Home Sweet Home

Well, we made it home!
Our journey home took something like 24 hours.
London -> Dublin -> New York -> San Diego, with long layovers at each stop.

I was so happy to see the lights of San Diego as we were landing.

When we got to the airport, I found my parents immediately. But, as we were waiting for our bags, I saw a group of people I recognized. Turns out we had a little welcome home party waiting for us. They even had signs!!!



Thanks to Matt, Cherilyn, Arthur, Jessica, Molly, and my parents!
And thanks to Liz, our catsitter.

So, as we unpack, I'm wrapping up the Euroblog, until next time. I hope you enjoyed it; I certainly did.

Fun fact: 90% of this blog was done on my iPhone.

Thanks for reading. See YOU soon!

Location:San Diego, CA

The other day...

In London, it wasn't easy to find wifi, but here's some of the fun I didn't post about during the trip.

We saw Love Never Dies the other day. It was really moving. We both totally got in to it!



We also went on a day tour. More bus riding?!


The first part of the tour was Oxford University. It was really beautiful. Our tour guide was quick to point out each location a Harry Potter film was filmed at.
Like this one:



Next, we went to Stratford upon Avon, where Shakespeare was born. It was a tourist trap...



...but we had High Tea!



Lastly, we saw Warwick Castle. It was touted as the Ultimate Castle, and I suppose it was.



Inside, they had freakishly realistic mannequins. I was really impressed, and kind of scared.






We got back from the tour late, so that was basically the whole day.

On our last full day, we went to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guard. It was very popular...



Mark liked it, but it was so hard to see and hot... and crowded.

We went to Portabello Road and did some shopping!



I bought this. Mark was so mad.



As one of our last events in London, we had lunch at our favorite spot, the Prince Albert.



And that about covers it! We're in New York right now, waiting for our flight home. Yay.

-mike

Location:New York

We just saw this:



It was surpassingly good. One last dinner in London, then tomorrow morning, we begin the long journey home.







-mike

London-ing it up

For our first full day in London, we started by going to the Imperial War Museum. We really like it, plus it's the nice price: Free!



They had some new World War 1 and 2 exhibits.



After that, we had lunch in a crypt near Trifalgar Square. It was good eats, but the atmosphere was a little disappointing.



Then, some Underground riding...






We went to Leichster Square and scored half-price tickets to Priscilla Queen of the Desert - The Musical for Friday. Sounds fun.

In Picadilly Circus, I found Sign o the Times on DVD! (It's pal, but I can convert it at home.)



So, we're shipping in Camden now. Big day tour of the Cotswolds, Oxford and Stratford on Avon tomorrow.

We may not have wifi again the rest of the trip. I hope yer enjoying the blog; we're having fun!

-mike

16 hungry and shy, I went to London and I...

Hi, we're in London!




When we got here, it was really hot and we had to drag our luggage up and down countless stairs through the Underground. Then we had a little trouble finding the hotel.
We finally found it and were really excited about freshening up and enjoying our afternoon.

As fate would have it, there was a problem with "leakage" at the hotel, and we were sent to a hotel in Kensington. It's so tiny!!!

So, first we made it to The Prince Albert. Our favorite place from last time.



Then, we did a Thames River cruise. It was fun. We saw The Tower Bridge.



Tonight is Phantom of the Opera 2. Yay!



-mike

Location:London, England

Full Welsh Breakfast

Our hotel in Wales is kind of weird. It's called The Black Boy Inn, sometimes:



And other times, it's called The Black Bouy Inn:



The room was really tiny, but, hey, Free Breakfast!




Ok, off to London!

-mike

Travel day

The plan yesterday was to take a taxi to the ferry, take the ferry to Wales, take the bus to Caenarfin, then have lunch.

Well, it almost worked. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday, so the first ferry was at 2:30, and we arrived at the ferry station at like 9.



I certainly made the most of the time. I watched the James Bond movie Diamonds are Forever on my iPad, and I had a Yorkie Bar. It was kind of gross.



Eventually, we were off! The ferry was really cool and very comfortable. You can walk around all you like, but it's really difficult.



After that, and some serious nonsense with the bus, we finally got to town around 7. It was pouring rain outside, so we ducked in to a little pub while we waited for a break in the weather.

Meanwhile, it was Karaoke night and some of the locals were ready to go!

We got out of there as quickly as possible.
Check out the Welsh on this sign.



This morning, we saw Caenarfin Castle. It was really cool. We even got a private tour for £2.50 each.





Then lunch! Mark's plate had fried toast. Like, Del Mar Fair style fried. Eww.


It's hang-out day the rest if the day, then finally Mark's birthday dinner tonight.

-mike

Location:Caenarfin, Wales