London, Baby!

We're not moving to London just yet, but we did spend a lovely weekend with "Renovating" Rita and Raph "The Slide" Charon. The London weather was unusually cooperative, which was probably not the best way for us to get a realistic impression of the city, but it was definitely appreciated by us and about 8 million people in the city. Rita and Raph did their best to give us the hard sell, taking us to a lovely park for a live orchestral concert and soft serve ice cream, a charming boat ride up the Thames, a swank dinner with bathrooms reminiscent of the egg Mork used to fly to Earth, drinks at the (arguably) oldest pub in London, a full English breakfast and a wonderful drive in their new car. The Charons were excellent hosts and unparalleled tour guides, giving us the skinny on all areas of London that we couldn't have found had we read a dozen books. As usual, we were completely negligent in using our camera, so we don't have any new pictures of the happy couple or their apartment overlooking the Thames. We do, however, have some pictures of London showing some of the highlights of our trip, so enjoy!

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese: Arguably the oldest pub in London; excellent bitters and private label diet sodas

Authentic English Breakfast: This is a surprisingly accurate depiction of the meal that Rita prepared for us after our night out

Covent Garden: Home to the most intense olfactory experience on the English side of the Channel, Lush; Raph and I wisely stayed outside of the shop while the ladies shopped and contracted Miners' Lung

Tesco: Source of bargain basement prices, Aero bars and cheap English magazines