Debauchery in London

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Geo: 51.5002, -0.126236

Let's start with last night.... Kamie went out front of our hotel to smoke a cigarette and when he returned, down our long hallway, there was a completely naked British bloke with his junk out! Kamie said he stopped and said "Whooaa!" and the guy just turned and tried to get into a room, went to the next room and tried that door, went to the next room and tried that door, and then disappeared around the corner of the end of the hallway! Kamie said he the guy looked mad - like he had been purposefully locked-out of a room but I couldn't quit laughing! Kamie was like... "Do you think we should open our door and just hold a towel out for him, in case he returns?" Ha Ha Ha Ha

Now, how does the debauchery continue? Kamie and I had a tour of the Old Spitalfields Market scheduled for 10am this morning. I had looked at this many times and it was a good 25 to 30 minute taxi ride away from our hotel – all the way on the East End of London. We were outside our hotel at 9:00am and there sat a terrible looking taxi in “taxi row” – Kamie commented it looked like it was going to breakdown. He smoked while we waited and (hoped) someone else would take the taxi as we have to take the next taxi in the row and all of the other taxis looked normal. Finally, we had to leave or be late for our tour so we walked-up to the window, he rolled down the window and I could immediately smell the alcohol. We told him where we were going and his reaction was clear that he did not want to go there. I did not want to take the taxi but really, we had to get in, right? Well, always trust your instincts folks – which I am usually really good at doing. He immediately went down the end of our street and turned left which was the opposite direction we needed to go. I whispered to Kamie “he is going the wrong way” and then all the sudden we are at Westminster Abby and again I told Kamie we were going the wrong way. 25 pounds later we were at theLondon Eye and a full 30 minutes away from our destination he said "due to traffic" but we told him to stop the taxi and we got out. Kamie said he thought he was trying to rip us off but I think he was just a drunk old mate. The Brits drink A LOT of beer however, it is illegal to drink more less than 24 hours before driving a taxi. Supposed he forgot about that law.

Well, luckily, we were dropped-off in an excellent location and our day was lovely for the remainder of the day! It is chilly here and windy but we love it. The days usually start sunny and end cloudy and with spatters of rain. I now understand when they say you should always carry an umbrella in London. We took pictures in a park, walked across the Thames River on a pedestrian-only bridge, and went up in The London Eye – the famous “ferris wheel” put there in 2000 to celebrate British Airways 100th Anniversary. It was supposed to stay for 6 months and has now been there over 16 years. Since this is not peak tourist season the wait was only about 10 minutes to get in our see-through egg and go up and see London as a bird.
It was interesting. It was also interesting to see the security checks they do on each egg after it is emptied – they take long sticks with mirrors on them and check under each bench – I
suppose they are looking for planted bombs or something? Sad, really. We then went to see a 4D movie they offer which basically makes you feel like a bird flying over London. Pretty cool with the smoke and soap bubbles and etc. Kamie loves 3D/4D/5D movies.

For lunch today we ate at “The Slug and Lettuce” which sounds weird and looks like a fancy restaurant but is like the Cheddars of London. We had traditional British meals today and they were great. “Bangers and Mash” for Kamie which consistedof three large sausages (tasted like Brats to me) in a bowl of buttery mashed potatoes floating in a gravy soup with peas. He loved it but had heartburn for the rest of the day and couldn't even finish half his meal. We watched a construction worker across the street come in for lunch and eat every single bite and slurp every ounce of gravy from his bowl! I had a traditional beef pie – like a homemade slow roasted beef pot pie in a homemade flaky crust with mashed potatoes and veggies (beats and carrots). My food was wonderful too but no way I could eat it all.

We spent the afternoon walking in and out of shops and exploring a little more of downtown London and then went to our hotel room for a break before spending more time walking around our block and doing a tiny bit more shopping. Kensington is lovely and if I've failed to mention this before, William and Kate – the future King and Queen of England, currently live just around the corner from our hotel. We are in a very residential, posh neighborhood. There is a private boys school across the way and all the kids were playing recess today in their little suits – too cute! We counted from the corner of the street to our hotel there were Land Rovers, Mini Coopers, a black Bentley, a Porsche, some Audis, a couple of Lexus, and one Volkswagen. The hotel we are staying in was recently converted to a Hilton and it was 30% the weekend I booked so we just got lucky staying there…. Despite the naked man, it's been quite a nice location for us and a decent hotel.

We are flying out of London Gatwick Airport early-early tomorrow morning headed for Iceland so we are going to bed super early tonight….as our car service is picking us up at 3am. Yowza!

By the way dad, your comments are cracking us up! :-)

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Comments

[Mom]

Kamie you didn;t touch that did you?????lol

[Dad]

look kays got her own gate