After a few delays we finally made it to London and to our hotel. On the plane I watched Stepford Wives, had a pizza meal and some other meal (I Forget) and tried to sleep in between. Luckily enough for us we could check right in with no problem at the hotel. We had a few minutes to freshen up and look at some maps before we made our way out to start our fun. I picked up how the tubes worked in like 2 seconds. SO easy. And so clean. And cushion seats. Only problem is WHERE THE HELL IS THE A/C????. Good lord it�s hot in those tubes, especially during rush hour when you are crammed in them. We stayed at the Thistle Lancaster Gate. Beautiful hotel. We were 4 blocks from the Tube and bus stop and 3-4 stops from anywhere we really wanted to go.

Friday 9/3: We went to the London Eye which was really cool. Since we preordered tickets we didn�t have to wait on any lines. Great overview of the city. Only bad thing was that you didn�t know what you were looking at and there was no commentary or signs to tell you what you are looking at. We then ate a very nice outdoor caf� with a very cute Italian waiter boy. We then headed off to Westminster Abbey where we jumped into a tour 10 minutes late. The Vicar giving the tour basically scolded us for being late. LOL. He was soooo boring. He spoke all monotone and so quietly. BORING. I felt like he�s been doing this for years and was just reciting a script to us and didn�t give a hoot. Oh well, it was still all magnificent and HUGE. At night we saw Jerry Springer the Opera starring David Soul from Starsky and Hutch fame. The guy playing the warm-up man/Devil was incredible. He was so good! He really stole the show IMO. I could so see Randal Keith playing this role. The show itself is very morally challenging. You have to go in with a completely open mind and take it for its entertainment value. It was hysterical!!!

Saturday 9/4: Enjoyed our full English bfast at the hotel and then off to Hampton Court Palace. We took the tube to the train (about 30 min on the train). OMG this place was beautiful. I have read so much about it that actually being there was unbelievable. We went on 2 guided tours from a woman dressed in costume. Then we walked around with the self-guided audio tour. I love the self-guided audio tours! Everyplace had them. London needs ice. They serve all their drinks pretty warm. Even the ones that are �cool� are warm and you have to ask for ice. We decided to take the 3 hour boat ride back up the Themes to London. However, we left late, and the tide rose, and we couldn�t make it under Hammersmith Bridge. We tried, but no luck. So the boat backed up to where there was a level marker and they took the roof off the boat and tried again. Couldn�t make it. As we were backing up again, a very lively young man at the bar on shore decided to moon us�then turn around and flash us! HAHA. So Karl, even though I didn�t get to touch English pee-pee, I did see it! Rachelle screams out to the guy �my zoom lens isn�t big enough!� very entertaining. We finally got back to London around 8:00 and we headed over to the Donmar Warehouse theatre to catch a glimpse of Jeremy Northam. He came out about 9:20 and looked exhausted! His eyes were bloodshot and puffy. He looked done and drained. He signed some autographs but didn�t want to take any pictures. He was very nice about it. One woman asked and he said, �I would prefer not to. I am emotionally drained�. And he looked it. But Lord he was still HOT. I don�t know what he signed, but I have it! While we were waiting for him to come out, a couple came out from the show and asked who were waiting for. I said Jeremy Northam. The said �is he popular in America?� and looked stunned that we were waiting for him. It was too funny. I heart him. Getting into the tube I didn�t quite step up high enough and caught my ankle on the floor of the tube and I went flying into the tube onto my hands and knees. I laughed so hard I almost cried. Thank goodness there were only like 5 people on the train who were there to see.

Sunday 9/5: We took the tour of the Globe with a very cute little ol� lady who loves her job. Then we donated money and got certificates that we sponsored something. Ro sponsored a codpiece. I sponsored a Flute. Then we saw a production of Much Ado About Nothing with an all female cast. The show and the cast was amazing. We saw something unprecedented, understudies. They actually don�t have understudies. So they bumped a few people up and 3 people went on with scripts but who cared, they all did amazing. The woman playing Beatrice was incredible but the woman who played Benedict had to be the most amazing thing I saw all week there. She just blew me away. Our seats were in the upper gallery, 1st row just left of center. Amazing. When the sun started to move during the 2nd act though we were like in an oven it was so hot. They handed out these little paper baseball caps for people to put on to block the sun. So cool and funny. I don�t know how I made it, it was rough in the sun. We walked back towards London Bridge stopping at The Clink which was just cheap and cheezy and Southwark Cathedral. That night we went on the Jack The Ripper walking tour with London Original Walks with Donald Rumbelow. He knew his shit. Dman. It was a very cool tour. We bought his book and he signed it for us. After finding a bus in a very not nice part of London we made it home safe.

