Merry Ole London

After a week in Ireland, James, Candy, Chris and I headed to London via Ryan Air. We were less than pleased to discover the "carry on's" in Europe are about the size of a woman's purse in America. So we had to sacrifice half of James arm to check our bags.

James had never been to London (I studied there in college for a short bit) so we hit all the typical sites- London Bridge, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, ect. The tube system in London is super easy to navigate even while under construction- unlike, say, New York City's. James' highlight was seeing a falcon eat a pigeon in Hyde Park. He thought they were being "friendly" but after my falcon tour at Ashford I knew differently. James enjoyed the circle of life.

We also hit the British Museum which is one of my favorites..... after the British Museum James said he was "museumed out" for the trip. I laughed manically knowing our future itinerary.

We also engaged in the Betsy Nostalgia tour of London which included trips to Wagamama and My Old Dutch Pancake house as well as a trip to the theater. The highlight of the trip for us for sure was going to see Le Mis. We got amazing seats and it was just wonderful.
I also wanted to try a British high tea just for fun. James was a good sport and trudged along for finger food and tea. It was really good and we ended up taking some of it to go there was so much food.
We ended up having a great time in London although the one disappointment was the Indian food. We were so excited to try Indian food in London as we heard rave reviews on the origins of Tikka Masala in London. The place we picked was less than stellar. I guess it was ok...but not the amazing food we were expecting.

James and I both agreed that we'd like to come back to London during the spring/summer to enjoy some of the activities that you can do when its not freezing. James said he was starting to die of Vitamin D deficiency after not seeing the sun the entire time we were in London. It was a close one, let me tell ya. But I will say it's different for us desert rats to be out of the sun for an extended time. And as you can see in some of the pictures, my hair didn't take a liking to the dampness and coldness. It was kinda like a limp, lifeless version of it's normal self. No amount of mousse and hairspray could combat this particular enemy. AND since I hardly ever wear a coat in Arizona i didn't know that when you have long hair and it rubs on the collar of your peacoat all damn day it turns into a snarled mess. All the more reasons to live in the sun.