Just a quick update on our travels so far while we have access to an Internet connection in one of the most unlikely places you might imagine. No, ok so it's not a cave, I suppose that would be harder to imagine but you get the point...

We've made our way thus far through the wonderfully exciting and uniquely dressed London. The two days spent here we're not nearly enough, although we knew from the start that it would not be. Prices drove us onward although we'll someday return to explore it in much more detail. We arrived at 4 in the afternoon and made our way from Heathrow to our lodging via several stops and changes on the metro line, switching to the overland line at the last stop. Finally arriving some 3 hours later we were met at the train station by none other than Mary!! She arrived earlier in the day and after checking in ourselves, we headed back into downtown London to meet Wendy, at the Eye of London.

As we got off the Metro and emerged after following the Way Out signs, we step onto Westminster Street and saw Big Ben looking right at us. Of course I kept saying it couldn't be Big Ben but it was. Mary and Mike were right. We took several photos and then headed across the bridge over the river Thames. Wendy was a few minutes in arriving so we walked around and checked out the street performers. We saw a Victorian dressed dancer, she was a little weird, some singers but the favorite was the headless or invisible headed man. That was really neat. He was sitting in a large chair with a bowler hat on top of his invisible head. He shook hands with a kid without moving any other part of his body.

Obviously this isn't the headless man, but this guy was pretending to be a statue. I'd say he was almost lifelike but that would mean he wouldn't be very good now wouldn't it?

Wendy showed us a round and we discovered that she does not know London that well! She lead us right into the Red Light District. So we turned around and headed to Trafalgar Square. We grabbed some supper at this place that had a weird rule about you can only consume alcohol if you order a full entree. Appetizers did not cut it even if you ordered 5! The patio provided much entertainment as we watched the latest fashions go by. There were street walkers or maybe just ladies out for the night, mini skirts with combat boots, spiked purple hair...basically the scantily clad to the bundled up p-coat.

We had to catch the last train back to the Antigillian Hotel so off we left and arrived safely back to the room. We were all exhausted so sleep came quickly. We were in a triple room in the back of the establishment. I bolted awake at 3AM chasing the thief out of our room! He had broken in and stole all of our belongings. I ran to the door in my t-shirt and underwear. I opened the door and heard him on the stairs directly above. I was afraid of getting locked out of the room so I turned back and shouted to Mike, who was sounded asleep as well as Mary. I cannot believe they did not wake up and hear any of this. "Mike, All of our stuff is gone!"

Mary and Mike bolted upright and looked quickly around. As they did I did as well as realized that I was asleep the whole time. Mary said; "It is all right here" Mike said; !What do you need?" I said "Nothing, sorry, oops!" as I sheepishly closed the door and crawled back into bed. Mary exclaimed you scared me half to death.....how do you think I felt as I was the one chasing the thief out into the streets of London!

Strangely enough we all were able to get back to sleep after that but I keep wondering what the neighbors must have been thinking! I'm sure they must have thought a thief was on the prowl for the rest of the night!

The next morning after breakfast and feeling refreshed we made our way back into downtown London by way of the Cuddy Sark which tragically burned to a husk only a few weeks before our arrival.

The highlight of our trip came when we visited the London Dungeon!! I won't show you any of the gruesome pictures we took but I will show you one that Nancy is scanning at work. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I assume they mean a normal picture, this one has to be worth at least twice that many. Good time for a reader poll, who thinks this picture is priceless??
A truly terrifying place and set up year round as a sort of Halloween haunted house! Actors in character escorted us through some bits adding historical bits that were quite fascinating and educational. After telling us tales of lost souls and strange sounds she called on me and asked if I believed her. Saying I would have to see it for myself she led us through a door wishing us best of luck getting back out again as she quickly shut it behind us. We found ourselves in the best hall of mirrors I've ever seen and we floundered about bouncing off of our reflections for some time before we managed to find our way out to the other side. We were led through the horrid Black Plague where we were sneezed on by some not so pretty wenches. Another room found us in a torture room full of the most fiendishly devised implements for exacting terrific pain upon its unlucky victims. Of course for some reason, maybe because of my height, I was again singled out to serve as an example of how these implements were used by the torturers of days gone by.

