Good Morning

Good morning everyone, hope you all slept as well as I did last night. Now, on with yesterday's journeys:

We took the train into London Waterloo, where we met Chris's cousins Lauren and Nicole and their friends Fabian and Jake. We took a walkway over the Thames River and into the streets of London where we stopped to pick up bus tickets to visit the sites. We hopped onto the top level of our first bus and cruised around until we got to the closest stop to Buckingham Palace. We got off and took a somewhat long walk through a grassy area where people were just laying out in the sun. We walked to the front of Buckingham Palace because we were right on time for the changing of the guards. Only one problem though. The changing of the guards happens every other day, and yesterday was not one of those days. Luckily, when we go again later this week, we'll most likely be able to see the changing of the guards. From there, we stood on a slab of concrete in the middle of the road for a few minutes, completely confused on which direction to go to find the next bus. We did a little walking and found the next bus, and headed toward Big Ben. We got off near the Houses of Parliament, and made our way to Big Ben where we stopped for some pictures. After admiring Big Ben, we walked over the Westminster Bridge and headed toward the London Eye. We were going to purchase our tickets to get on the London Eye, but the line was just way too long, so we decided we'd go on later. But, while we were there we managed to score a free seat in a "4-d" movie that was meant to help you not only see, but feel what London was like. It was a 3-d movie (about 15 minutes long), but there was also wind, water, and even snow (well, foam that fell like snow). After this we walked over to a financial area of London (similar to Wall Street in New York) and grabbed some lunch at Marks & Spencers. After some walking and talking, we hopped on the next bus and took a trip through the London Dungeon. Dad, you would have loved it. Mom, you would have had fun, but probably hated the first portion of it (we were trapped in a mirror maze). The London Dungeon is a 20 person group walk-through, where you were guided through themed areas such as the Bubonic Plague, witch hunts, unjust courts, and Jack the Ripper. The actors were great, I was tried in court because apparently, I had some very close relations with a local horse. After the Dungeon, Chris, Fabian, and Jake decided to go into "The Tombs" which was another fun house type of thing. Nicole, Lauren, and I decided to stay back and sit outside and talk a little bit. Once the guys got out of The Tombs, we headed toward the Tower Bridge. We took a bus over the Tower Bridge where we got a great view of the HMS Belfast, and the Tower of London. We stayed on the bus until we got back to the London Eye for an amazing sunset ride. Once we got off, we got on a taxi until we found a rickshaw. We got 2 rickshaws, and by natural spirit of competition, we raced each other through (and in the middle of) the streets of London. After a death defying ride through London's Chinatown, we arrived at our dinner spot, Inamo. We were about 45 minutes early, so we went into the downstairs bar and lounge for some drinks and conversation. Now this was an amazing place. I have never been anywhere like this. It was a very nice place, small, dimly lit, with some really smooth, trendy music. We got upstairs to our table, and right away, Chris and I turned into little kids. On our table was a white plate and a background. The tables were lit up by projectors mounted above each table, and from there, the whole night was conducted. Everything was ordered from the table, you never needed to ask the waiter for anything. The menu consisted of different Asian dishes, and what was cool, was when you viewed the description of the dish, a projection would appear on your plate of what the dish looks like! So Chris and I both got the same thing, spring rolls for an appetizer, and duck for the main course. While waiting, you either had the option of playing battleship against the person in front of you, or, if you wanted to see what was going on in the kitchen, you could pull up a live streaming camera of the chefs cooking in the kitchen. The meat we had was amazing. Nicole let me try some of the ribs she ordered, and the meat literally fell off the bone. It was extremely tender, and very tasty. After eating, we took a cab back to Nanny's and pretty much just called it a night. We were on our feet all day, walked everywhere, and once the food was in my stomach, I was ready to go to bed.

Today we'll be making a two hour trip to Banbury to see some exotic cars at Prodrive and possibly some other places. It will be another late night tonight, but hopefully I will be able to fill you all in on the days events. Also, there are some more photos from London coming, just a matter of getting them from the other camera. In the mean time, enjoy the photos I put in the album last night, and also the videos I put up of us at Inamo and how the tables worked (it's dark, but you'll be able to see the important things).