Monday 9/6: We got to Buck Palace at 10:30 am and were just left of the center gates in the 2nd row of people and waited an hour for the changing of the guard. Very very cool. During the ceremony, the guard band came out and played a melody of show tunes (opening with �Another opening of another show�). Then they played some marching band type song, the ceremony wrapped it up and we went for lunch. After lunch at The Shakespeare, we went to the Royal Mews and saw the horses, and carriages and the infamous gold Carriage which is just huge and over ornate. We then toured the staterooms of Buck Palace. Wow. Once again, self-guided audio tour. You can take your time, go at your own pace. Repeat and or skip things. Very cool. As we exited, Ro went to take her camera out to take pics of the garden (you can�t take pics in side) and she realized she couldn�t find her camera. We went to security and retraced our steps and went to the 2 stores we had stopped at. No one admitted to having the camera so we left her name and hotel with security and went to the police station to make a report. So we lost all those pics of the first 4 days. A lot of pics with me in them were taken with her camera as well so those are all gone. It sucks and I felt really bad for her.

Tuesday 9/7: I have a blister on my foot that is killing me but the show must go on and today is the Tower of London! Once again, it�s a place I�ve read about so often that being there was almost surreal! We walked in the same place where the Kings and Queens of England walked. We were in the chamber where Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth I were held captive. Walked down the same steps Lady Jane walked down to be executed. Saw the tower where Owain ap Llewelyn plummeted to his death with his son trying to escape from the White tower. We did the Yeoman tour and our guide, Yeoman Bill, was great! Loved him! Then we went and got Ro a new camera, had lunch at The Cannon, had a yummy Shandy with my sammich which went right to my head since I hadn�t eaten all day and we went off to St. Pauls. Unfortunately the front is under reconstruction, so we got to see the big tarp painted to look like what it WILL look like. St Pauls is just breathtaking. No other way to describe it. And yay for another audio tour. We didn�t climb up to the Whispering Gallery b/c it was just too many steps (290) too late in the afternoon. And besides, go to Grand Central and you can do the same thing! LOL. Then it was time for the London Dungeon. As cheezy as it was I loved it. That night we went back to the tower for the changing of the keys ceremony. Another great Yeoman guide to talk us thru what was expected of us. It was so creepy being there at night. The Yeoman and their families live there and that must be so weird. I can�t imagine living there, although now I want to marry a Yeoman so I can live there! They have been doing the same ceremony for over 100s of years. It�s so formal and exciting. We rode the top level of the double decker bus for the first time and then went on one where you �hop on and off� for last 3 stops. Woo hoo.

Wednesday 9/8: We got picked up at our hotel for our Stonehenge tour. Our guide was Robin Hood in street clothes. I swear. LOL. Stonehenge is interesting. Big huge rocks standing on end. They are roped off so the closest you can get now (b/c of previous people who have scratched them and written on them and ruined it for us all) is about 5 feet. They do have 2 sample rocks that you can touch. Another audio guide as you walk around. Then we went to the Challis Gardens and I dipped my feet and hands into the healing pool (wish me luck). Then it was off to Glastonbury Tor (Avalon). It is up a hill that is friggin HIGH and steep and I can�t believe I climbed all the way up! But I made it. Had to stop a few times to breathe, but I did it! And it was gorgeous from up top. Then we went to Glastonbury Abbey, or the remains of it from when Henry VIII ordered it torn down. King Arthur�s tomb is here and you can see the foundation in the ground. Very cool. At Avery we saw some more stones like Stonehenge. A guy was out hunting and found them all lying down. He erected them all and found they formed 3 circles. Very interesting. Ooo, our tour guide had a little bit of a belly and the wind was blowing his shirt exposing a tiny little bit of his belly and I wanted to touch it, but I didn�t. It was hard, but I restrained.

