Vegas

The flight to Vegas on Allegiant Air was relatively good, I guess, once we actually got in the air.... They have a stupid rule that you cannot sit in the exit row if you need a seat belt extension, though - so I had to get the damn seat belt fastened without one ... That was not pretty, but managed finally. They also don't give ANYTHING away for free.... Cokes were 2 bucks. Sheesh. The 3 hour flight was uneventful.

We got to the airport and finally got out luggage. Then got our shuttle tickets which we had pre-paid thinking we'd get a better deal buying them as part of the package. We paid $12 for the round trip ... they actually cost $11.50. Oh, well. We also decided with the 4 of us (Maricela and Martin - Mario's parents are with us), that we should have just gotten a taxi. It took about 20 minutes for the shuttle to come ... Even though we've already paid for the return trip, we may take a taxi back anyway.

We got to the hotel - the Imperial Palace - and got checked-in. Michael - a friend from Harlingen - is here with us as well (although he goes back on Sunday) - was already here and met us in the lobby. We all went to Teahouse Coffe Shop located in the hotel for dinner. It was about midnite - 2 am Houston time - and we were all starving. They serve breakfast 24 hours a day in the Teahouse and the food was really good. We did discover that their combo's were not a great deal though ... Eggs with meat cost $6.99 and a side of pancakes cost $3.99, while the combo of the 3 cost $10.99 - technically one cent more ... but the pancakes in the combo were 5 inches and the side pancakes were 8 inches ... Oh well ... After eating, Mario's folks and I went to bed (of course, I had to stop to play $5 on a penny machine first - which took about 3 minues). Mario and Michael went out to the strip where they both were nearly eaten by a lion (Siegfried and Roy at the Mirage).

Friday, I had decided to rent a mini-van from Enterprise ($52 a day plus $17 for insurance and they picked me up at the hotel) so we could go to Hoover Dam. The tours for the trip were like $75 a person, so with four of us going (Michael wanted to stay and do the strip), it was a lot cheaper and gave us more options. It takes about an hour to get to the dam from the strip. About a 1/4 mile from the dam, they have a checkpoint station where they either inspect your vehicle or wave you through. We got waved. We drove across the dam to Arizona first - and I'm glad we did - because as of 2008 when the new bridge is finished - that won't be an option anymore (potential terrorist threats and one more personal liberty lost and all). They have also redone the tour as well. We had been told by several friends to take BOTH tours. There is now only one. It goes down 500 some-odd feet to the generator level, where you can see the tops of the Nevada side 8 generators. (There are 9 more on the Arizona side - although 2 of those are smaller than the other 7). After seeing the generators, you go down another 200 some-odd feet so you can see the giant pipe that the water goes through that feeds the generators. (Actually, there are 2 so one pipe only carries half the water.) The pipe is big enough to put 2 buses side by side in. It is in a much larger "pipe" that was created originally to divert the water around the dam section while they were building the dam. It is interesting the number of engineering feats they had to overcome to build the dam. It contains enough concrete that you could build a 4 foot wide, 3 inch thick side walk around the equator. Because there was SO much concrete and because it takes concrete a long time to cure in those quantities, they had to build the world's largest refrigerator (it could freeze enough water to create an iceberg every day) and put pipes in the concrete to help pull out the heat so it would cure in a timely fashion, and with the pipes, were able to ensure that it was all cured by the time they finished building it. (Otherwise, it would have taken 100 years for the concrete to fully cure.)

From there we went to the Ethel M. Chocolate factory which was not functioning - but we got to taste some good chocolate and of course had to buy some.

I had hoped that we would have enough time to also go to Valley of Fire State Park to see several interesting rock formations including one with Indian petroglyphs and also to Red Rock Canyon Conseration Area, but we decided we didn't have enough time to do both, and a local had said of the two Red Rock Canyon was more interesting, so we headed there.... After missing a turn off the freeway and driving 30 minutes out of our way, we didn't have time to do that either, so we just headed back and dropped the car. An interesting side note here about the car, the Enterprise people had told me that if I decided to keep the car until Monday, that I could have picked one of them up at the office and they would have driven us to the airport.

