Tuesday, June 24, 2014

The Circle of Life

We met downstairs anxious to begin our day touring London, but were immediately sabotaged by Ian's map reading failures in the park. After Kiera and Bruce righted our wandering, we happened across a group of trainee palace guards, almost were trampled by a runaway horse, and considered continuing Maryland's legacy of skinny dipping in the Serpentine River, but eventually made it to the area of Big Ben and the London Eye. From the top of the London Eye, four hundred and fifty feet above the Thames River, we had plenty of photo opportunities of the city and were able to spot a building-sized, upside-down purple cow below.

When we - against all odds, had survived the ride - we grabbed lunch and headed to Piccadilly Circus where we shopped for souvenirs and watched Courtney's graceful dismount from a lion statue (yes, she did fall). There we saw a four-ton gold carriage and a Jaguar limousinein addition to several of the Cleveland Bays and Windsor Grays which are housed there.

Footsore and, in Anne's case, creaking on the right side, we stopped in the park to take a rest and watch Blake (our tour guide's nephew) attempt to catch pigeons. The birds were so tame that many would land on the hands and arms of people willing to feed them food and risk painful death by some pigeon carried disease.

After our rest, we gathered up the energy to go see the inspection of the Horse Guard, then head to dinner at Aberdeen Steakhouse,  where Ian unsuccessfully attempted to romance our Polish waitress. Enough said.

We then walked to the theatre to see the Lion King and witnessed three hours of African tribal chants, elaborate costuming, and highly chiseled abdominals. We left the theatre wishing we possessed just a fraction of the bodily coordination of the performers we had seen. It was epic.

Quote of the day: "You want sass? I'll give you sass. I'll put on my sassy pants." -Ian Doody.

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