literally go on for days.





































Next surprise was a tour of Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football club. The Stadium itself is less than a mile from our flat so Kristen decided they would be our team. Its kinda like living in the shadow of Giants Stadium or Wrigley Field I guess. I doubt there are many soccer fans out reading this so I will keep the stories to myself and just share some pics.


















Since there is not much sun in London and the stands block most what sun does shine through they grow their grass with artificial light. Needless to say they don't practice here either.


Stopped off at an place called Bodeans on the way home for some good 'ol American bbq. Now I wouldn't say it was the best I had ever had but compared to some of the things I have been forcing down it was like apple pie.








A short break at home and we headed back out for another surprise. At this point I was getting a little anxious with all the surprises and lack of information, but in retrospect should have just sat back and enjoyed the ride. Kristen had booked us for a flight on/in the London Eye. One any other day I would have been blown away by the sights but after the first two stops today it was just par for the course. I have to say the pods are a little unnerving, but it was more than worth it.















Last stop of the day was a new place for us called Ping Pong. A Dim Sum Restaurant right near the eye. Since we were Dim Sum virgins Kristen had ordered a three course meal ahead of time. It turned out to be more like a five course meal, but they were little courses so it was all good. The best way I can explain it is that Dim Sum is all appetizers. Small dishes so its almost like you got the sampler meal at Chili's when you are done. A little bit of a lot of good stuff. Except for the chili chocolate mouse and the mango gelato, stay away from those. I do suggest everyone to try and make the grape and champagne cocktail. Was like candy. Kristen highly recommends it and would have drank a Route 44 full if she could.








End of the day it was all pretty amazing. Can't imagine what she has cooked up for my actual birthday. Gotta say I am a lucky guy and she is an amazing girl.

Dead tired but going to get a quick ride in on the trainer. We are leaving before sun up tomorrow.

Quick Update

1/4 of the way through my weekend of birthday surprises......

Great Food............A traditional English breakfast, and some gool '0l American BBQ

Great sites............Westminster Abbey and a tour at Stamford Bridge

Will give you the full details later. Still have a surprise and dinner tonight and a mystery day for tomorrow. Check Back soon!

Dirty Day

The dogs needed a bath, well I should say Hampton needed a bath, Turbo seemed pretty clean still. Not sure how, but Hampton smelled like steelwool. Anyway, since we knew a bath was on the horizon, we decided it was only fair to give the girls a little something for their troubles. Took them down the road to the dog park in Brook Green for a some good old dirty dog fun. The weather has turned again and while they were having some good fun I was completely freezing. I was even sporting some gaint ski gloves I bought over the weekend and my fingers were going numb. Kristen had the $.99 knit specials and was just fine, I couldn't understand it. Hampton chased balls for 30 minutes or so and Turbo worked herself into a frenzy barking at every person and car that came by. The best was when the police man walked from car to car checking for parking permits, and Turbo just followed him barking her hear off. Of course he had a hat on so her barking was a given.

Turbo worked herself into a drool beard

Hampton worked herself into a dirt beard
Seriously look at these two! Drooly and dirty, what a pair!

Turbo looks surprised by the flash

Turbo ready for bath time

Hampton easily wins the dirty dog award

Tower of London II - The Bloody Return!!!

Today started off as good as any I can remember. Turbo and Hampton had snuggled up to me in bed and made me the meat of a corgi sandwich, and Kristen yelled from the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready!!". And what a breakfast it was! Real pancakes, not those crappy English 'American Pancakes', bacon, and eggs. I had become sort of a pancake afficiado before we left, and had my own secret recipe, and made the monster plate sized pancakes probably 3 times a week. Needless to say I was having withdrawals, and this was my fix. Unfortuntly I think it may result in alot more expensive purchases at the 'American Store'. Oh well!!

Afterwards we were off to Kennsington Palace, the former home of 7 princesses, and most recently the late Princess Diana. They are currently undertaking massive renovations, to be completed 2012 and thus have put together a 'interesting' exhibit highlighting the lives of the princesses. I wouldn't advise making the visit unless you have a season pass, because you might be dissappointed with the experince. Kristen did enjoy the dresses, which were the star of the show, and afterwards asked me about them, I said 'what dresses'? Anyway, they did not allow pictures so there isn't much to show, so I guess we will have to wait for a full tourist report till 2012.

Since things didn't go as planned we decided to swing back by the Tower of London to finish our tour. We set off through Hyde Park, and since the weather finally broke and had made it up to a tropical 41, walking through the park was really nice. (don't worry, its back down to the 20s as I write this now). This picture is looking out over the 'Serpitine' inside the park. This lake will host the Olympic triathalon in 2012. It will also host the Christmas morning Peter Pan Cup. 40 degree water and swimming, we might just go to watch people freeze different parts of their bodies off.

I tried to get Kristen to feed the swans like this crazy lady, but she wasn't having it. Can't say I blame her. This lady got freaked out shortly after I took the picture and ended up jumping up and down and running away.

It turns out that the 'Bloody Return' wasn't as bloody as I had imagined, and we didn't have as much left to see as I originally thought. Got to see the dungeon, which they had made mostly G rated, but interesting for sure. They say there were only 41 cases of torture at the Tower. The 'Bloody Tower' also included the chambers of the Tower's most famous prisoner. All in all didn't look like such a bad place to be imprisoned. We also visted the Martin Tower which held all of the old crowns from the past. (sorry pictures not allowed again), with all the jewels removed. Each looked like a honeycomb, and help up to 1,200 diamonds per crown.

Sir Walter Raleigh's prison cell. Looks pretty good to me!!

If you remember I mentioned that the prisoners often had alot of time on their hands and made some pretty impressive carvings in their cells. Here are some of the more intricate.

Just a few more of the more interesting items we didn't pass along the first time.

Looking toward Tower Bridge from the walls of the Tower of London

Some kind of secret password handoff

Ruins from the ancient Roman City

The White Tower again

Pimpin' ain't easy!

I don't even know where to start!!!!

Covertly took this picture on the way home from work today. At least they looked warm. Wow, just wow!

Old Man Winter

Our Backyard winter wonderland

No end in sight......three days on from my last check of the weather channel and the 10 day forecast looks the same, or maybe even worse. Yesterday it was snineting, or slowining, not sure what you would call it, but rain, sleet, and snow at the same time. I don't even know how that is metorologically possible. Seriously??

I tried to figure out the radar, but instead of yellow and green and red for the intensity of the precipitation, they have different shades of purple. I can't figure out if dark is worse than perrywinkle. I guess it doesn't much matter since the whole country is covered in it. Even the locals are starting to freak out, and the newspapers say the worst is yet to come.

Corgi Flop