Boarded, and on the way to lax,then home
Cheers!

It’s been fun, but unfortunately we have to return to the tropics half way round the world (literally).

Started out by climbing The Monument to the Great Fire of London in 1666, it’s only 311 stairs to the top with great views.

Are we there yet??

We did it!!

00″ class=”size-medium wp-image-649″ /> Random shot, this is where the latest Jame’s Bond pic, Spectre, was filmed. (spiral walkway)

Never ending stairs

Yay breakfast, had the “Traditional British Breakfast”… Poached Eggs, bacon, sausage, and the infamous Black Pudding. Tried it, it’s actually not too bad… I just think my mind kept getting in the way of really enjoying it.

Yummy

Next stop, get on the Tube, Mind the Gap, and go to the British Museum. Good times to be had by all!

Ze Grand Entrance

I always feel like.. somebody’s watching me… (besides the incessant CCTV here)

Just chilling in front of the Nereid Monument

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Statue

Next stop, West London. Completely NERDING OUT on the TARDIS in London!!!!!!!!

Things aren’t even Wibbly Wobbly yet

Time for a last minute show in Piccadilly Circus? Nope, just billboards and TGI Fridays (WTF??)

Ugly London

I like this ale, but I could be biased by the name…

Heading back toward our place, found a boat that’s a bar. Stopped for some cider at the Tattershall Castle Ship. (it stays docked) One pint, the home before the night-club begins. The red in the pic is from the heating lamps above, because it was COLD. brrrr

Beam me up Socttie

Ok, as Bear says.. “Final Final”.. Stopped by The Black Friar Pub before our temporary home.

Jagermeister is so much tastier in Europe!

Time to go home, in the tunnel between the pub and the train

On the tube home, and goofing off. Yes, we’re home fine, or else I wouldn’t be posting. 🙂

Tomorrow is heading home, a long day of flying. Yay. Stay tuned for the next installments. “Mike’s 40th birthday bash in Oklahoma”, then “New Zealand hiking/camping”

Wow, this went quick. We only have Saturday left, then we fly home Sunday about noonish here. I took the day off work while that sucker Shawn went to his class, and got learned in the art of bending light with optics.

What’s a gal to do all alone in the big city? Let’s see…

Everything you wanted to know about London history, and all the cool stuff they dug out of the Thames over the years.

Cool old stuff, including Cinderella’s original chariot.

Prince Charming’s original armor.

Wood walls from an old jail cell. Even their boredom graffiti was elegant back in the day.

Hay mom, I got some more tattoos

After the museum, I decided to get on a bus to check out Kensington Palace on the other side of town. We took many a bus the previous Saturday, how bad can it be?

F*ck the traffic. Tower bridge is cool, until you sit on it for 5 minutes in gridlock.

Traffic is ok on the weekends, but I quickly found that it SUCKS during the week. I ditched the bus, and hopped on a river ferry to the other side of town.

The View is good at least!

After the boat, I attempted to hop on another bus to go see some more sights, but traffic was gridlocked, and Shawn finished class early. I started walking across town to meet him, and got to cut in front of Buckingham Palace to get there, it’s less crowded today.

Gates to the palace

We decided on a rendezvous at the Bag o’ Nails Pub

You can’t go wrong with a name like this

Arghh matey, come and have a pint o ale

Then we started walking back toward our end of town. Shawn had downloaded an app that would map your route, but also show you pubs on the way. Next stop the Albert’s Pub

If it’s cold, you cram into any spot you can find indoors. wall to wall people

If it’s hot/stuffy inside, just take your ale out to the sidewalk

Friday Crowds at the Barley Mew

If Dan Mac & Henry Rollins had a baby.

Pub food to soak up the cider

Contemplating life, with ale-foam in the beard..

Inside The Black Friar, great art

Outside The Black Friar, not so stuffy

Last stop before home, The CockPit Pub

So sad, they won’t serve Shawn here.

After more cider I told Shawn, “Bessie’s mom would love this place, it’s covered in cocks!” You all have dirty minds!!! I was talking about the rooster art all over the pub, because she collects it. 🙂

cock-a-doodle-doo!

