April 2nd - 3rd

The first "day" (a yesterday and a tomorrow all interpliced) was all a bit through-the-looking-glass feeling, as expected. But generally everything's actually been shockingly smooth. And, of course, stunning and fun and beautiful. We both got maybe 2 hours of sleep on the flight, had another 2 hour nap after settling at the hostel, strolled away the afternoon and evening, went to bed at 11:30 and woke up at 8:30. Eat that, jet lag. My hypothesis about how we reset ourselves so nicely to Big Ben is that if you let yourself get disoriented enough your circadian rhythms just give up and submit to your will.

In the sullen teenage files of my memory, London was rude and aloof, overcast and piled with sooty oppressive-looking old buildings and uptight imperial history. Buuut... from the first bus ride to Gatwick- where we were dazzled by gorgeous hobbiton-like villages, adorably incomprehensible signs and the world's happiest sedan-sized frolicking spotted pig- it's been turning my old impression and a lot of the usual stereotypes upside-down. (And really it had already won me over minutes after we left the plane with those turbo hand-dryers in the airport that make your skin ripple like you're in a wind tunnel. )
It's been:
a) Consistently mild and sunny without a drop of rain.
b) Oddly exotic feeling... I hadn't remembered but they have everything ranging from Magnolias and Sycamores to palms and Umbrella trees. And hilarious kooky birds.
c) Populated by quirky, fashionable characters with huge varieties of accents and hospitality styles... Even within our hostel, which has a Jekyll and Hyde set of managers... Day Guy is sullen and reluctant to explain even where the bathrooms and keys are, whereas Night Guy is manically friendly and chatty, calls for us on a non-earned first name basis when we're trying to sneak out and avoid talking, and pushes glasses of juice on us when we're trying to go to sleep. Jury's still out on who we like less. And also on which of the two chose the pornographic death-themed surrealist paintings all over the hostel walls. Actually my money's on Lurch the Bathroom-Stalking Janitor. But no bedbugs or headlice or beer-soaked masses, so disregard the last couple sentences and chalk me down as No Complaints.
d) Unreasonably well-designed and beautiful and interesting... I don't know what else to say. On that first walk literally every corner revealed a new building or landscape that was intriguing and awe-inspiring and gorgeous in completely in its own way. We basically did the whole core length-wise, and hit up Buckingham Palace, the Thames and the London Eye, Big Ben, the Wellington Monument, and several parks, right off the plane on almost zero rest. Best idea ever! Who'd have thought?
e) Mostly as insanely priced as you might think, but today we were pleasantly surprised by some affordability loopholes... and are now ONLY buying daypasses for busses (£3.50 for the day, vs. the embarassing £16= $34 we managed to spend going like TWO STOPS that we could have walked in 15 minutes yesterday. And let's not even talk about the $11 "meals" {good ol' BK for dinner and Benjy's... the lunch of bone-and-veiled-filled-to-the-point-of-being-a-dissectable-specimen fish & overboiled peas featured in Lins' pics}).. and are eating from grocery stores.

Anyhoodles, bulletpoints are that we're safe and snug, the G20 fears were greatly over-rated (the only protest we saw was Tibetan... talk about anti-climactic), and we're havin a blast. So enjoy the pics and please comment EVERYONE, because we miss you and love you and want to hear from you but don't want to spend our days bogged down in our inbox. The trip already feels too short!!
Ride out

Not provocateur in the bunch... and their chants weren't even all that catchy.

As predicted by my ever garden-oriented mom, the trees and flowers are well ahead of our spring schedule.

We asked this woman to snap our pic in front of Big Ben and got scammed into doing shots of her and her huge tour group with all of their various confusing cameras... only to find that it was blurry. The third biggest scam next to the Benjy's fish and chips and the Tube.

Random Beauty






I guess it wasn't ALL lovely gardens and stately buildings.


Revisiting the cemetery lins discovered earlier... mom, these blue flowers are for you!














On the last day we suddenly went "Wait.... DOUBLE decker!"


Park we hit up when the Sherlock Holmes Museum was closed... sorry Robs!


Wetlands Centre
Best ducks EVER. Not only because they're like neon green somehow, but also you have to hear of their call (i have a video).... they're exactly like a group of old men discovering a pleasant or unpleasant surprise.. "Wooo..... woo, WOOOOO!"