We'd often talked of visiting London on our previous return trips to the UK but in recent years, a visit to Europe's largest city had never materialized. We were always short of time and wanted to spend as much time as possible with family. In fact, the last time we'd spent any time together in London (besides at the airport!) was in January of 1998 when Heide made her first ever trans-atlantic weekend trip to see Mark when we first started dating. Given that Heide's folks were in town and staying in London, this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

After driving down from the midlands, we spent a relaxing afternoon with Heide's folks in the posh neighborhood of Kensington. The Gore hotel where Heide's parents were staying was absolutely gorgeous! For anyone looking for a place to stay in the center of London with plenty of "old English" charm, The Gore is perfect! It's not exactly in the budget range (We couldn't afford to stay there!!) but the price is certainly comparable to the large international chain hotels but with much more personality! That evening we enjoyed a few drinks and a wonderful meal out in a pub. It was great to sample some of our British favorites -- the fish and chips and beef and stilton pie was wonderful but the company was even better! Time with family always seems to go too quickly!

The next day, while Heide's folks were off at Stone Henge, we ran around to see some of central London's tourist attractions! Being the height of summer, everything was crowded. Still, we wandered past the famous Parliament buildings and listened to Big Ben... saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby and the red coated guards on the gorgeous black horses. We even made a phone call from a red telephone box.

Most of our afternoon, however, was spent in the legendary British museum. Through our journey there have been numerous places where one or two key objects are "missing." For example: In Egypt the Rosetta stone was the tool that finally made it possible to understand the hieroglyphs of the ancient egyptians. However when we visited the Egyptian museum, (January 15, 2004) there was only a replica of the Rosetta Stone. Similarly, the so-called Elgin Marbles -- a large chunk of marble from the Parthenon -- had long been removed when we visited the Acropolis in Athens. (December 3, 2003) These two world treasures (and many others) have ended up in the British museum. Entry to this marvelous museum is free and a wonderful, wonderful way to pass the time! We had a great time and can't wait for our return visit!

That evening we stayed with Mark's mate, Harry is his charming Putney bachelor pad! We had hoped to get together with a group of Mark's mates living in London-town, but Wednesday nights seemed busy all around. Still, we had a great time hitting the local pubs with Harry and catching up on all the latest gossip and the lads supped enough beer to justify a traditional English fry up from a greasy caf the next morning! Cheers, Harry, for showing us such a great time and we look forward to seeing you again!