We got back to the hotel and changed clothes and headed over to the Bellagio where we had tickets for O. We had dinner at their buffet - $35 per person. The food was really good, the drink service not so much. They had the cutest little hamburgers which were about 2 inches around. The patties were about an inch thick - making them about 4" tall. They were really good.

O - a fairly typical Cirque show - except that it takes place in and around their built-in swimming pool which is 25 feet deep. It has about 12 seperate sections that rise and fall so they can be on "dry land", on a wet side walk, or in the super deep pool. It beings with synchronized swimming - but upside down - the feet are all you see. As Cirque's go, it is one of the best I've seen. Lot's of aerial work - on paralell bars, trapezes, etc. (you know all the stuff they usually do), but combined with high dives into the pool - including at the end, people diving into the pool from out of site from above - so at least a couple of hundred feet probably. Way cool.

After O, we caught part of the dancing waters in front of the Bellagio - we'll have to try to catch the full show later. Mario and I also had tickets for Zumanity, so we said goodnite to his folks and headed down to New York New York for the show. We had love seats on mini-couches right in front of the stage which we were really excited about. I might recommend the ones at the end, but we were on the side. There's too much depth to a Cirque show to get a good view that close on the side, because there is always things happening on both sides of you ... You really need distance to get good perspective. It is billed as the naked show, and while there are topless girls - hey - we're in Vegas - they're weren't any bottom less anyones - although they do go for the illusion a lot. Of course, that close, you lose the illusion also. Except for the couple of times Mario had to wake me up, we both enjoyed the show. I think I'm just not cut our for 10:30 shows. Especially when my body is still on 12:30 Houston time.

After the show, we got a cab back to the hotel. We decided to play a few slots first. Mario quickly lost $8. I put $10 in a penny machine, and after playing for about 10 minutes, got a credit out of the machine for $28. Woo hoo. I then lost $5 in a different machine, so for the day I was ahead $13, and for the weekend, I'm up $8.

The internet connection to the room is not strong enough to connect, so I'll have to post this when we get home.

Saturday we got up and decided to do breakfast at the hotel. The Emperor's Buffet was $15 a person for Saturday/Sunday bruch and had a really good spread. From there we walked down the strip to the Venetian where we were going to do the gondola ride but decided we did not want to wait in line. We grabbed a taxi and went back to New York New York because Mario wanted to ride the roller coaster. This is a huge metal roller coaster that originates inside the building, goes outside and climbs to the top of the hotel before coming back down with a loop and an inverted barrel. Bruce was very relieved to discover he was too fat to get the bar down ... whew ... that was close .... (Of course, the next time we come, that won't work will it?)

From there we basically did a lot of walking the stip, stopping periodically to play slots to let Bruce rest. So far, we're both have pretty decent luck with the slots. Bruce picks a machine - and then plays the one to the left of it. Mario usually plays the one Bruce picks. Last nite, Bruce, Mario and Michael had tickets for the Barbra concert - with special guests Il Divo. We rode the monorail from our hotel to the MGM Grand Arena for the concert. Unlike a typical concert, where you have a warm up act, Il Divo got to do about 3 songs with Barbra and about 3 more on their own while she changed. And she changed again at intermission, and again in the middle of the second act for 3 changes of clothes. Il Divo appeared to be wearing their Armani suits that Rosie O'Donnel (sitting prominently in the front row) was able to procure for them for the tour. A number of other divas were also in the audience, including Billie Jean King. The concert was really good, our seats REALLY sucked for what we paid for them (and we discovered that the row of seats behind us cost nearly half what ours did). Barbra was having some minor voice problems although she was still quite awesome. (She probably had a case of Vegas throat - I know mine has been irritating me since we got here.) Il Divo was quite awesome.

