Toon-Time.com

On Sunday, we met up with Kris again, spent the day at Greenwich Market, and Kris made dinner for us. It was OK but too many people for me. I am not a big fan of big crowds. I like my personal space and people not to invade it.

Today was a rest day. We didn’t want to do anything real intense so we decided to go to Wimbledon and go to the museum. It was just the pace we wanted the only bad thing was the weather. Rain… what else in London.

We got back to Sally’s early and watched TV and relaxed. We can’t believe how much Bush is in the news over here. With him coming to London Tuesday night through Thursday for the State visit, he is on non-stop. He gets more coverage over here then in the States. A lot of people in the UK don’t like him and they are expecting huge protests while he visits. I just hope GW’s visit doesn’t affect our vacation.

Posted by Greg at 09:32 PM | Permalink

We spent the day with Sally’s friend Ian from University. He is also in the TV industry and lives outside of London near Leeds Castle. Leeds Castle is one of those picture perfect castles with the moat around it. It was not as big as the other ones we have visited but stunning none the less. One of the neat things about Leeds was that it had one of those garden mazes that lead to a grotto in the center. Inside the grotto, they had a huge face built out of stone with a little water fall coming out of it’s mouth. They also had other things like dragon mosaics made out of shells. It was quite impressive.

After Leeds Castle, we went back to Ian’s place to watch Pop Idols. Pop Idols is where we got American Idols from. Sally, Ian, and most of the UK love that show over there. It was funny to watch the judges and not have Simon the only one with an English accent. Once Pop Idols was over it was off to the local pub, Pizza Express for dinner, and then catch the train back to London.

Posted by Greg at 07:30 PM | Permalink

We didn’t do too much today. Sally had the day off from work and we headed to the War Experience exhibit downtown. The exhibit was set up to make you feel like you were in London during the World War II. It was really interesting to see the war from a different perspective. I can’t imagine what it was like to have bombs dropping on your neighborhood night after night.

After the exhibit, we had time to kill before we had to head to the theater to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Sally recommended we have a pint at a pub and then eat at a restaurant called Wagamamas. Just from the name of the restaurant, I knew I was going to like it. How can a place called Wagamamas have bad food. WAGAMAMAS ROCKS! That place is awesome. It’s a Japanese noodle house chain of restaurants. I have to find out if they are in the States.

Sally and I were very excited to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Claire had never seen it before which I couldn’t believe. It has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. The theater production was unbelievable especially with all the little children in the audience getting into it. The flying car they made for the stage was very realistic. With the actors in it, it flew up in the air and over the crowd. The whole time you really thought it was flying because you couldn’t see any of the movable polls, supports and mechanisms they used to put it into the air.

Posted by Greg at 08:29 PM | Permalink

Today’s trip was Windsor Castle, the weekend retreat of the Royals. We started out from Paddington Station which brought back memories of our engagement. That was the same station we left from to go to Warrick Castle. It was neat to see a castle that is still in use and the queen stays at over the weekend. Most of the castles we visit are now just big museums. They showed video clips of what the rooms we were standing in look like when they are used for Royal events. One of the most impressive things we saw was a doll house that was a gift to one of the Royals. Everything in the doll house was real just smaller. It had running water, electric lights, and even real wine in the wine cellar.

After we were done exploring Windsor Castle, we headed back to London to meet up with Claire’s friend Kris. She (just like Sally) is a friend from the summer camp that Claire worked at for five summers. After dinner and a lot of drinks, we found our way back on the tube to Sally’s.

Posted by Greg at 11:28 PM | Permalink

Business Class Rocks! After you fly Business to the UK, you'll never want to ride with the cattle in coach again. We were very excited to be able to use our upgrades to get closer to the front of the plane at no extra charge. It took us a good five minutes of playing around to figure out how to work everything on the seats. Once settled, on came the feast. I dare not call it a meal because in Business you get a feast. The food was excellent ending with a very very yummy ice cream and toffee dessert. The only complaint is it takes so long to serve all the food. All that service cuts into your sleeping time.

We were happy to see that Sally (Claire's Friend from Camp and our host in London) was meeting us with her car at the Tube station. Not to my surprise, all of our luggage didn’t fit in the boot. Everything is smaller in the UK including the cars.

Sally headed to work and we headed downtown just to wonder around. We couldn’t believe how nice it was of London to roll out the red carpet for us. We would discover later that night the American Flags were for Bush’s State visit next week. G. W. is going to be in London the same time we are. I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing.

We were so tired we didn't want to do anything heavy but were trying not to sleep until a proper time to get over the jet lag. This was no easy task. In the evening, I actually fell asleep changing channels on the TV. It was one of the weirdest and funniest things that has ever happened to me.

Posted by Greg at 08:27 PM | Permalink

I have not had a new entry for a long time. It has been a combination of pure laziness and being busy. There are two big things going on right now. First, Claire and I are going to London for 9 days tomorrow. Second, the big screen TV has been on the injured reserve list for over a month and a half now.

London - We have decided to go back to London for a few days. And before anybody asks… No, this is not our honeymoon. We found cheap tickets on American and were able to use our upgrades. We are thinking about this trip as a 1 year engagement anniversary. A year ago this time, I was proposing to Claire and England and we thought it would be fun to go back. We are also excited to stay and visit with friends we have over there.

Big Screen Dilemma – Do you want the good news or the bad news first?

Bad News – The TV has been out of commission for over a month and a half now. For those of you who know me well, this is a fate almost worse than death. I was watching it one day and it just turned off. The power light was blinking but I could not get the picture to show up. The best buy repair man came out three times and could not fix the thing. They finally agreed to replace it. Not bad… it only took them a total of 12 weeks to get me a replacement! That’s sarcasm in my voice in case you can’t tell.

Good News - Thank you Best Buy Extended Warranty Program! If I didn’t have that, I would have been screwed but instead I am getting a replacement TV. The best part is that I can choose any TV I want that is the same amount or more as the original. I would just have to make up any difference in price. I originally went to BB with a 65” in mind. Since I originally bought my 57” last year, the prices have gone down a bit. However, BB didn’t have it in stock so I instead upgraded the quality of the TV instead of the size. When I say quality, I am talking about the model not the brand. I went with the Toshiba again but this time I got the built in HDTV tuner in the TV. It also has some other nice additional features. I am so tired of squinting to read the TIVO and on screen TV guide. The new TV is going to be delivered the Friday after we get back from London. I can’t wait!

Posted by Greg at 10:25 PM | Permalink

In November, 2003 we went back to London. We found cheap flights on-line and had some free upgrades we had to use by the end of the year. Just like last time, we stayed with our friend Sally who lives in Finsbury Park. We called this trip our 1 year proposal aniversary trip. Click here to see all pictures from our trip.

Posted by Greg at 04:25 PM | Permalink