London was spectacular; it was everything I had expected. This will probably be a really long post with a bunch of pictures but we did so much.

The trip started off slightly bad, on the way to the airport we found out that our plane was delayed at least 3 hours. We were supposed to take off at 4:30pm and by 5:30pm it was yet to arrive. I think we eventually departed at 8:30pm. I had this whole plan worked out where I got up at 2:00am the previous two nights so that I’d already be on London time and I’d be able to sleep through the plane trip but that didn’t work so well. It was nearly impossible to sleep on the plane.

We flew Virgin Atlantic, they provide you with the most amazing in-flight entertainment I have ever seen. They have something like 30 movies, 50 TV shows, music, games, and texting. It’s crazy, each person has their own TV and you can watch whatever you want at any time. I watched “The Flying Scotsman” (that was a great movie) and some TV. They also serve you free alcohol throughout the flight, free, completely free. I only had a scotch on the rocks but Lance had a JD and I think two Bloody Mary’s. They also serve some pretty good food but I didn’t eat mine on the plane, I saved it for later (I horded everything, especially the cheesecake).

We got into Heathrow around 2:00pm London time. Got our luggage, went through customs and found our way to the Tube. We changed the flat we were going to be staying at just prior to leaving San Francisco so we weren’t sure exactly what stop to get off at.

We got off at Gloucester Road but after asking for directions found out it was the wrong stop. We grabbed a couple of taxis and headed over to the Hilton to pick up our keys for the flat. I don’t have any pictures of it but it was pretty nice. It was a two bedroom with a single bathroom. It had a big living room and a nice kitchen. They also supplied us with two pay-as-you-go cell phones which was great.

We didn’t do much that first night, matter of fact I can’t really remember what we did do. I know we went grocery shopping and I bet we hit the pub up. The Cleveland Arms pub was literally 600 feet from our front door. We pretty much went there every night.

Oh wait, I’ve come back up here in my writing because I think I remember what we did the first night. We went into town, we got off at Leicester Square station and found one of the pubs that was on my list to visit. I forgot to mention that I made a list of about 90 different things I wanted to see. Anyways, we went to the Lamb & Flag pub. It was really cool, a completely authentic English pub located at the end of an alley. I went back the next day to get a picture.

I got up the next day around 6:00am and hit the road. We got these cards for the Tube that were good for the whole week. They cost $30 and allowed us unlimited trips on the Tube and the buses. That helped tremendously, it was so nice to be able to just jump on and off the public transit.

I went to several markets in the morning. The Billingsgate Fish Market was that exciting but had tremendous prices, the Smithfields Meat Market was pretty cool. They have rooms and rooms of hanging meat.

I pretty much just walked around all morning and went to several different shops, bakeries and markets. I went to the TinTin Shop which has everything you can think of TinTin.

I also went to the Trocadero which is a really cool mall type place. They have an arcade, bowling alley, cinema, bar and shops.

Around noon I met up with the others at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. That was a lot of fun.

Afterwards we ate lunch along Borough Street, we just grabbed bread and cheese from the market. Lance, Corey and Dad got banger sandwiches. After lunch we strolled over to the Tate Modern and spent the afternoon there. I loved it, I just took guided tours the whole time.

We walked across the Millennium Bridge and went over to the London Org.

The org was incredible but unfortunately I don’t have any pictures. Just down the street from the org was St. Paul’s Cathedral. I absolutely loved that place. The size and construction were amazing.

Later that night we stopped by Oneill’s Pub and ate at a really good Indian food restaurant in SoHo. We all got big ol’ 750ml Cobra’s (Indian beer).

The next day I got up bright and early again and just walked around town. I went to a few different hotels, the Ritz, Claridge’s, went through Hyde Park, walked by Buckingham Palace, St. James’ Park, St. James’ Square and St. James Palace.

I meet up with the others at Harrods and we spent the afternoon there. That store is amazing. It’s like a really really really big Nordstroms. I could have been there all day. While walking around the toy department I got a call from my dad, he said Pierce Brosnan was walking around. I thought he was joking but sure enough when we went over there, there he was. Jan, Lindsay, Dad and I said hi to him. He was really nice and his kid was really cool. His kid was telling us about the Star Wars Lightsabers.

I think that night we ate a nice Italian place down the street from our flat called Bizzaro Restaurane Italiano and hit up the pub.

Again, woke up early and just walked around. I went to more hotels, shops, pubs and parks. I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum which was incredible. They have tons of stuff on display. They had an amazing exhibit on steel, one on glass and another awesome one on architecture. I also went to the Brompton Oratory.

I’m pretty sure that night we ate at home, we had pesto (of course) and then headed out to the pub.

The next day I went with Dad and Jan to the Borough Street market. Wow. That was an experience. It was similar to our Farmers’ Markets but a million times better. They had fresh bread, cheese, fruits and sweets. We all shared a loaf of fresh baked rosemary apricot bread with a sharp cheddar and fresh figs.

Later that day I went by Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Trafalagar Square, the British Library, General Trading Company, the Lindsey House, Carlye’s House and Horse Guard Parade.

That night we (Corey, Lance and I) went down to Piccadilly Circus and got kicked out of a private party at a club, after eating some of their really good food. After that we resorted to grabbing a few beers and hanging out on the steps.

Next morning we all got up and went to a few markets. We went to Spitalfields, Brick Lane and Covent Garden. Spitalfields was just second rate stuff, Brick Lane was scary and Covent Garden was awesome.

The Covent Garden Market was a lot of fun. They had a bunch of different street performers doing magic, acting and just general tomfoolery.

That night we went down to Piccadilly Circus again.

The next day we went to Speaker’s Corner. That was totally awesome. Basically people (hundreds) gather ’round to debate whatever they feel like debating. Someone gets up on a box and just starts talking then others will chime in with their own opinion. It gets really heated. We met Lucifer there. Mostly the topics are religion and politics.

The next day was a whole lot of walking again. I did so much walking, I think I probably walked an average of 15 miles a day, seriously. I must have walked around London 5 times. I went to Hyde Park, Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, Museum Street, the Freemason’s Hall, Temple Church and just around town.

I forgot to mention a crazy thing that happened. I was just walking down the street listening to my iPod when all of a sudden this lady crashed on her scooter. She was trying to get around traffic and she didn’t see a guy walking through the cars, they ended up colliding and she totally ate it. She was okay but pretty stunned. I helped her up and got her scooter out of the road. I had to wait for the ambulance and the police. They interviewed me and took all my info. She got carted of in the ambulance because her arm was stiff.

The last night we were there we went back to Bizzaro Restaurante Italiano for Corey’s birthday.

Here were some funny things we saw throughout:

Well that’s pretty much it. I’ve been much too concise as I could just go on and on but I had an amazing time and really loved it all. I saw almost everything on my list that I wanted to. You can see all my photos on my Flickr and Lindsay also has some up.