London Trip -- Day Two

So, we arrived in London a day late -- and after 2 hours going through customs, 30 mins on the train from Gatwick to Victoria Station, and our first navigation of the Underground, we came up out of Embankment station and walked the streets of London for the first time. As we hiked with our backpacks down the Strand towards our hotel, the street reminded me, rather oddly, of Canal Street in New Orleans (and I'm not sure exactly why, perhaps something in the breadth of it and the color of the buildings and a faint uneasy feeling walking in a new city for the first time), but it passed and twas never to return. After checking in, we began wandering around London, going from Trafalgar square, to Picadilly Circus to pick up a pass that we would greatly whore out -- going to museums and places we otherwise wouldn't have visited but were glad to have seen.








After dodging some traffic and jumping over a couple of walls, we got our first glimpse of the Thames, which despite (or maybe a little bit because of) its shadowy lineage of rubbish, became one of our favorite rivers.









The skies that afternoon were dramatic, cloudy with bursts of sunshine and always promising rain. That pretty much typified the weather for the entire trip.










We crossed the Millineum Bridge to visit the Tate Modern. Some quality stuff and some rather horrendous miscarriages of art. We also took a nap on the grass out front.








That night we visited Shakespeare's Globe.





And we saw a brilliant performance of Merchant of Venice, replete with its homoerotic not-so-sub-text and its great complication of "value".





After the play it was around 10:30 and the sky had finally darkened. We saw London at night for the first time. The city takes on this amazing, mysterious, and almost magical air.



Walking around late in the evening became one of our favorite parts of the trip.

London Trip -- Day One

These pictures, of course, are not of London, but instead of Philadelphia. That's because US Airways sucks. We ended up missing our connecting flight from Philly to Gatwick by 20 minutes because we had been stuck on the ground in San Diego for over 2 hours due to arrival delays in Philly because of thunderstorms. Eventually, we were set up for the same flight the next day. Thankfully Les' grandparents live in New Jersey, and they rescued us on that rainy night, and then showed us around historical Philadelphia the next day before our flight out.

Erik spazzes out. If you look way up the street, that's Les' grandparents leaving us in the dust. I think it's because of all the golf they play.

Liberty Bell action! The Bell, it's so hot right now. The Bell. (But still not as hot as Hansel).

Lesley makes a beautiful bill. Even better than Mr. Hamilton. I believe we'll have to petition the US Mint.

This is Elfreth's Alley -- the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood in Philly. Sure, 300 years felt old at the time, but by the next day, that would seem like nothing.

Not pictured: We went to South Philly to get authentic cheesesteaks, which allowed Erik to cross one item off his things he wants to do before he dies list. We also met some random European travelers (including a guy heading there for 8 weeks with just a tiny backpack and one change of clothes), saw the Rocky steps, and even scenic New Jersey. If there is such a thing. It was really nice to see Les' grandparents again and to have them give us a guided tour, but by the time we reached the airport that evening, we were stoked and ready to leave for London.