Weekend Excitement

Last week, the night before the bombings, Laura, Julie, myself and a bunch of friends went down to St. Paul's Cathedral to see a talk by Koffi Anan. Unfortuntately, the cathedral's capacity was exceeded and we didn't get in, and neither did about 1000 other people.

So we figured we'd go to a pub. We went to London's oldest pub! The Olde Cheshire Cheese pub. It was rebuilt in 1666 (presumably after the London fire) and it has been a pub ever since. If you're closterphobic, then some of the seating in this place isn't for you. But it's very neat, the big wooden tables feels exactly like what you'd imagine the Prancing Pony to feel like in Bree. No pressurized kegs here, it's all big arm-pull spouts and cheap local beers and ales. (Please pardon the terrible camera-phone quality pics)

On Saturday, Laura and I went to Hamstead Heath to explore a bit more. This is a very large, rather woodsy park. Oddly enough someone put a three story high table and chair in the middle of a field. I've been told it's supposed to be there, but it's weird. We also stopped and watched a game of Cricket. These guys were pretty competative Cricket players, but it didn't stop *every* one of them from having half-litre cans of beer sitting at their feet while they were playing. They had a guy with a large wheely bin full of ice water and beer who would come out onto the pitch between points to hand out new beers to those in need. Crazy. After that we headed downtown and did a little wandering around the Hyde Park/Oxford Circus area and looked into a lot of stores. It was packed with people, as was Picadilly Circus. Seems as though the bombs hasn't scared too many people off.

Yesterday Laura and I went to Richmond to celebrate my birthday. We hired a row boat and went out. Having never rowed (or sculled to be more accurate) before, I asked the guy if there were any tricks, he said, "No. Just stay out of the way of big boats." Then he pushed us out into the river. It wasn't too hard and soon we were overtaking other boats like mad (I was having fun). We stayed out for an hour.

After we got back to shore, we met up with Julie and her friend's husband who was in London for the day from Canada. So we went to a little river-side cafe and had a "little" beer. Not to worry, Laura and I shared that big stein.

This weekend was also exciting because we found out that Nonna did well with her hip surgery. Laura was chatting with her and she sounded like she was doing really well. Well enough to tell me that I need to grow my hair back! "I like the curls!" she said. Also July 10th was Alan and Jen's first wedding anniversary! Very exciting. A lot has changed for them (for everyone) this year.

Finally yesterday, as-per-usual we went out for Indian food at Brick Lane. It was a great birthday. Here are all the pictures from yesterday.