pictures!

Here is a slide show of the pictures from London. I hope you like! (you need Windows MediaPlayer to see it.) It may take a while to start playing--don't lose heart.

brace for re-entry

Mr. Bump and I are back from London-town. I've got a cold, but we had a wonderful time. We walked, we took the tube, we museumed (bet you didn't think that was a verb, did you?), we walked, we had tea, we walked, we ate good food, we walked. Believe it or not, London is not as big a city as you would think. Part of that may be because tube-hopping is so easy, but we found ourselves bleeding from Covent Garden to Charing Cross and back to Leiscester Square on foot without an excessive amount of trekking. I promise pictures soon, but for the time being let me see if I can make a list of what we saw and did:

• Borough Market
• Oxford Street
• Hyde Park
• Covent Garden Market
• Piccadilly Circus
• Leicester Square
  
• Bloomsbury
• The British Museum
• Portobello Road
  
• Notting Hill
• Kensington Palace, Park and Gardens
• Harrods
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• Science Museum
• Cafe Creperie (fabulous authentic french crepes--avoid the asparagus--canned and mushy)
• Fortnum & Mason
• Waterstone's bookstore (5 stories!)
• Books for Cooks (cookbook store-gah)
• Primrose Hill
• Regent's Park
• National Portrait Gallery
• Tate Britain
• Millineum Bridge
• St. Paul's Cathedral
• Clockmaker's Museum
• Bond Street
• The Tea Palace
  
• Other stuff I can't remember right now.
  

It felt like a magical time, like our eyes were wide open. I think some couples would suffocate in a 10 day trip with no breaks whatsoever from their spouse. We spent all but about 15 minutes together--when we were wandering different floors in Waterstones. And I still can't wait to meet him for lunch every day.

A few recommendations based on our "learning experiences:"

• Don't be alarmed if your boogers are black after spending any time in the Underground.
• If you don't want to dawdle at your table for an hour after the last of your plates have been cleared, ask for the check when they take your plates.
• If you walk three blocks and don't see the street you're looking for, turn around--you went the wrong direction.
• Every museum in London is free, so it is a good way to spend an afternoon without paying any money (but you must avoid the museum shop for this to work).
• Keep an inventory of how much tea you've bought so you don't end up with 12 bags/tins of tea, like we did.
• Every woman in London owns two things: a pashmina and a funky 60s mod jacket. Got to get me some of that.
  
• And most importantly, always, always ask for the airsick bag at the beginning of a flight, just in case. Trust me, you don't want yours to be missing when you hit severe turbulence. Just ask Mr. Bump.

More to follow soon--promise!

going underground

We're off to London tomorrow for our first honeymoon on our 5th anniversary, which is tomorrow. I don't know if we'll be hitting an internet cafe, but if so, I'll let you know how it's going from the road.

Mostly we're going to visit museums and parks and do some shopping. That is assuming that the oral surgery that Mr. Bump had on Tuesday doesn't derail our plans and/or having us visiting a British dentist. That is if such a thing exists.

Hopefully we'll still have luggage by the end of the trip--I've heard that is more of a maybe than it used to be.

See you when we get back--I'll post some pictures for your amusement!

yesterday

Yesterday, a woman ran three blocks in heels, a skirt and pearls to catch my bus.

Yesterday I saw a homeless man walking around downtown with a Home Depot shopping cart. The nearest Home Depot is no where near downtown.

Yesterday I saw another homeless man digging through a construction dumpster with his Sonic cup perched precariously on a broken piece of drywall. I wonder what he was searching for in there.

Yesterday I saw a miniature pinscher hauling ass across a busy downtown street--off leash and shortly followed by a big man. People! Leashes!

Yesterday was a strange day.