Friday, back in London

Pete and I made it back to London wed nite,Pete packed and went to bed. In the morning,after some excitement,I locked my purse with his passport and the house key,in the house,got rescued by one of Kaarina's lovely neighbors,Harry,who then drove us to the Brixton Tube because of the time. Pete got to Heathrow,checked in and to security,less than an hour before his flight left.He's home,thanks to the wonderful Mr. Pease. Today,fri, I walked to the Dulwich Picture Gallery and spent a few hours looking at their excellent collection. I decided to stay for lunch in their cafe . The ladies behind me were very vocal about the empty chairs at the various tables and wanted to go in and invite themselves to join other parties,the waiter demurred.( It turns out that the director of the museum was at a table for 4 with one other person.) They continued to grizzle,I offered to have them join me,they were delighted! A table for two became available and I was invited to join Ralph,who was in line ahead of me,they had us engaged by the end of lunch and asked to be invited to the wedding,the waiter asked to be best man. Lunch was great, Ralph is from Essex,a retired radiologist,married with a 24 yr old son named James and an Aresenal fan. Tonite I am invited to the neighbors,Peter and his wife, for a glass of wine(a ginger cat is looking in the door as I am typing)the snow is pretty much gone in London and it's raining a little. James is due back late tonite unless his flight is cancelled,very likely it seems,and I doubt if he will mind a little more time in Paris.

Wed nite

We made it to Prague and back! It was great fun and very busy. Our flight was delayed from London,only about an hour. Renee gave us excellent directions to her apartment,we arrived there after a bus,the metro and a tram. Renee had her room set aside for us with a bed and a single mattress on the floor. i decided I'm too old to travel like that so I got myself a room at the hostel about 5 doors down from her flat. It was called the Czeck Inn (I kid you not) and it was the nicest hostel I ever stayed in ,it was downright posh! They had a very fun bar with food that was pretty good. We had our first czech beer while we waited for Renee to get back from a meeting,then went out for a some local food at a pub about a ten minute walk away. Food was good,James took a photo of his Pig Knuckle,impressive presentation.

On Monday we decided to do a walking tour,but got down to the old town square and started following the wrong guide,he started talking about the next few hours and we realized we were'nt on the 1 hr. tour,there was no way I was willing to follow him around for 3 hrs so we dumped out and started wondering on our own. Prague had a fair amount of snow they were shoveling out from under, but it didn't seem to be stopping anything like in London. It looks a lot like Wisconsin,bars everywhere you look!We had lunch in an Irish Pub,James had a banger burger,it was all pretty good. I'm going to bed,I'll work on this tomorrow again.

A Terrific Thursday

Hey Everybody,
I just wanted you all to know that the Saracens haven't eaten me yet! lol. I woke up on Thursday after a disappointing day on Wednesday! Mom and Bones(James) decided to stay at home and find an alternative way to Prague. I saw my day going a different way. I planned on going SHOPPING! I bought a Fur-lined sweatshirt and A pair of Euro-underwear. Don't worry I won't mention any details. I navigated my way around main parts of London and only asked for directions on one occasion. After spending aprox. 50 dollars on my two purchases, I decided it was time to head home for dinner. I walked in to a wonderful surprise. James cooking a gourmet meal! What was on the table. Crepe's-onion tartlettes, carmelized apples with seared pork chops, and bananas fosters crepe for desert! YUM! it was all to die for. We played a few trivia games after dinner and called it a night.
Good night from the UK and hope our next post will be from Prague!

we have packed again for Prague,the airline says the flight will go...it's supposed to snow again tonite and that paralyzes the Brits. We are hopeful! We saw Cat on a Hot Tin Roof last nite. James Earl Jones Phlyicia Rashad,Sanaa Latham directed by Debbie Allen. It was excellent. We decided to take the steps in the Covent Garden Tube instead of waiting in line for the lift,bad error 197 steps, halfway up I remembered Gary and I swore never to do that again,many years ago. We had a tour of the Prince Albert Hall it was fascinating, they can do everything in there, from tennis to ballet it was built in the early 1800's. right now Cirque de Solie is there for a month so it was all set up. the photo's in the hallway were great fun of all the people who have been on stage. we also wandered around the Natural Science Museum. What is it about dinosaurs that boys love? Peter had a great time in the gemstones,and then there were the birds.... . then we went out to the Sadler wells Theatre and I got tix for Swan Lake for next sun nite,I am sooo happy. I have wanted to see it for years and years. I will get James to add photos to this blog or go to facebook.

wed 6th

We left the house this morning at 7:04 to pick up the bus for Luton at Victoria. There was about an inch of snow,no big deal,we thought,on to Prague! Wrong! After an hour bus ride we discovered our flight was cancelled. Believe me, we were shocked. We were just so surprised that such little snow could have such an impact, we immedietly left the airport and caught a bus back to the city. Pete went back to the house while James and I went in search of theatre tickets. We scored on our first attempt, getting second row seats for less than half price for Billy Elliot- number one on my hit list. We considered attending a matinee of wicked- assuming that "the show must go on" would apply to only the theatre and no other attractions in the city. We eventually decided against two shows in a day and had an amazing time at Billy Elliot.

tues 5th

We got up and decided to check the TKTS booth in Leicester Square, by the time we got there it was about 1pm. and they did'nt have anything we wanted. james had been moaning for a Phamtom Phix,so we went directly to the theatre to see if they had anything turned back for cheap or maybe a matinee. No luck, but we had been planning on a movie at some point so we went to an afternoon showing of Sherlock Holmes....we were not all that far from Baker Street! I thought it was very fun. We wondered off home,we love the Tube I must say we've gotten very good at it. We tried the Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. Boys loved it I thought it was good. It had been reccomended the nite before when we ventured out to Dulwich Village to try the Pub food at The Crown & Greyhound affectionately known as the 'dog' according to Kaarina. We were invited to join 2 locals at the table next to us,many hours and beers later we walked home in high spirits. The food was good and our new friends Stuart and James expect us back sat. nite! They had plenty advice, I had just started coming down with a cold and was beating it back with a nose spray I found at Sainsburys. Well,our new buddy James said the only thing was Vicks,he went on and on,then ran out the door to the store across the street and came back with Beechams Syrup and Vicks for me. I declined his offer of how to spread the Vicks on my chest and back!

Monday the 4

on Monday Pete and I went on the official tour of Emirates stadium and museuem. while we were 10 min late, we still got in to see pretty much the whole tour which was amazing. really all I can say is that my favorite player used to play for Arsenal, and is a large part of their history, so there was plenty of Thierry Henry for me. other than that, I'm still in so much awe I cant say any more.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2357793&id=26724030&l=254d6245f9

this is a link to my pictures from the tour, maybe somewhere in those 85,000 words you can get what I wish I could say....

I will admit that there are more pictures of Henry than of me.