Day 2: You can fly, you can fly, you can fly

Tonight we set out for a trendy area called Covent Garden. It's a place Glenn's new train girlfriend, Sarah, recommended. (Speaking of Glenn's new girlfriend, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you all what a complete and total STUD Glenn is. It's a side that, I would guess, few people know about.)

We sat down on the train this afternoon in a set of three seats that faced three other seats, in which Sarah, a.k.a Glenn's train girlfriend, was already seated. The train had been moving smoothly along it's rails for a good 15 minutes when out of now where this girl who had been sitting across from us, trying her hardest not to make eye contact, sneezed. A good healthy sneeze too. (Crap. Now that I think of it I should probably be concerned. Do they have that danged bird flu over here?)

"That was disgusting," she said.

"Bless you," replied Glenn.

And from that point forward the two of them didn't stop talking. No kidding. This girl had said nothing for like 20 minutes and Glenn says, "bless you" and now she couldn't be silent if she had been born without vocal chords. They chatted and laughed the rest of the way to Farnborough. (Which is like a 30 minute trip form the beginning of their conversation.) Then, when we finally get to Farnborough, we all say our good bye's and good lucks and Glenn turns to me and says, " Geez man, you were really quite on the train ride today." I thought, "Yeah...no kidding Casanova...who was I going to talk to? Myself? Or maybe the crazy-eyed lady in the next seat who was talking to her reflection in the window?" Glenn and this Sarah talked as if they had always known each other forever. What a stud. He's turning out to be a full fledged international man of mystery.

But I digress... this post was supposed to be short and sweet so I could get to bed before midnight. Looks like that is not going to happen. Any how, we took the suggestion of the afore mentioned Train Sarah and went for our evening sup in this trendy area know as Covent Garden. It was incredible. It looked like it might be a fairly tiny area in London, with only a few places to eat. In fact it seemed that there were only two or three places to eat. (We found this not to be at all true, when after dinner, we began our wandering through the streets of Covent Garden. Each corner revealed new surprises...and more places to eat. Dang.) We opted to treat our palates to the culinary wonders of "The White Lion." Pic below.



Side note: Each /pub where we have enjoyed our dinner meal has served us in an upstairs dinning room. Consequently, every bathroom has been in the basement. Do people not eat at street level? They may not, that seems to be reserved strictly to the consumption of pints. Seriously, every pub is literally spilling over with patrons drinking everywhere and anywhere they can. You have to part the crowd, at times pulling them to the side, just to get into some of these places. It's crazy. Another interesting tidbit: If, while enjoying a pint in these pubs, which, if I had to guess, have been there since the crusades, you expect to hear music from Englands thriving music industry, or some other form of international melody...well my friends, you will surely find yourselves disappointed. We have heard nothing but American Top 40 crap. We ate in this place tonight that was just dripping with character and had to listen to Sheryl Crow. Nothing against you Ms. Crow, but really? It made for a strange juxtaposition: rich, oil rubbed mahogany walls, tables worn from years of plates being slid across them, and an astonishing panoply of different dialects surrounding us, and what is coming over the speakers of the place: "I want to soak up the sun." (Which is funny, because, as I have discussed on a previous occassion, there is no possible way they can hold to any idea of what the sun even is. When have they ever seen it.) It just seemed so strange to me.

Here are a few shots of the area known as Covent Grove:



Note all of the guys standing in the streets enjoying a pint. Is this Vegas?









Check out the sign that says "Live Bait" at the bottom of this pic. Nicest looking bait shop I have ever seen. And right around the corner from the Themes. Talk about location.

After dinner we started meandering through the streets of Covent Grove, and, after many twists and turns we found ourselves on the river Thames. I found myself speechless as I looked down the river at the Eye, Big Ben and Parliament. Breathtaking.

Some times I find out that I have weird things associated with the world around me. When looking at Big Ben for the first time I was, after my initial wonder, a bit disappointed that no matter how hard I looked, I could not find a giant, cloud-shaped pirate ship. I'm looking at Big Ben and all I can think is, "Man I hope Peter Pan comes flying out from some hidden place and invites me on an adventure in the Neverland." Then as I looked down the river Thames to where the London Eye is located I found myself relieved that the people of London have somehow repaired the damage done to it by the Silver Surfer upon his visit and subsequent battle with the Fantastic Four. The giant hole is filled back up. —what the crap is wrong with me? I'm such a nerd.

We really had a great time here tonight. It was crazy cool. Something I'll never forget. For the first time we found ourselves going into full-on tourist mode and began snapping off pictures like mad. Unfortunately few of them turned out well. The ones that are worth sharing can be found below.



First view of the River Thames.





Look Bec: "Big Ben, Parliament."



See Bec, I really did come to London and not some geeky monster convention in Pennsylvania.



"Hey there...I talked to a girl today."



Look Holden, this one is for you: The Joker can see you...why so sad? Ha! Love you champ!





See...no more hole in the Thames. Thanks Fantastic Four!





Glenn taking a shot of the Eye. This one is for the ladies. You can look, butt you can't touch. (man, I'm gonna' hear about this one tomorrow.)

I am also in the midst of a great battle with the housekeeper assigned to my room. More later...

*this post has now been spell checked with the help from Glenn's mom.