After the concert, we played a couple of slot machines at the MGM. Bruce quickly turned $5 into $35 and played it down to $30, then we headed over to New York New York again to try to get a t-shirt in the one of the shops there but it had already closed. Played a few more slots, then grabbed a taxi back to our hotel and played a few more slots. Bruce lost about 20, so for the day, he was up about 25 and therefore up about 33 for the weekend. Mario played finished up with 20 in a penny machine and winning 50 out of it ... so he's up for the day as well. Martin and Maricela saw the Cirque show Love at the Mirage. Maricela said it was spectacular.
Sunday morning, we grabbed a cab and went downtown where we ate breakfast at the cafe inside the Golden Nugget. After breakfast, we walked around on Fremont Street and played in several casinos. We found the slots similarly loose to the strip - and in one case, worse. We actually did better on the strip. We lost everything we put in the machines. C'est la vie. We caught a cab and headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe so Mario could get his bear and t-shirt. The bear is super cute with lots of feathers and a blue bra and g-string. My only comment was instead of a bra it should have titties. lol. We had some appetizers and the peanut chocolate crunch that I like so much (and some alcohol of course - my first for the trip). From there we caught a cab back to our hotel, changed for the evening and walked across to the Mirage to see the volcano. From the volcano, we walked back to the Bellagio to catch the full fountain show. It's only about 5 minutes long, but very good. The volcano was good, but not as good. We walked across the strip to Bally's to see Jubilee. The show was really good, but a lot different than I expected. It opens and closes with lots of feathers and titties, but there were almost as many men in it, and the in-between acts were more evening gowns and feathers than topless. There were also a couple of cirque type acts, including 2 short and super skinny asians that could fold themselves in half and go through what looked like a 15 inch tube. Folded in half mind you.... Showoffs. There was also 2 guys that did a lot of aerobatics with cloth - flying out over the audience and stuff. There were numerous sketches with the full cast - including the sinking of the titanic as well as Sampson and Delilah. It was good - and it was exactly what Maricela wanted to see - so I did good ;-) After the show we crossed back over to Ceasar's and I played almost 2 hours there on penny slots pulling 20¢ a pull on $20. So that was good. It's nice to win even if you are just going to throw it back out. $20 for 2 hours is after all, about the cost of a good movie and I did get several bottles of water for free in the process ... lol. From there, we came back to the Imperial Palace and I played another hour on a different $20. I had been looking for a penny unicorn machine, and they had one. I was actually doing well enough on the machine, that I probably could STILL be playing that 20, but I was tired. My goal was to play down to $3 so I had enough money to buy Mario and I drinks on the way to the room. About 4 different times, I got within 2 pulls of $3 and won $10. So I eventually put the machine on $4 pulls and played a few more minutes before getting down to my $3 and we headed up to bed.

Today, we've got to get up and pack and be out of the hotel by 11. I start my juice died today in prep for surgery on Thursday, so food is not on MY agenda today. We'll get checked out and store the luggage with the bellmen and then do a little more of the strip. Mario wants to go to New York New York and see if they have a t-shirt. Then it's catch a cab and head to the airport and home. Another great trip. (But my body is in serious revolt. My feet are killing me, my back and knees are none too happy either, and Mario's back has been bothering him since we left home.)

London - Listo

Well ... today is our last full day in London - tommorrow we'll get up, have breakfast, catch a cab to the train station, catch the train to the airport and catch the plane back to the states ... M goes on to Mcallen and Reynosa and I'll be in Houston ...

Today, we slept til about 10 ... then we packed our bags so we would not have to do it late tonite or tomorrow ... We have a suitcase more going home than we had coming - there's a suprise ...



One of the people that Mario has been chatting with lately is from London - his name is Selim (like Celine but with a S and an M) - invited us to come out to Canary Wharf - which is like the new finiancial district of London for lunch. We did a bit of shopping around the wharf area first - it does not look at all like London - as it is all new - built in the last 10 years or so ... From there we walked to Zizzis for lunch - a quaint Italian place - and since the sun was shining brightly and the wind was not too bad, we opted to eat on the Piazza. The food was quite good - although the service was typically Bristish - slow and unamusing ...