Thursday 9/9: Up way too early and off to catch the Eurostar to Paris. I was really really tired by this day and didn�t know how I was going to make it. First thing we did was go to Pere Lachase. Wow, it�s hard to believe that that is a cemetery. The tombstones are all so huge and ornate and beautiful. We bought a map and found Jim Morrison, Chopin, Chaplin, Sarah Bernhardt and Oscar Wilde. Then we went and walked around the Paris Opera House and had lunch at an outdoor caf� outside the Opera House. We then ventured off to find our hotel which was in a red light district! Haha! On our walk to our hotel there were strip clubs, sex stores, bars where you saw the hookers just lounging around waiting, hookers on the street. I even got slightly propositioned by a male hooker. LOL. Anyhoo, after we found the hotel we went to Musee D�Orsay. I am not a museum fan, so Ro went in while I sat out on the steps where I wrote in my journal, watched the peeps and was entertained by a one-man band. He played a bass drum with his right foot, cymbals with his left foot, the accordion with his left hand and alternated with a trumpet and trombone with his right. I gave him 2 Euro when he left. He was good. Paris is dirty. Not nearly as nice as London. OH, as I sat down the first song the man played was �House of the Rising Sun�. I was all �awww � Pella�. LOL. Then we went over the Eiffel Tower. Our tour wasn�t taking us to the top and we wanted to, so we went. Wow. Amazing. It�s huge. It�s beautiful. And we were there as it turned dark so we got to see all the lights and the twinkly lights that go off every hour! We walked back down the gardens in the front of the Eiffel Tower and found another outdoor place to eat dinner at where we met a nice American couple and chatted with them for a while. Our hotel room was a tiny tiny little room with a tiny little potty where our knees hit the door while sitting on bowl.

Friday 9/10: We met up with our tour group that took us thru a highlights tour of Le Louvre � all I cared about was the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. I would have liked to have time to see the Egyptian room, but its closed. Asian tourists are the rudest and most obnoxious people ever. Everywhere we went they were the same. I wanted to shoot them all. Then we took a riverboat down the Seine to the Eiffel Tower where we got a free lunch (a salad or oysters, steak or salmon, apple pie or some cr�me thing and a glass of wine). Since Ro and I went up yesterday, we took our time in the shop, send postcards to ourselves and parents and just relaxed and soaked it all in before getting back on a boat down to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is awesome looking and intimidating. We stood on Point Zero in Paris. We got back to the Eurostar early and tried to move to an earlier train, but since we booked thru a package and not direct thru them we couldn�t. It didn�t matter anyway b/c then there was a bomb scare on the Eurostar and it was closed and delayed 2 hours. Fortunately for us, since we were a late train, we were only 20 minutes delayed. On the train I got up to walk 2 cars back to get a drink and a snack from the caf� compartment. It is HARD to walk in the opposite direction of a train moving at 180 miles an hour! I was knocked all over the place and laughing at myself. Everyone who came into the caf� car had the same expression on their face. It was too funny.

Saturday 9/11: OMG we slept late! Our wake up call was 9am! (can you hear the angels singing!). First thing we did was go to the box office at the Palace and got tickets to the Woman in White. Then we shopped! We went to Covent Gardens and the Jubilee market. I got a free reflexology foot massage and Ro went for the free neck and back one. Woo hoo. We walked over the Leicester Square and ate at went to the discount tix booth and got tickets for Monday night for We Will Rock You. Then we went to Harrod�s and spent more money. Then to Burberry and spent even more money. I didn�t buy any bags b/c the exchange rate is outrageous and we get it cheaper here in the states. I did get the pink cosmetic bag I can�t find here and a scrunchie and hair barrette. We cabbed it back to the hotel with our packages b/c we were too lazy and tired. We made it just in time for Woman in White. We were in the 2nd level up (there is the stalls, the dress circle, the grand circle and the balcony. We were in the last 2 rows of the Grand Circle all the way left sitting behind each other. I had to shift around in my seat to see but I didn�t care, b/c it was AWESOME. Michael Crawford was hysterical. Maria Friedman plays Marian, the lead. HOLY SHIT. I bow down to her. Just absolutely incredible. We pre-ordered the cast recording on the way out since it�s not released yet. Andrew Lloyd Weber did well with this one. The set�.wow. There really is no set. It�s a turning stage like Les Mis. There are 3 huge white arched walls with doors and a smaller arched wall fits into one of them. The 3 three bigs ones move around the outside of the turning stage. The smaller one can move on a smaller inside circle or move up and down the stage to form different rooms or location. All is done with projections on the walls to place where you are. At first you are like WTF? But 5 minutes into it you are sucked in and it�s marvelous. There is one scene where Marian is walking outside on a ledge between 2 windows�brilliant! And I love that it is not totally a happy storybook ending. Maria made me cry she was so good. We went to the stage door and got autographs from Michael Crawford (who was all happy and joking and all), Martin Crewes (the young romantic lead � an ex Marius lol), Edward Petherbridge (the Uncle) and we waited for Maria for like an HOUR but she wasn�t coming out and it was windy and getting late and cold so we left. I wanna go back and see it again.

