From Miami to Rome . . .: May 2007 - London, England

After a 2-week visit to Miami for Mother's Day, we returned to Italy via London. We stayed at Lee's apartment in Notting Hill and enjoyed getting together with Lee, his lovely girlfriend, Hailey, and his crazy Scottish friends. We met the wild Scotts at the Pool, Raj's bar which is always a great time. Lee did a wonderful job playing the host and we were very grateful for his hospitality. So grateful, in fact, that Kenny did backflips for Lee right in front of the Pool as all the people of the night looked on.

We also had a great time meeting Amit, Mel, Toby, the billionare, and John for drinks.

Lee lives on a stunning block lined with bright white townhouses characteristic of the Notting Hill area.

Here is Lee's street.

This neighborhood is particularly charming and representative of London. Look at this adorable little bookstore (Casandra felt like she was in a Julia Roberts' movie).

We decided to try a free tour of the city and we took our first ride on a red doubledecker for about 2 hours.

We had a scrumptuous Indian dinner with John at Tamarind in the Mayfair area of London (veeerrryyy fancy). Thank you John; it was a real treat!

Afterward we took a walk through Mayfair along Hyde Park and the fancy hotels and apartment buildings facing it.

We also took a train ride out to Tunbridge Wells to visit John Short, a friend we met in our language program in Rome, and have lunch with him and his wife, Jean. Before speeding through lush, tree-lined, winding country roads . . .

John took us to his favorite bar in existence for over 400 years.

Then John took us to his lovely home, which is almost as old as the bar and amazingly well preserved. This house is the ideal place to grow up with gardens, birds, fireplaces, creaky stairs, and an antique piano which Kenny really enjoyed.