After lunch, he invited us back to his place for tea. He lives just a few short blocks from there ... We had tea and panettonne - a sweet bread with raisins - and Schockoladen Lebkuchen from Feine Nurnberger - a ginger type cookie - both to die for ... Selim is Turkish - although he was born in Germany near Kologne and has lived in London for over 10 years.

From there, we headed back to OXFORD STREET to do some last minute shopping. We went to MARK & SPENCER - a department store that even has a grocery store in the basement ... We picked up a few more gifts and then we took a bicycle taxi down to Strand Street to see Evita. Mario of course is convinced that there is only one Evita - and that was a movie with Madonna ... But we both enjoyed the production and headed back to the room for me to do the final wrap up ...

Tomorrow, our flight is at 1:10 pm and I'll be in Houston around 5:30 ... No doubt, shortly after getting home - i'll be enjoying a shower that is large enough to bend over in ... I can't wait ... I need a vacation from my vacation ...

Until next time.

Oh, yeah - things we didn't do ...

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Take pictures at Trafalgar Square (although we did catch the bus there a few times)

See a play at the Globe (there weren't any playing while we were here)

and no doubt many other things as well ...

London Day 8

Today I'm feeling some better - but still not great - I went down for breakfast and came back to the room. Katherine was supposed to meet us between 9 and 9:30 but she slept late - so she called to let us know she'd be late. After she got her and gave us the gifts we need to take back to Houston, we headed out and went to the Tate Modern museum ... after seeing art by lots of people no one ever heard of - and a bit from people like Matisse, Monet, Dali, Warhohl and Rothko - we headed a few doors down - grabbing a English hotdog along the way - to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre - which is supposed to be the best guess as to what the theatre would have looked like in the day ...



Then we crossed the Millenium Bridge and went into St. Pauls Cathedral. From there, we ate dinner at an english pub before saying goodnite to Katherine. We went on to the theatre district and did a little shopping before catching Caberet. I always forget how powerful the story is and think it should be required watching for everyone every 10 years or so ... At least often enough to NEVER FOREGET. A footnote ... The phrase Never Forget Never Again has long been spoken to remind us to never forget the atrocities of the Holocaust. Now, however, it seems the phrase has become the call to not forget 911. While I agree, we should never forget 911 either ... I think we forget the Holocaust in the process.

London Day 7

Slept in again today ... got out about noon and did a little shopping near Victoria Station ... We grabbed sandwiches at a little shop near there as well ... Saw a church we liked - didn't go in - but its Westminister Cathedral. We had tickets to see Billy Elliott at 2:30 which we both enjoyed - Mario much more so than me - but it was a good show ... Then back to the hotel and a quick bite of junk food before we had to meet Katherine at 7 for Wicked ... Yes #9 ... Katherine even agreed that it was something she would see again and musicals are apparently not her thing ... Madam Morrible messed up her line again ... only this time she caught it and corrected it ... which just made it that much worse ... We stood in line after the show and got autographs ... Miriam (Madam Morrible) asked if any one had seen it more than once, she could not understand why we would have seen it 3 times in London ... I'm sure if she had heard M say it was our 9th time to see the show she really would have thought us crazy ... Ah, well ... c'est la vie ...




I'm sure M will say I did not say nearly enough about anything ... but I really can't think of much tonite ...

London Day 6

The day began with me turning off the alarm clock and saying to hell with breakfast ... I turned over and went back to sleep for another hour before deciding that if we were going to make the changing of the guard, it was time to get up and start the day ... I hate colds ... but knock on wood ... this one is not killing me yet ...



We caught the bus and went to the changing of the guard. As we got to Buckingham Palace, the guard behind the gates were already in maneuvers. We got to see most of the ceremony, although Mario thought he caught a glimpse of Miguel Garza and Arturo Cole, our friends from Monterrey, at a distance, so we ran and caught up with them and got to spend a little time with them this morning. They are headed to Venice, I think, and leave out tomorrow morning.



