September 2006 - London, England - Our Last Few Days

Awaiting the train back to London at the Bournemouth station, I capture the completely nackered state in which the wedding festivities left all of us.

Water, Dr. Evil, . . . keep drinking the water . . . it's your only hope.

Once back in London, we head to Lee & Lauren's amazing flat (above) in Kensington, where we stayed our last few days in London. That posh corner apartment with the balcony is it!

No time to relax . . . it's off to lunch with the wedding crew one last time. Even Ravi enjoyed the dim sum at the ever-so-trendy Ping Pong, just around the corner from London's China Town. A great restaurant choice by Shrieder and Andrea!

Yes, you're seeing clearly, that's J.R. & Bob sitting next to Kenny . . . in London! What a great surprise it was to see and hang out with them on the other side of the "pond". J.R. is so excited he can't even swallow the dumpling he just shoved into his mouth.

With arms crossed and a grin of satisfaction on his face, J.R. can now say he has seen the world-famous "Warren Cup" (shown above in actual size). Casandra reads the caption a third time to understand why J.R. led us on a two-hour odyssey through the British Museum in search of this sacred chalice.

What would a trip to London be without a visit with the Queen and witnessing the changing of the guard? So, we woke up bright and early, fought the hords of tourists, and made it somewhat close to gates of Buckingham Palace. We didn't actually see the guards change. We could hear the band playing, though, and my camera, extended high above the more industrious tourists who actually made it to the gates, got a decent view (above). Later on, we watched the video of it on my camera. Pretty cool stuff!

Wow, that was exhausting! So we passed out on the "front lawn" of Buckingham Palace. Hmmmm . . . if she's sleeping and he's sleeping, who took the picture . . . ? Those Brits are so honest. After our nap, we toured the Palace, the Queen's Gallery, and the Royal Mews (stables, carriages, etc.).

Afterwards, we headed to Harrod's (the world's largest department store, or so the English would have you believe - it's really Macy's in Herald Square) just in time for high tea.

After tea and "crumpets", we headed back to Lee & Lauren's to have dinner with Lee and his sister Carolyn at his favorite Gastropub in London. Unfortunately, Lauren was in Thailand on business saving the world from Big Oil.

The next day, we visited the world's second largest Cathedral - St. Paul's - the magnificent venue of Princess Diana's wedding to Charles.

Then, we met Lee, Carolyn and Shrieder (once again) for drinks at The Bank (now a bar, formerly a bank).

The next day, we flew to Milan . . .