Sunday, Monday (happy days)

As mentioned in the previous post, we last left our intrepid heroes disembarking from a boat into the lovely country of Wales. And so begins the next leg of the journey...

Yup, another overnight bus drive. Happy happy joy joy. Billy, Jeanette, Michelle and I tried sleeping, but much like on a plane, its damn near impossible to rest in a moving vehicle. We groggily stopped at some roadside mart in England and then continued onto London. Eventually, we pulled into Victoria Station, and after saying our goodbyes to Jeanette, we schlepped out to Earlsfield (on the outskirts of London). Graciously, Michelle let Billy and I crash at her flat. And crash we did.

After sleeping for most of the day, Billy and I figured it'd be a good idea to actually see London. We trained it in and began a whirlwind sightseeing trip of the Tower of London, London Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben and Parliament. It being Sunday night, most of London was empty. Like really empty. It was downright eerie to see a major city with barely anyone around. We also scoped out Buckingham Palace in hopes of wooing the sisters Middleton, but alas, Pippa and Kate were not around. Billy and I then trekked back to Earlsfield and had a delicious home-cooked meal, courtesy of Michelle (Yorkshire pudding is freakin' amazing). After watching the movie Hall Pass, we then fell asleep.

While our family and friends went to this thing called a 'job' on Monday morning, Billy and I got picked up by his cousin Chris and her husband Geoff. They drove us out to a lovely town in the English countryside called Swindon, where they lived. Also living there were 2 HUGE dogs that were more than happy to have 2 additional folks around. After munching on some biscuits (cookies), their sons came over with their kids and we struck out for the pub. We drank in the pub's backyard where there was a kid's playground, in addition to a bartender supervising kid's games. Definitely not like the States! After 2 drinks, Billy and I were feeling pretty buzzed (mind you, the alcohol percentage of beer is much higher outside the US, so you get drunk quicker). At this point, one of Chris and Geoff's granddaughters (think she was 5) asked me to go on the playground with her. Get your mind out of the gutter, sicko. So yeah, there I was, buzzed, swinging on monkey bars, climbing cargo nets and going down slides. Quite an experience.

Chris and Geoff took our buzzed American hides home for another great home-cooked meal (and more Yorkshire pudding!). Absolutely delicious. After the meal, we watched a bit of the BBC, where they showed Manville, NJ completely flooded (which is like 3 towns over from our hometown). We ended up watching a classic NFL game between the Chiefs and Broncos (Montana and Elway were still playing), trying to explain American football to them, but alas, they stuck to their version of football. After another action packed day, Billy and I hit the sack. More adventures in London awaited us!