From there we walked down to the Hard Rock Cafe. The London one is actually where it all began. After doing the basic shopping at the gift shop - the requisite teddy bear and the t-shirt, Katherine and her friend Annie showed up and we said our adieu's to our friends from Mexico and went inside for dinner. Katherine said the thing she missed the most was American food ... althought it is still a little confusing to all of us how a restaurant started in England is all about American food - but then I never understood hard rock to begin with ... lol. After lunch, we went to Harrod's for a bit of shopping and found this really cool teddy bear. They also have a memorial to Princess Diana and her fiance - which includes the last wine glass they drank from and the engagement ring.



After shopping we headed back to the hotel with our purchases before heading back out to theatre. If it can truly be said that good theatre touches the soul, then Mary Poppins is grand theatre. Not since attending the circus with a 4 year old some 18 years ago has my inner child had so much fun - and sheer exhilaration and wonder that this show produces. From the beginning when Poppins pulls out a hat rack from her carpet bag - suspended on a table above the floor - how ever did they do that ... throughout the entire performance, there is just one thing after another that makes your inner child scream for joy. We had been hesitant to go see it - even though it sounded like fun - for fear of what they might do to this great story - which has always had a lot of power over me. And while I missed the suffragette song and that portion of the story line, as well as missing out on the tea party on the ceiling - there were new things to add and garner my attention ... Suffice it to say that it was beyond all doubt a most pleasant surprise - and given the chance to see it some day - would encourage you ALL to do so.

Scarlett Strallen is the quintessential Mary Poppins - and looks a great deal like Julie Andrews to boot. Gavin Creel as Bert also does a fabulous job and again, has much of the charisma and stage presence of Dick Van Dyke himself. The children are great in their portrayals of Jane and Michael Banks, Aden Gillett and Eliza Lumley are superb as Mr. and Mrs. Banks, and lest I forget, the bird lady portrayed by Diane Langton. That part has always held a special place in my heart as well.

London Day 5

We started the day off again with breakfast ... although I'm running a bit slow - I seem to have gotten a cold - mostly post nasal drip so far - let's hope it stays that way ... and that it goes away soon.

I realize I haven't talked about our room yet. We originally ordered a double - but in London that means a double bed - so they gave us a twin - 2 twin beds so we at least have some sleeping room ... we're on the first floor - i.e. one floor up from ground - and we have a balcony wide enough to stand on - at least it's been nice having a door/window to open so we could cool off the room - there does not appear to be an a/c ... something we'll have to remember if we want to do a summer trip sometime - there is a radiator - which of course we have not needed ... anyway, our ensuite bathroom is a ready-made unit that is about 5 - 6 feet long, maybe 2-3 feet wide and about 7 feet tall ... you can quite literally sit on the commode and brush your teeth at the same time - as your legs are under the sink and you can lean over far enough to spit in the sink ... then on the right side is a round shower which is about 2 to 2-1/2 feet in diameter (this is included in the 5-6 feet long of the whole affair) ... i'm about an inch away from all the walls if i stand right in the middle of it ... but it has really HOT HOT water, so this morning i turned the whole thing into my own personal private sauna.


anyway - after breakfast, we were moving a little slow so it was probably about noon when we finally got out of the room ... we took the bus to Westminister Abbey where we bought our 10 pound each tickets to go through the abbey (i swear it used to be free). the building in the picture with mario is the Methodist Central Hall. We didn't tour it, just found it intersting architecturally.



after that, we caught the toob and went to the london bridge stop - being the typical tourists and forgetting that where we WANTED to go was the Tower of London Bridge which was a bit farther down ... but it was a reasonably pretty day to this point so we decided to just walk by the thames to get there ... the wind was picking up and the temperature dropping, i can honestly say i was cold ... it was probably 50. we stopped for lunch at a pub called Horniman's at Hays ... and no, I'm not making that up ... i don't have that much creativity in me right now ... lol .... the building on the far right is right at the tower bridge - i'm not sure what it was - but it was interesting to look at it...



