Wet shoe, dry shoe

So for those of you who may not be familiar with the concept of wet foot, dry foot...let me explain....if you land in the Miami area from say... Cuba, and have one foot on dry land..you are SOLID on US soil!! Hence, wet foot, dry foot. Now, when it comes to me, it signifies if I have made it to the bathroom in time. Not as much a big deal as citizenship, but hey, I take my ability to reach the bathroom bowl seriously! Hence, wet shoe, dry shoe. Tonight was a fairly good night, but the night is young and it is my last in London! Officially, I believe I have only peed myself twice, (wet shoes), since arrival. As of many of you know I have peed myself in many places, including Vegas, New Orleans, my living room, the London flat, etc. Tonight, Caitlin may have exited the toilet and I may have been drying my pants with the hand dryer; I can neither confirm or deny. We have been to two establishments and are heading out after a brief rest; yes it is 10 pm London time..but my last night.

London has been an absolute blast! The British peeps have been nothing short of wonderful! We have had an absolutely extraordinary time and I cannot begin to express how very much we have enjoyed our London experience. Yes, we did all the touristy things that one does, but we did it with flare and with an eye towards making memories that we will cherish! Remember, this was a gift to Caitlin from Jim, Susan, myself and Wayne for all of her accomplishments! So again, one final congratulations to our dear Caitlin! I am so happy to have shared this week with you and the Noodle! I love you both very much. Many thanks to Jim and Susan for their gifts to Caitlin as well. Next stop, Ireland with Conor?? Until then, there is a pub or two I need to get to, so I bid adieu to all of you that have read and followed us on our little journey this week. Here's hoping British Airways cancels our return trip for a day...we missed Windsor Castle :(.

The above pictures are from Portobello Market in famed Notting Hill, the British Museum, (Rosetta Stone!) and our first pub of the the night. Just one note...look for Caitlin to have bad ass crooked British teeth in the near future...somehow she has lost her retainer in London...yes...25 years old, still wears her retainer! I on the other hand have had THE worst hair EVER in London! Hot mess of a head!! Ahh, who cares?? Cheers to all, God save the Queen!

Checking Out The Family Jewels...

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our last full day in London! Tensions were running high after so many long days...

We headed off early this am and took the tube over to The Tower of London.

We had some hints from the handy Frommer's London guide book (thank you Claudette!) to arrive early, buy tickets at the tube station and head directly to the Crown Jewels. The Crown Jewel exhibit is spectacular! We managed to walk right in and take our time enjoying all the exhibit had to offer....300 carat diamonds, jewel encrusted crowns, diamond scepters, gold punch bowl that holds 140 bottles of wine, baptismal basin, gold chalices and beautiful coronation rings.

We then toured around the towers which were used for many purposes throughout history, not the least of which was torture, imprisonment and a palace for King Edward the I. We were able to see the changing of the guard at the Crown Jewels and stood where Anne Boleyn (hot mess), second wife of King Henry VIII was beheaded. The prison towers had graffiti carving from prisoners including priests, nobility, astronomers and government officials. Elaborate carving into the stone walls included bible passages, planetary scenes, crucifixes and philosophical thoughts.

Back at our flat, Caitlin took an afternoon nap, she's had a bit of a cold, (the skinny go down first), Wayne headed to a pub just off the corner of our flat and I made my way to a small church, St. Martin's in The Field. We have walked ourselves all over London! Yesterday was the first day we took the tube! Our flat location has been wonderful and the weather has been in the 70's with low humidity with about 15-20 minutes of drizzle all week!

When I returned, both my travel mates were fast asleep. Once I roused them, we decided to head to the British Museum. Unfortunately, they recently changed the closing time and we were unable to enter the museum. Our first fail of our trip! Fortunately, we came upon a lovely restaurant called Prezzo and had a relaxing dinner. We tubed back to take our ride on the London Eye. I have been wanting to try to ride the Eye at dusk and we managed to time it perfectly! The lights of London were just magical!

Off to bed for a good night's sleep as we head in to our last day in London!

"Um...his name escapes me at the moment..."

Today was supposed to be a quick visit to St. Paul's Cathedral, then on to other adventures. Instead, it ended up being the bulk of our day. Our first glimpse as we approached from the Tube:

We started with a guided tour instead of the recorded tour - excellent choice as our guide was an animated older gentleman who loved what he was talking about but constantly got lost in his thoughts (hence the title - a common phrase from him). It was a wonderful tour even though it stretched to about two hours instead of the advertised 90 minutes. In showing us the enormous main domes in the cathedral he pointed out that we could later ascend into them if we chose - about 260 steps to the first level, another 200+ steps to the second, and 150 or so to the highest level - a total of 85 meters above the cathedral floor. We decided to tackle that after lunch.

Unfortunately there was no photography allowed inside, so our ascent of the first level is undocumented. The view down into the cathedral was breathtaking, especially after climbing all of those stairs. Margie decided against the next two levels, so it was up to Caitlin and I. Here are three pictures that start to capture the heights.

This is a view from the front of the church. Notice the clock in the upper right - there is another clock on its reverse side visible from the dome. The second level of the dome takes you to a ring where you can walk around the outside of the dome. The same clock from that level:

The final level of the dome takes you up a tremendous number of increasingly smaller spiral staircases. By the end both of my shoulders were touching the sides and I had to crouch to avoid hitting my head. We finally reemerged to a very small outside ring. Here is our new view of the clock:

There were some columns above us that I managed to capture by leaning backwards against the railing - Caitlin was not happy with this!

The view from the ground shows the two outer rings and the upper columns, if you look close:

A zoomed picture of the top:

The views from the top were amazing, of course!

After a bit of shopping (with one of us guarding the pub), it was back home for a power snooze then out to dinner. We found a great Thai restaurant very close to our flat, Thai Pot.

Great choice! On the way back we encountered one of many Scottish football fans in town for a big game. They are all wearing kilts, singing songs, and drinking heavily. As far as I know the football game is not happening anywhere around here but that seems irrelevant. Here is our new friend:

I doubt he will remember us, although he did appear to want to take Margie with him.