All 'round London

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Geo: 51.529, -0.127265

Since we all had different things that we wanted to see, we split up for the day. Sara & Mom went to <a href="http://www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace">Hampton Court Palace</a>, Julie & Katie went to <a href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page557.asp">Windsor Castle</a>, and I went....all over London.

My goals for the day were threefold:
· To find a pair of tenor drum mallets
· To find Kinder eggs
· To find a Smart car dealership and sit in a Smart

I started near <a href="http://www.harrods.com">Harrod's</a> (stopping first into <a href="http://www.fcuk.com/uk/index.html">French Connection UK</a>, hoping to find a T-shirt for Tiffany, but with no luck). I figured if any place might have drum mallets, it might be Harrod's, but no-go. They did refer me to a place that might. Found the place he recommended, but they didn't carry them either.
I had lunch in a pub, then found a <a href="http://www.tesco.com/">Tesco's</a>, where I loaded up on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinder_Surprise">Kinder eggs</a> (2 dozen!). That got a strange look from the cashier....Dropped them and my coat off at the hotel, and went on my quest for the <a href="http://www.smart.com">Smart</a> dealership.

I found it with little trouble, and had to make myself stay calm. Just lurrve those cars! I went on a bit of a wild goose chase for the BBC studios. I found them (twice), but not the one that has the gift shop.

Exhausted, I headed back to the room for a short nap before meeting everyone at the <a href="http://www.bl.uk/">British Library</a>. What amazing pieces they have there! We got recommendations on a place to have dinner from the very Cockney guard at the library (didn't quite understand him, but he was adorable). Everyone was pretty well exhausted by this point, so after a quick dinner at the Pizza Express, we headed back to the hotel.

You didn't really think I'd go to bed early in London, did you?!? I headed down to Finnegan's Wake (dragged Sara with me this time). The boys weren't there, so we headed over to the Black Widow (no longer around, BTW), where they said they might be -- a very cool, macabre theme pub. Like Hallowe'en every day. All kinds of nooks and crannies. The boys weren't there, but we had a couple of pints anyway. Then headed back to the room for a really sound sleep.

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