Glad my glass tells me it’s empty. Good night everyone

Ok, we’re back to more fun things on this side of the pond…

Thursday after work, we went down to the West End and watched the musical The Book of Mormon (by the creators of South Park). It was HILARIOUS,an highly recommended to all if you get a chance.

My bar wench is getting some pre-theatre drinks

Found a spot! Hard to do in the theater district right before all the shows start.

LOL, they actually printed this on our tickets. (zoom above the show name)

OMG, Theatre!!!

Sneaking selfies before the show.

Post show ciders

Blog has been a bit boring this week with the work schedule, but I’m off tomorrow (Fri) and will have some good stuff to post.

Tonight we’ve got tix to London’s version of Broadway, The West End, and we’re going to see the Musical The Book of Mormon. It’s written by the creaetors of South Park, and everyone tells us we’ll be laughing in tears the whole time. Excited!!

After class/work yesterday I met up with Shawn and his classmates for a gathering at the pub. (You see a theme here right?) Had a good time meeting everyone, and making new friends.

Another cute pub tucked away down a small street

Shawn discussing the bending of light rays with another student

Mangus (from Scotland) talked us in to trying the Scotch Egg for dinner. It was delicious, and I’m going to make these at home. It’s a soft boiled egg surrounded by a meat-loaf mix, then rolled in breading and baked. SO GOOD!!

Perfection!

Back in the apartment, getting ready to watch the last episode of The Walking Dead. Ugh, so pissed how they ended this season!

Why didn’t we find this magazine sooner? It lists all the pubs, hours, food types, and what ales they’re serving currently. We also found a beer fest we may try to go to on Saturday.

The Ale Bible of London

Blah, blah, blah work stuff during the day. For those asking, Yes, I totally ate the sandwich-in-a-bag, and had no problems the next day. 🙂

Since we were missing home, Shawn found the Kanaloa Tiki Bar in the heart of London. How bad can this be right??? Let’s just say we can’t wait to get back home to the best Tiki bar in the world!

The decorations were cool, and our drinks looked lovely. But they tasted terrible, ick, they were using a pitcher of pre-mixed cocktails and it wasn’t even busy.

The Trojan Horse of Cocktails

Obligatory pic with one of the Tiki Statues

We miss you SouthShore Tiki Lounge!!!

Leaving that place, we came across an Irish Pub and figured we’d continue with our non-english evening. The Tipperary claims to be the original Irish Pub of London, and survived the great fire of 1666. I had a great Peated-Ale here, but it was odd that the Irish place was playing the entire Use Your Illusion II cd in the background. (Sorry, no pics)

Down the road a bit we hopped in to a traditional looking pub, but it turned out to be the “Applebys” of London. Shawn tried the Lamb Shank Shepard’s Pie, and it was gross. Instant mashed potatoes, overcooked rubbery lamb, ick.

Worst meal yet here

I played the slot machine for a couple of bucks, but didn’t win.

Shawn takes blurry pics

Last try for the night turned out to be a winner. I’ll try to remember the name later. But it was on a nice little street, and you could stand outside with your beer and enjoy the weather. Ended up talking to a bunch of nice folks from the UK, Ireland, and Scotland.

Finally, a good pub to end the night on

Tonight we’re meeting up with the group from Shawn’s class, so I’ll post some pics from that later. 🙂 Cheerio

Another good day! It’s guaranteed you’re used to a time-zone when you are awaken from the alarm clock easily. Had some coffee in the AM, then blah, blah, blah, blah (we both worked). On to the fun stuff…

Shawn had a good day at his class, but came home with a broken shoe from his walk home. Normally in Maui this isn’t an issue, since we can go to any store/gas station/grocery to buy slippahs… but they don’t just have dress shoes at the Tesco in London.

Ruh Roh, this won’t work.

I finished up work for a bit, and we went on a quick mission. 1. New Phone (since his International one was dying) then 2. New Shoes. We were able to accomplish both so now he doesn’t appear completely homeless. Yes, he has shoes AND a phone that works!!

After all that shopping (why does he say “I” do all the shopping?).. Had a pint at the local pub, and then back to a meeting for me.

