Parlez-vous francais?.... Nope!

Yesterday was a crazy day.
We woke up late (my internal clock was off, and I woke up at 4 to check out The Office season finale online... fell asleep again and woke up at 10:45 AM) and scrambled to get dressed and out the door. We rushed to the bus stop and onward to the Tube all the way to Covent Garden (The Broadway Theatre district) to meet Crystal's friend Tammy at 11:30. We got there at 1. Thankfully she anticipated the time it would take us, and had time to eat a leisurely lunch and get her hair cut and was waiting for us at the Tube stop.

After exchanging pleasantries, Amy avoided a cheek kiss from a street flower vendor whom she told was her birthday, we walked around in the sprinkling rain in the most happening, swanky part of town. We had a light lunch al fresco under the shade of an old train station-turned-shopping center at an Italian kiosk and then took a Tube that dropped us nearest to Buckingham Palace.

The queen's flag wasn't flying and a constable told us she was summering at Windsor Castle. We walked around the outside in the dreary wetness and watched what I can only suspect was an informal "changing of the guard" for a bathroom break.... there were no fuzzy hats or bright red uniforms, but the Egyptian-looking men in white did do some funny walking and ritual with their bayonets, one that resembled something of a cross between a typewriter and a peacock's mating dance. We then walked quite a distance across the Thames River to retrace yesterday's steps to the Globe theatre, wanting nothing but a place to sit down.
We crossed to Westminster abbey and just missed the free Evensong and our chance to see the "Genius corner" where Newton, Darwin and any number of famous Kings and queens are buried. Instead we went in the bookshop and I read about what I was missing inside and re-lived my studies on King Henry VIII and his six wives: "Divorced, Beheaded, Died. Divorced, Beheaded, Survived." It's a truly industrious way to travel, really, there are no lines, no walking, and the pictures are a lot prettier than reality. Granted, so is sitting at home seeing it on Google... but it was a nice consolation in the frigid weather for me.

Under the watchful London Eye we then trekked a few miles on towards the Millennium Bridge and finally took refuge for a few hours at a lovely pub overlooking the Thames for dinner. Our feet got some well-needed rest and before we knew it, it was Showtime! We grabbed some warm Starbucks (with a free coffee upgrade from our kindly, handsome British baristas, might I add) and headed in to see the incredible Midsummer Night's Dream. The show was incredible, and we stood the whole three hours-- so closely one could see just how cold several of the barely-clad actors were.

We got back late, around 2 AM to a note saying that the Gandon's had an emergency with Andy's father who is not at all well and had to leave (if you think to pray for him, please do). We also discovered our flight was not at late afternoon as we thought, but rather 11:30 AM and it takes an hour to get to Luton from here. So this morning a taxi's picking us up at 8 and we'll hopefully be on our way to Nimes, France on schedule (Lord willing we don't get stopped because our bags are too heavy for Ryanair standards) for our next stay with C-Rain's friend.

Love you mom :)

Mr Gandon's screensaver: "Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance!"