We just finished our stay in London. We arrived on Saturday and as expected, arrived too early for check in at our hotel so we went and ate at a diner dedicated to Princess Diana, called Diana’s Diner. The food was good and the photos on the wall were interesting. Diana used to eat there on occasion. We wandered around the neighborhood and then spent a few hours dozing in the lobby of our hotel. They said the room might be ready early and they didn’t lie – 10 minutes before check in, we were good to go.

Kathryn saw her bed and immediately said it reminder her of the bottom half of a hot dog bun. Despite this, Princess Hot Dog seemed to sleep fine in the bed. We took a nap and then went out for fish and chips.

The next day we got up early and went to the London Eye something Kathryn was quite interested in doing. It was pretty cool although we should have splurged on the 1 pound map because it would have helped identify a few of the sights. They had screens on board, but the glare from the sun made it impossible to see what they were saying. After the Eye, we skipped the 4-D experience included in our ticket. I’m not smart enough to know what 4-D even is.  Regardless, I doubt we missed much. We took pictures of Big Ben and then headed to the Tower of London.

The weather was just fabulous and we walked over the bridge and then back to eat along the water and then tour the Tower. We had a Beefeater as a guide to get started and then he sent us on our way. It’s an interesting place. I was a bit disappointed, even as someone who is not that into the these types of things, that there were only 3 things shown in the Torture Tower.

We had made reservations for that night at one of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant, London House, and we went over for dinner. Gordon was not there – he’s actually in the States opening a new restaurant. The food was good. Kathryn was pleased – it was her request to go. Fortunately, it lived up to the expectations Gordon has taught her to demand from watching all his shows.

The following day we took a bus to Stonehenge. It is a fascinating place and you really could spend more time there than allotted on the bus tour. After the tour, we went to Buckingham Palace. Since we were running late from the tour, I guess the Queen couldn’t wait for us as she was not there. I have to say, the palaces in Disney movies are a lot more elaborate.

Following the palace, we went to dinner before the Jack the Ripper tour. The tour was conducted by a Ripper researcher who spends her professional and real life time researching these crimes. She was quite good and it was interesting. We had the ulta-preppy family that brought the 7 year old along on the tour. None of them seem that interested in the tour and we ran into them again at the British Museum today and they seemed just as uninterested in that.

Today we slept in, did some laundry and finish our London trip visiting the British Museum, thanks to my friend Ann Wall, who reminded me about the Rosetta Stone being there. I think we learned about that in Mrs. Yancy’s 4th grade class and I always thought it was cool. Following the museum we went to Kensington Gardens and saw swans in the lake there. I love swans.

We’ve done pretty well getting around. I’ll look at a map and say something like we need to go backwards 2 streets and then to the right. That makes sense to me. Mike likes to get oriented learning north, south, east and west and Kathryn thinks we are both directionally challenged. Regardless, we did ok.

The people watching has been fabulous. In the line for the Eye, a woman brought out deodorant from her bag and began spraying it on herself. I thought this was odd at first but then realized she might be in our car so I thought “Spray on Sister.” On the bus trip, we had 3 woman come back to the bus late. Nothing like having 40 other people waiting on you. Didn’t seem to bother them at all. We’ve seen a number of Asian woman in dresses with tutus – hard to describe. London so reminds me of New York – the vibe and the variety of people.

We’ve been trying to catch the Olympics but between the odd coverage here and time difference, we’ve been catching archery, woman’s rugby, judo and boxing. I think we are watching men’s field hockey tonight. Just not sports we know a lot about. And, funny, they aren’t as wild about the American athletes over here.

Not to much about American politics either on the news. Just as well, this is vacation and we all need a break from that!