after lunch we walked on down to the tower bridge - we got a little sprinkling of rain - enough to get the umbrellas out - but by the time we were actually on the bridge it had quit raining ... we walked across the bridge


in front of the tower of london - just outside the tube station was this statue - supposedly of Trajan which caught my fancy. then we caught the tube back to westminister where we caught the bus and headed back to the hotel.

our friends miguel and arturo are coming in today from monterrey, but we haven't been able to connect with them yet ... time will tell ... we rested for a bit and then caught the bus to go see wicked ... yes #8 ... as good as always and in some ways even better ... although Mario did point out a MAJOR line gaffe ... there is one point in the show where Madame Morrible (Miriam Margoyles) comes out to give Miss Glinda (Helen Dallimore) her magic wand, and she comes on stage and bellows Miss ELPHABA ... but give Helen credit to not let it throw her and I don't think most of the patrons even noticed ... I knew something wasn't right, but since they didn't skip a beat, I probably would have forgotten about it except Mario pointed it out ...

After the show, we grabbed a bite at McDonalds and caught the bus back to the room - hoping to have a message from Miguel and Arturo - but no luck.

I got online and bought tickets for us to see Mary Poppins tomorrow nite - it has come highly recommended by a number of people - and I managed to get 2 tickets in the center of row B - which APPEARS to be the front row - I can hope ... leg room and all that ya know ... Anyway, Katherine gets in in the morning and we'll be meeting her for lunch after catching the changing of the guard - we hope.... Should be another fun day.

Tonite we just closed the window in the bedroom - it's actually cool enough without the window - at least at the moment ...



Oh, yeah - happy halloween ;-)

Stonehenge / Norton St. Philip / Bath

Today, we got up, went downstairs to breakfast, finished getting ready and headed to Victoria Station where we caught the Premier tour (information included yesterday) to Stonehenge, Norton St. Philip for lunch and Bath.

The bus took us to Windsor Castle first, where we met the main bus. Apparently the tour that does all three starts at Windsor Castle. We had decided that all three in the same day would be too much - and hoped that by only doing the 2 we would have more time to do Stonehenge and Bath. Obviously, that was not true - but I'm still not sure we would have enough time at Windsor to do it right - and it's just a short train trip from London if we decide to do it later in the week.



As we approached Stonehenge, the mist and fog began to thicken. At one point, it was really raining. But as we continued on, it cleared ever so slightly - as if it was important for us to be there. Continuing on, there were a number of small burial mounds - that have apparently been proven to hold only a single person. Although a mound that size could undoubtedly hold the remains of 20 or so. They appeared to be about 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and about 7-8 feet high. When we pulled up at Stonehenge we were given 45 minutes to see it and get back on the bus. The stones DO have a pull to them, and I really DO want the chance to be able to walk through and touch them - so we will have to make an overnight trip at some point to give us that opportunity - as they are still open to commune with on certain sunrises and sunsets during the year. After walking around the stones and getting back to the gift shop, we realized we were already over our 45 minutes. Luckily, Kathy, our tour guide, was waiting there and yelled at us to come on. So at least we didn't miss the bus.



Speaking of Kathy, I found that she reminded me markedly of cousin Sondra Jo Schlotterback from Albequerque. While not an exact resemblance, and I admit, the best picture I could find of Sondra is not the best picture either, it was still close enough for me to think of it and remember that family is never far away even when you're in London.



We ate lunch at the George Inn in Norton St. Philip. Mario had the roast beef and I had the pork roast. Both were good. We had Guiness ... well ... black beer is still gross ... although I DID actually drink it. The picture on the left above is the view from the back of the inn.



