Homeward bound from an incredible journey
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: "Give Me the Beat Boys," Doobie Brothers
We left the house at 5 a.m. and were picked up by a Mercedes to drive us to the airport. We lounged around the airport and bought two books "Mr. Happy" and "Little Miss Bossy," childhood favorites, of course. We met random people and ended up sitting with this older man. We got on the plane and met a young, very cute, British man. I slept a bit on the flight but was starting to feel sick. We arrived in Houston and had to wait through the lines at Customs and waited about 30 minutes for our luggage. We finally headed home. I drove from Houston to Baton Rouge in about 3 hours and 45 minutes. FABULOUS! All in all, the trip was incredible. The people were fascinating and intelligent and the landscape was beautiful. I am more proud that we navigated our way around a city of 8 or 9 million people, essentially on our own! I would love to go back and eagerly anticipate my next European trip!

BATH!!!!!!!!!!!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "Smile," Lily Allen
So, today was our last day in England. Again, we went our seperate ways and Catherine continued to shop. I took a bus tour to Bath/ Stonehenge. I had to listen to this annoying Australian couple (probably around 18 years old?) make out behind me. It was awful. But, soon we arrived at Stonehenge, which was PHENOMENAL. It was freezing cold and the wind was ungodly. I got some pretty incredible pictures. I kept getting interrupted by a Chinese couple who wanted their picture taken every 10 seconds. The girl was beautiful and the guy looked as though he was showing her off by conducting an impromptu photo shoot around Stonehenge. We then departed for Bath. I can't honestly say I've been to a prettier place. The countryside was so... elegant. The rolling hills and quaint farms were breathtaking. We stopped in bath and visited Bath Abbey and the Roman Baths. The Romans, when they conquered Britain, found a hot spring in Bath. They created "holy baths" and would have pretty much a SPA with slaves giving them hot stone massages. People later discovered a temple to Minerva (Roman equivalent of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom) and actual altars. It was so interesting! I then had lunch and explored Bath. I stopped at the Jane Austen Centre under strict orders from my mother. We hopped back on the bus and returned home around 6 p.m. I went home, packed and watched television with the Seaborns. I think I particularly liked British television, especially the sports, because everything is so intense!

My last day in London...
Mood:  suave
Now Playing: "Twentysomething," Jamie Cullum
Today, Cat and I did our own thing. She shopped and hung out with Kat and Gary and I did a mad rush to see as much as I could. I started off with Westminster Abbey. It was incredible. I couldn't get over the fact that I was walking on top of tombs of dead queens and kings of England about whom I had studied. I then went to the National Gallery. I nearly cried when I walked into a room of original DaVincis and Titians. I saw Bacchus and Ariadne, one of my favorite paintings, as well as Madonna of the Rocks and others. The Arnolofini Marriage, tons of Van Goghs and plenty of Renaissance paintings lined the walls. I then went to find the Tate Modern, a museum of Picasso and Renoir, etc. I ended up getting lost in the pouring rain and stopping at the WRONG Tate museum. I was wondering why I didn't recognize any of the art! Then, I got lost on the way back. I was stuck in the rain for TWO HOURS. I then went to the Globe Theatre and took a tour. It was probably one of my favorite things on the trip. I sat in Prince Charles' box.. how cool. I then went to eat at Pizza Express because I was completely famished. This Italian waiter kept bringing me wine, so I drank that pretty quickly. Then, I had to cross the Thames River to get to another train stop and then went home. I was positively exhausted and very sick (fever... possibly a cold?) from being out in the rain. I slept for four hours and then went out with Kat, Gary and Cat. We ate at the White Horse, of Sloaney Pony. It's called this because it is located in Sloane Square, an upper-middle class region. Gary said that Kat, Cat and I were all Sloaney Ponies because we went to private school. Whatever that means. Anyhoo, we drank wine and ate dinner. Gary had some sort of hen, Kat had fish and chips, Cat had tomato soup and garlic bread and I had just "mash." I was still feeling pretty awful. The "mash" was pretty bad, so I ended up having to scarf down some garlic bread to absorb all that alcohol. We had dessert and headed to the bar to drink some more. When the bartender saw my credit card which proudly displays Mike the Tiger, he said "So how did 'dem Tigers do this season?" I replied, "How the heck did you know that?" He said, "I'm from Indiana." I then relished in the fact that we destroyed Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl only days before. He laughed and said "Oh well, I had ND. I'm a Purdue fan." We hung out with him for a bit and then ended up going home. It was a wonderful day, despite the inclement weather!