The look on Mike's face as his manhood was lopped off was priceless. His face drained of color as he sidled back to the group. His voice was off for hours and he sounded like a wounded cat. This photo does not quite do the wacking justice.

We were lead to the courtroom to hear the trials of the day and then on to hear about the brutal attacks of Jack the Ripper. Mary Landow was our guide as she showed us the first 3 victims of Jack. He enjoyed slicing the ladies throat and then ripping out her intestines, stomach and spleen. After the first attack he left messages for the police. As we were learning about the possible suspects we learned of Mary Landow's death by none other than Jack the Ripper himself. Jack killed 5 woman before he fled London never to confirm his true identity.

We then entered the Great London Fire as we roasted in a room breathing in smoke the fire quickly closed in on us. We learned that some poor bloke had forgotten to extinguish the embers of the baking ovens. The town burned rapidly and although surprisingly few people perished a large part of London was consumed. The room was stifling and I do not think I could have stood there for one more minute when we heard FIRE and all ran out of the room. Mary being the first to escape ran into the next room to be scared to death as the lady jumped out at her causing her to turn directly into the water sprinkling system that drenched her! Mike being taller was sprayed in the neck as I got it in the eye.

We then were told we were the scum of the Earth and it was time to be punished by death. We were to be hanged! They strapped us in the contraption and raised us up to meet the judge. He declared us guilty and the lever was thrown. We plummeted downwards, the ground falling from our feet to our deaths.

We will put the photo they took up as soon as we get back. It is well worth the wait. Mike looking none to miffed and Mary and I screaming with every vein in our necks bulging!

So I'm sure you're asking yourselves by now, how scary was it really? Was it a little scary? or terrifying? How about wake you up in the middle of the night screaming for mamma scary? Well again I'll let the picture speak for itself, but in case you're wondering she had only had one Diet Coke when the picture was taken...


We took the sightseeing tour bus toward to Buckingham Palace only to be disappointed that the dudes with the red funny hats were not there. Mary and I had been dreaming up ways to make them smile or blush!

On the way we passed Picadilly Circus which was a big letdown, it's not even a real circus!! It looked more like Times Square, but we did see some lions anyway.

Makes you want to run for the hills doesn't it?

The queen was not in residence at the big house so nothing going on. The whole place was a bit smaller than we had imagined. There were still oodles of tourists poking about though.

We did run into a parade of the Loyalists.

Off to meet Helen we headed back to the London Eye. Mike and Mary went around the eye and Helen and I caught up on the ground.



These are the pod thingies we rode around in, great views but due to the rounded glass that had handprints and other unidentifiable smudges on it the pictures didn't come out too clear. Next we have Big Ben and then the Millenium Bridge. Quite a view from 135 meters eh? Only opened after the turn of the century the Eye is London's biggest tourist attraction. I think it cost around 15 GBP each and the whole revolution takes maybe 30 minutes or so.

We headed to St. Peter's Cathedral and then to supper. We headed back to the Hotel as we were leaving early to catch a train to the airport.

Mary learned that her little sister is a little neurotic when it comes to time lines. Unfortunately we missed every train we attempted to catch but made the flight with plenty of time to spare as it was delayed.

I'm not quite sure where Nancy learned her map reading skills but apparently even Mary was intigued enough to capture us in the middle of a "which way do we go?" moment. More on the whole "map thing" as we venture deeper into our story.

Check back in a while to discover Scotland with us! Hopefully Mary, our guest blogger, will have her story to tell.

We are in Ireland now and soon to meet Tom et all.

Happy Dad's day to all!