Bath is a small town whose claim to fame is the Roman Baths that were there from about 50 ad to 350 ad. We drove around through the town before stopping. One of the things we spotted while driving through town was a pub with the name The Bath Tap. It was significant that there was a rainbow flag on each side of the sign - and sure enough, it shows up on the list of gay clubs in Somerset. Anyway, they dropped us off at the Bath Abbey - with an hour and 15 minutes to see the town before going to the Roman Baths for our private after hours tour. It would have been nice, in my opinion to have had a bit more time at Stonehenge - so we could have at least done the gift store - but then that is the problem with canned tours. Anyway, Bath is really nice and picturesque town, and most all of the buildings are built from Bath stone. Jane Austen apparently grew up in the town - although she apparently had little nice to say about it - the town apparently likes to hold on to her anyway. We need to go back and spend a day or two here on some future trip as well.... I want to check out the NEW baths - which were not part of the tour - and there are a LOT of out of the way shops to be checked out.




We also toured the abbey - and this particular floor stone struck me for some reason. It is a little hard to read, so I'll transcribe it here: "Here lyeth ye body of M. John William Teshmaker late of ye Parish of Edmunton in y County of Midx. Merchant deceased ye 25th of June Annon Domini J 713 Aged 50 yeares he was an afectionate and prudient husband a carfull & indulgent Father Loving & charityable to ye poor to whose pious memory his disconsolared widow erected this tombe. O reader stay one moment with the dead. Have one good thought when thus on graves you tread where now my soul abodes in heaven trust & in bless my bodys hear in drift. O reader go & live & learn & dye like men that have immortal souls & then come hear agen."

We didn't get any really great pictures of the Roman Baths, but it was pretty spectacular. Part of me would really like to see them restore the Baths to their splendor of yore, but I'm sure since that would require a lot of conjecture on the part of the Brits who are VERY history conscience, it would probably never happen anyway. I found it interesting that they believe that the baths were used by both men and women, since there was both an east and west side and history shows that the east side had a tepid pool while the west side had a cold pool and the assumption being that the women would have used the tepid pool to clean themselves and the men the cold one prior to communing jointly in the major pool. The link above contains some pictures of the baths as they exist today.

After bath we returned to London and finally ate some fish and chips. Now mind you, when I was here the last time - some 15 years ago or so - fish and chips were sold in every pub in England - in fact - it was about the only place to get them. But after looking in several pubs - we decided that this too had changed. We had passed a place call SeaFresh several times before after eating already, so we decided today to try them out. Now mind you, the fish was really good - but it was a bit pricey and we realized that we could have gotten food to go next door to the restaurant at their carry out facility for about half the price. (maybe 12 pounds instead of 30).

Prices seem to be holding pretty true to the rule that the numbers are the same between here and the US - it's just that pounds sterling cost 2 US dollars. I.e., a pack of cigarettes here cost 5.40 Bristish Sterling... as opposed to about $5.40 in the US ... but 5.40 Bristish Sterling is $10.80. (And the packs say in 20 point type - Cigarettes WILL KILL YOU)

But we're having fun - and the weather has truly been superb. I just wish I had 10 short sleeve shirts and 2 long ones rather than the other way around. Go figure.

London - Day 3 - Did I say JET LAG?

I thought I had jet lag yesterday - but I MUST have been confused. Today, I woke up about 10 and put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door and went back to sleep. We both woke up about 1 this afternoon and finally got out of the room about 3. We took the bus (the bus stop is right in front of the hotel) to Leicester Square where we walked around for a bit before settling on Pizza Hut for dinner. It was near Leicester Square that we found Bear Street - the only picture we took today. Then we went to the Odeon theatres and saw VOLVER which we both enjoyed. After the movie, we went back to the hotel and are settling in for the evening so we can get up and go on our Stonehenge tour in the morning.

London Day 2 - Wicked

We got up this morning and went downstairs for breakfast ... There is a complete breakfast included with the room. It was actually pretty good - really good for free ;-) They had bacon, scrambled eggs, fried eggs (sunny side up), beans (for breakfast - really), something else I didn't recognize, 3 kinds of cereal, toast as well as orange juice (really really bad) and apple juice (kinda bad), tea &/or coffee and water. We ate our fill and will undoubtedly go back again ... Then we went back to the room to get ready to hit the town and I fell asleep ... I think we finally got out around noon... When we're outside, it's a little nippy, but I'm wishing I had 10 pairs of shorts and t-shirts ... With the windbreaker that would be perfect ... One of the subways we were in today was SUPER HOT.

