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Other stuff first - had a fantabulous time in London Wednesday evening and Thursday. Wednesday I scampered out of work early and got into London in plenty of time to find my hotel and dump my bag. Hotel - not one I'm going back to. For the price, I expected much more than I got, but it was ok, I was only in it for about 8 hours :) (The George Hotel on Gloucester Place for those taking notes). I didn't hang around but headed straight out to Belgo's and got there about 7.15, meaning I was on hand to welcome Melissa, Mike and Byran. Melissa is someone I know from rec.arts.mystery, we met back in 2002 when Bouchercon was held in Austin, Melissa's home town. It is entirely because of Melissa that I experienced the joy that is chicken fried steak at Threadgills and have been whimpering to go back ever since. I'd met Mike briefly that trip but as Melissa was a couple of months pregnant with Bryan at the time, it was the first time I'd met Bryan :) Let me say that right off the bat, I've seen older children behave way, way worse than Bryan after two gruelling days of tourism and frankly, for 99% of the time, he was a joy to be with. Mostly, he was happy to curl up with a book or his iPod, we barely knew he was there.
Rik and Carol arrived a bit later and everyone got along splendidly which was grand - Melissa came over in 2007 and so had met Rik and Carol then so that made it easier. Food was inhaled - I had mussels and Melissa got the lobster; I will post a pic of the carnage, it was pretty spectacular! Beer was consumed and there was much happy yakking before we all waddled off in various directions.
Thursday I met the Coopers at the Tower of London and we gleefully scampered around. Thanks to Melissa's skilled planning, we got the Jewel House long before the seething hordes and so were able to really take our time admiring the Crown Jewels. Still breathtaking, no matter how many times you see 'em. Lot of restoration work being done at the Tower but enough was open to hold our interest. I have to confess, I wasn't feeling terribly well in the morning, I was dehydrated for some reason and felt a bit crap. So I let the Coopers clamber all over the place and on a couple of occasions, I elected to sit outside and slurp water and enjoy seeing the Tower on a truly glorious sunny day. By lunch, I felt lots better.
We finished the Tower earlier than expected, thanks to beating the crowds, so we hopped on an open bus tour and did the Red Route, which took about 2 and a half hours to do and was fantastic. I was THRILLED to discover that nowadays you get lil' headphones (like on a plane) and you plug into a socket next to your seat on the bus and get a recorded commentary. So much easier for hard of hearing meece!! Lots of languages offered too, there were sockets for 8 different nationalities judging from the flags. I actually learned new bits of trivia and it was a very well done narration, nicely mixing in standard history with interesting tidbits about persons and places.
After the tour, the Coopers went back to their hotel and I found a pub to curl up in and slurp a cold drink and have a light snack. I scoffed flatbread with chicken, chorizo and mature cheddar cheese - OM NOM! Then I scampered over to the Ambassador's Theatre (where I saw Idina in 08!) and re-met up with the Coopers to see Stomp. Fantabulous show, absolutely brilliant - if you get the chance to go, do, you won't regret it. Then after the show, it was time to say goodbye *sniffles* No idea when I'll see the Coopers again but it was lovely to spend some time with them and generous too - Thursday was Melissa's birthday! - and I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as I did.
On to the TV Meme!
( Belated Day 11 )
( Day 12 - bit long )
Rik and Carol arrived a bit later and everyone got along splendidly which was grand - Melissa came over in 2007 and so had met Rik and Carol then so that made it easier. Food was inhaled - I had mussels and Melissa got the lobster; I will post a pic of the carnage, it was pretty spectacular! Beer was consumed and there was much happy yakking before we all waddled off in various directions.
Thursday I met the Coopers at the Tower of London and we gleefully scampered around. Thanks to Melissa's skilled planning, we got the Jewel House long before the seething hordes and so were able to really take our time admiring the Crown Jewels. Still breathtaking, no matter how many times you see 'em. Lot of restoration work being done at the Tower but enough was open to hold our interest. I have to confess, I wasn't feeling terribly well in the morning, I was dehydrated for some reason and felt a bit crap. So I let the Coopers clamber all over the place and on a couple of occasions, I elected to sit outside and slurp water and enjoy seeing the Tower on a truly glorious sunny day. By lunch, I felt lots better.
We finished the Tower earlier than expected, thanks to beating the crowds, so we hopped on an open bus tour and did the Red Route, which took about 2 and a half hours to do and was fantastic. I was THRILLED to discover that nowadays you get lil' headphones (like on a plane) and you plug into a socket next to your seat on the bus and get a recorded commentary. So much easier for hard of hearing meece!! Lots of languages offered too, there were sockets for 8 different nationalities judging from the flags. I actually learned new bits of trivia and it was a very well done narration, nicely mixing in standard history with interesting tidbits about persons and places.
After the tour, the Coopers went back to their hotel and I found a pub to curl up in and slurp a cold drink and have a light snack. I scoffed flatbread with chicken, chorizo and mature cheddar cheese - OM NOM! Then I scampered over to the Ambassador's Theatre (where I saw Idina in 08!) and re-met up with the Coopers to see Stomp. Fantabulous show, absolutely brilliant - if you get the chance to go, do, you won't regret it. Then after the show, it was time to say goodbye *sniffles* No idea when I'll see the Coopers again but it was lovely to spend some time with them and generous too - Thursday was Melissa's birthday! - and I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as I did.
On to the TV Meme!
( Belated Day 11 )
( Day 12 - bit long )
cheerful
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