The Duck! QUACCCCKKK!!!!!!
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: "3x5," John Mayer
Today, we toured London. We took a double decker bus and the guide was hilarious. We met three American girls from California and we sat on the top of the bus, goofing off. It was actually quite helpful to see where everything was and to hear first hand accounts to some of London's fascinating history. We got off at the Tower of London. We ate Subway for lunch, where they didn't have mustard, but they DID have CORN. Amazing. Anyway, we visited the Tower and Crown Jewels, both incredible! We then took a river cruise down the Thames where we saw various buildings including Cleopatra's Needle and the Globe Theatre. Then, Catherine went back home to shop and I visited Trafalgar Square- quite beautiful in the darkness and rain. I went out that night with Kat and Gary and their friends to The Duck, a pub that specializes in duck pizza. I passed on the duck pizza, but we enjoyed SEVERAL glasses of wine and a shared taxi home. There was no way I could walk back to train station. Returned home to sleep... and to prepare for another fabbbbullouuus day.

Oxford University students for a day
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "Hey, Fightin' Tigers," Golden Band from Tigerland
Today, we took the train from Waterloo to Oxford. We arrived at Oxford and it was FREEZING cold. We hopped on a tour bus and double-deckered around the city and Oxford University. We had an awful bus driver and we were the only people on the bus, which made it even more uncomfortale. Otherwise, the day was lovely. Oxford was absolutely gorgeous. The University has some of the oldest buildings and the people were very friendly. We took another bus to Blenheim Palace, the home of Winston Churchill. The palace was actually closed, but we walked around the beautiful grounds and admired the vast number of ducks and sheep (really). My Sperrys were giving me blisters, which kept me from enjoying the end of the trip. The palace, however, was absolutely magnificent! We returned home and went to Harrod's Department store, where I spend $20 on a stuffed animal bear that said Harrod's on it. And that was MARKED DOWN from about $45 originally. Oh well. We then took a cute taxi to Hard Rock Cafe, where we saw gold records of Sting/ The Police and Joe Walsh's guitar! We went home and called it a day. Catherine went to bed, but I stayed up to watch the Sugar Bowl with Kat and Gary. They had recorded it from the North American Sports Network. Probably not the same was seeing it in person with friends, but it was cool to hear British announcers and flattering to think they care about LSU! Went to bed and prepared for another busy day..

The British Museum HADN'T lost its charm...
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: "Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious"
Today, I decided to start sending emails to let everyone know what's been happening on our trip. The list includes my coworkers, family and a few friends.

Today was an even busier day! We woke up and visited the world's most incredible museum, The British Museum. I felt absolutely nerdy, but I was in complete heaven there. There are 5 or 6 floors of ancient artifacts and art, making it the most prestigious museum in the world. We saw the Elgin Marbles, Rosetta Stone, several Roman and Greek busts of emperors, pottery, Japanese art and statues, pieces of the Parthenon, mummies and tools. I can't even describe how breathtaking it was to be in the midst of pieces that were 6,000+ years. I most enjoyed the Greek artifacts, as you could have probably guessed. I took over 50 pictures in the museum and will share with you all. After that, we searched for a place to eat with little luck. We ended up in the trendy district of Soho and ate at another Italian restaurant... run by real, live ITALIANS. A special thing about London is that it is quite possibly the most international city in the world. With its close proximity to mainland Europe and its previous ruling of several Asian and African nations, the people are even more diverse than in New York. After lunch, Catherine went shopping at various English stores and I spent the afternoon at Buckingham Palace and the Queen's Galary. It is even more spectacular in person. Across from Buckingham Palace is St. James's Park, which is set around a beautiful lake full of ducks. Squirrels and ducks approach humans. I believe that even the birds were rather British as they stood with more grace and with their necks stretched out in the most prim and proper manner. We returned to Kat and Gary's to get dressed for a play in Soho at Prince Edward Theatre. I wanted to see Spam-a-Lot, but we ended up going to see Mary Poppins. On the way, we stopped at the Cedar Tree, a pub in Putney. We ate and drank and flirted with the bar tender, who ended up asking me out. Hilarious because he kept making me drink all of these authentic English beers. Guiness is definitely not my "cup of tea," if you will. We realized that we had talked a bit longer than anticipated and jetted back to the Tube station. I was a bit dressed up and had to literally run down the wet, dark streets of Soho, begging for directions to Prince Edward. Some man told us he would bring us for 5 pounds. This meant he was going to bring us on his bicycle about 5 minutes away. We politely decline and RAN even more, even past the theatre where Spam-a-Lot was playing. Finally, we arrived. We were 5 minutes late, so we had to wait with the ushers in this underground room so we could be escorted at the next scene. Mary Poppins was pretty incredible. British theatre is much better than American theatre, I must say. The cast was lovely and the production was fantastic. We returned home, only to find a hilarious newspaper whose headline was "CAN SEX SAVE THE PLANET?" The article detailed a group of people who had sex in all of London's parks and people would pay them. They would use the money to plant trees. It came with pictures, too. We weren't sure if it was porn or actual news. We took pictures on the subway and got lost on the way home... as usual. We ended up at home around 11:30 and Kat and Gary were waiting for us. We felt so horrible to have kept them up, but they wanted to chat, so we had tea with them and hit the sack.