Anyway, we walked over to Buckingham Palace and saw the guards change shifts. We may go back Wednesday for the changing of the guard - but it's every other day this time of year and we missed it today ...


We took the toob out Picadilly Circus where we ate lunch at Biagio Chez Victor (Italian). The menu said it was suggestive only, so we added chicked to something that I cannot remember what they called, but it was green and white noodles with a cream sauce and mushrooms. It was really good.

We walked around a bit more before catching the toob back to Pimlico station and 4 blocks back to the hotel. After resting a bit, we're now ready to head back towards Victoria station and see WICKED.


Wicked, is of course, fantastic as always. Tonight made the 7th time we've seen it - once in New York with Idina playing Elphaba, twice more in New York but without Idina, twice in Houston and once in Atlanta. We'll see it twice more before we leave and have 2 sets of tickets for the Houston run in March. Yes, we LOVE wicked. That is the reason we came afterall - to see Idina in Wicked. There are some minor differences between the London show and the New York show and even the traveling tour. There are a few places where words were changed to make more sense to the London crowds. A set change in the opening act - there's no large hat (that's not in the traveling show either), although they replaced it with the shadow of the witch and a lot of flashy glimmering lights which is quite spectacular. AND no flying monkeys over the audience (again NY only). After the show we were able to get pictures taken with Martin Ball who portrays Dr. Dillamond in the show. (He's a goat.) We have been enjoying his BLOG on the show for several months now, so it was great to finally meet him. We still both get chills when we hear Idina sing the songs. We both get tears in our eyes when Elphaba and Glinda sing For Good - the song where they both express how they have been changed for good because they knew each other, and as long as we both continue to love the show, we will undoubtedly continue to see it.

London - The First Day

After getting checked into the hotel - we're staying at the Sidney Hotel, we headed back out ... We walked back towards Victoria Station because we wanted to pick up our Wicked tickets and see if we could swap the one we got for Katherine for this Saturday for Thursday ... We were not able to, but we went ahead and got her one for Thursday anyway - she'll be in the row right behind us - so that's good ... (She had visa problems and won't be able to get to London until Wednesday).


We bought Oyster cards - the wave of the future with transportation in London apparently - they are RFID cards to simplify the process - and after riding the toob to the London Eye - we were able to ride it with 2 for 1 because of the Oyster. Apparently the tickets to ride the toob run about 1 pound 50 (3 dollars) instead of double that if you buy individuals tickets. Did I mention the London is expensive?


We headed back to Victoria Station and had dinner at a British Pub ... no fish and chips in site - so I guess I'll have to look for those later ... Mario had "Beer and Burger" - the burger by itself would have been 7 pounds - but add a beer to it and it's 5 ... go figure ... i had the Bangers and Mash with green peas - the really big ones that have no taste - which meant that most of my dinner had no taste - but it was hot and thick and stuck to the ribs so I guess thats the main thing ... I decided it was not a good day for black beer - so I stuck to diet coke ... maybe another day ... Mario had Foster's - he said it was ok - but it wasn't black either ...

Jet lag is killing me, so I wound up taking a nap - he decided to go check out a local bar ... Guess that's all for now ... Tommorrow nite we see Wicked the first time - haven't decided what we'll do besides that ...

At some point, i'm sure Mario will add pix to this.

London - The beginning

We just got checked into the hotel room. (We stayed at the Sidney Hotel (Victoria Station). It's about 4 blocks from Victoria Station (south?). Needed to get a message out so everyone would know that we are here and ok. Somethings are very different than from my last trip to London. For one, official taxis are not always black. There was a fuchsia one right in front of us in line. The weather looks nice right now so I think we're going to head out for a bit ... Mario got no sleep on the plane and altough i got about 6 hours - i FEEL like I got none.