Pre Meeting Pint of Ale

Then afterwards we met up, and went to a Gin Distillery that a local had recommended. The City of London Distillery, and glad we had the address, because it was down a narrow street (some would call an alley) with a nondescript sign.

It’s the right address… let’s go down the stairs!

Yep, we were at the right place. Very relaxing with low candle lighting, comfy large leather chairs, and a sharp attentive staff ready to answer all your questions about distilling gin.

The Stills are named Chelsea and Jennifer

Shawn is jealous of the stills

Menu

Relaxing after a hard day of work

After trying a couple different gins there, it was time for bed! On to the walk home.

St. Paul’s is a great landmark

St. Paul’s again, and my camera is sucking in this light.

No decent food places were open at 10pm in the area, so I opted for a sandwich to go from the local shop. (For Maui folks, this is a nice version of Minute Stop) In the spirit of adventure, I went for the sandwich-in-a-bag. Can’t be any worse than fried crickets or horse sashimi.. right??

Diarrhea, Cha Cha Cha

Ok, fine, one more pint at our local pub. Twist my arm!!

yummy, then good night!

A great Sunday was had. Sights were seen, pints were drank, and fish/chips were eaten. We’ve been really lucky with the sunny weather so far, only a few minutes of showers in the evening. I’m also happy that they finally fixed the internet to the promised speeds so I can get some work done tomorrow, while Shawn is at his class.

First stop of the day was Big Ben, ding dong! A lovely sight that we would see many times though out the day.

Que hora es?

After breakfast, we decided to buy one of those double decker bus “hop on/off” tours, and we were both amazed that it was actually worth it. Spent the rest of the day cruising around town enjoying the sites.

Hearing too much about John Lennon, Shirlock Holmes, Elton John, Jackie Collins, Ian Flemming, and Mick Jager between sights…

Westminster Abby famous people being married and buried here for a long long time…

You can look, but you can’t touch (or visit).

The changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace is a crowded affair! Glad we got to see it up close at London Tower the day prior. The Queen doesn’t even live here, she lives at Windsor. However there are still 400+ full time staff that live/work at the palace. We didn’t feel like paying $100 each for an hour tour of old furniture.

A different kind of trigger control

The palace with no Queen

The Royal Horse Guard keeping an eye on things. There are huge signs on either side warning that the horses will bite/kick; but that didn’t stop people from holding their babies close, or encouraging their kids to “pet the horsey”. Like their standing counterparts, they don’t say a word (no matter how dumb people get).

Not Mr. Ed

I told Shawn to make a funny face, and I got this. LOL!

that’s your funny face?

Guy in front of us isn’t as amused by the Selfie Stick as we are. Thanks Mike n Bessie for that awesom joke xmas present.

take a happy pill please

“Look Kids, it’s Big Ben &Parliament again”
– Clark Griswald

Tower Bridge

the London Shard

these busses get CLOSE here. Our buss weaseling his way in to a spot.

Aloha. Things are going good so far, we managed to death-march our way through the day denying ourselves sleep until the evening. We were both able to sleep through the night, and are reset for UK time. 🙂 Not sure what adventures we’re off to today, stay tuned.

Walk along the River Thames, with London Tower Bridge in the Background

London Tower Bridge

Entrance to the Tower of London, an historical Palace/Fortress.

London Tower Entry

Our Beefeater Tour Guide, hilarious and insightful. For some reason I want some Gin now. 🙂

Our Beefeater Tour Guide

Having fun with “The Gherkin” in the background.

The Gherkin

Seasons?? What is this sorcery?? Oh yeah… it’s SPRINGTIME with everything blooming. 🙂

Spring Time

The Tardis went on a diet!

Skinny Tardis

Dinner at the Pub. Fish & Chips, and Steak Pie

Fish & Chips, and Steak Pie

Whew, we made it til the goal of 9pm. Time for bed!!

Aloha from sunny London. Flight went great, and our apartment is nice. Off to get some lunch, a pint, and sightseeing. post some pics later. 🙂

And we’re off! In Dallas currently hanging out with my family for the day, then flying to London tonight. Stay tuned for the latest adventures and pics. 🙂 Thanks for checking in!