Sunday 9/12: Went on a day tour that was way too rushed. We went to see Oxford where we got to quickly tour one of the smaller universities and had like 15 min to stop in one store and get back on the bus. Then off to the Coltswalds. Why we stopped here I don�t know. It was one strip of little stores where we barely had enough time to eat, go into one store and back on the bus. Then to Anne Hathaways house where once again we had enough time to go thru the house, pee and back on the bus. Then off to Shakespeare�s Birthplace where Ro and I ditched our tour guide and went on our own so we didn�t have to listen to him repeat himself over and over again and again. He was stuck on himself and obnoxious and I was done with him. We had enough time to take out time in the shop and take some pics outside before hopping on the bus to Shakespeare�s sisters house for tea and scones (where we got stuck at the same table at the tour guide). Our luck. Then back on the bus and home. Way to quick and not enough time. I would never use them again. Golden Tours #7. Very Bad. He did however suggest a good Indian restaurant right in the area of the first drop off. So we went. Bombay Brasserie. Very good. I never had Indian food. It was spicey and good I loved it. SOO much food though. So the table 2 over from us there is a blonde girl and 2 guys. A waiter goes over and I overheard him saying something like � can I get your autograph after you are done. So I say to Ro that someone famous must be sitting there and I think it�s the girl. She can�t place who she is. I look over my shoulder and I say that I think it�s LeAnne Rimes. So Ro calls the waiter over and he confirms it is her. All 3 people at that table got up at one time or another and went to the bathroom and all of them smiled at us as they walked by our table. Ro went up after they payed the bill and got her autograph, I didn�t want to while they were out at diner. How cool is that!

Monday 9/13: Our last day. Boo. We slept late again (9am wake up call). We headed off the Leichester Square to a souvenir shop we saw the other day and liked. Then we walked around Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus taking pics and taking it all in. We ate a Garfunkel�s and then we saw the mothership of Burberry � it�s main headquarters. It was glorious. Unfortunately I could not find the flip flops anywhere and in my size since they are now �out of season� Grrr. I can�t find them anywhere. If anyone does please let me know! Then we had High Tea at the Ritz Hotel at 5:30. It was all so fancy. I felt like I should have been wearing a frilly dress with a big floppy hat on or something. We both chose the traditional English bfast tea. They brought a 3-tiered silver tray over to our table. The bottom layer was finger sammiches of different types, the middle tray was mini scones, fruitcake and marble loaf, top tray was assorted pastry. We could get as many refills on the bottom 2 levels as we wanted. We only refilled them both once. Then they brought a tiny little cup (about the size of a ring jewelry box) with custard in it that was caramelized with cinnamon. All very very yummy. Very cute Italian waiter again. Then we headed over to see We Will Rock You. Amazing. So much fun. At first I thought I was going to like it b/c it was futuristic and I had bad bad flashbacks to Starmites. But I was wrong. I loved it. Amazing. Fun. Exciting. Woo hoo! I would be a groupie if it was here in the states. I bought the soundtrack on the way out. And we all got glow sticks and got to sing along at the end! Good times.

Tuesday 9/14: Check in was a piece of cake. Got about $30 back in VAT refund. Flight was fine and on time. Got to watch Harry Potter 3 and Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius (with Jeremy Northam!). Had a steak meal and a pizza meal, read a little and attempted some sleep in between. Customs and baggage claim was easy and we were in my dad�s car on our way home by 1:15pm.

I loved London. I could go back tomorrow. I can�t believe it�s over. So sad. I had an absolutely amazing time and I can�t wait until I get to go again�maybe in the Spring to see Billy Elliott the musical! LOL