Our first day in London
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: "London Skies," Jamie Cullum
We arrived this morning at 7 a.m. We took the train from London-Gatwick to Clapham Junction and then to East Putney. Saying Clapham made me laugh for some reason. Not sure why. Anyway, Catherine still wasn't feeling well and it was difficult for her to carry her suitcases. The trains were surprisingly very clean and COMFORTABLE. We had to walk about half a mile to Kat and Gary's house on Wadham Road after we arrived (around 9 a.m.). After we arrived, Catherine went to bed to catch up on some rest and I decided to start my sightseeing. It was a bit scary navigating one of the world's largest cities alone, but I did it! I purchased an "Oyster" card, which is a fancy way of saying a travel card, at East Putney. I got lost on the tube and had to ask a handsome Australian gentleman for help. We sat together on the tube and he gave me advice on what to do and where to go. The roads were all brick and all of the stations had rows of stairs everywhere. I then got out of the tube at the Westminster station. As I walked up the stairs to the "Way Out" (British for "exit"), I immediately noticed that right in front of me was PARLAIMENT, River Thames and Big Ben (Stephens Tower). I walked around for a while and went to the Prince of Wales pub near the house. I befriended the bar tender, who suggested some pretty neat wines. I came home, showered and napped. We both decided to go do a bit of night sightseeing. We rode British Airways' London Eye, which is a giant ferris wheel spanning 144m. It is so large that it never stops to let passengers on and off. The enclosed glass capsules can hold about 10-15 people. It was so incredible to see London lit up at night. It was about 14 pounds, which is the equivalent of $26 or so, a bit expensive, but so worth it. We ate dinner at Azzuro's Italian restaurant and had pizza and wine. We returned home after getting lost at the Waterloo Tube Station. Our home was in a quiet neighborhood in the Wandsworth Borough of Putney in London. It is around 100 years old and quite comfortable. Jet lag caught up to us, so we went to bed early after watching some soccer with Gary.

Off to Foggy London Town!
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: "Around the World," The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Today is New Year's Day. After a long night of mischief and revelry, we had to drive all the way to Houston to catch our flight out to London-Gatwick Airport. We left Baton Rouge at 6:30 a.m. and headed west. Of course, Catherine wanted a bagel, so we ended up in Broussard at the McDonald's. I usually boycott fast food, but desperate times call for desperate measures, no? We arrived in Houston at 11 a.m. and had to pay two tolls just to get to the airport- WHAT A RIP OFF! I think I'm going to boycott toll booths, too. Anyhow, we went through checking in and customs and all that jazz and waited at the terminal for about 4 hours. I was aggravated, but I read the U.S. State Department website and they suggested arriving a minimum of 4 hours before an international flight. Thanks, President's Cabinet! Catherine, as usual, began being her friendly self and talking to this girl from some small town in Texas and her dad who were going to see Cross Canadian Ragweed. I should have figured. She had never flown on a plane and insisted that she and her dad eat lunch with us. When I went to get my meal, this woman saw my LSU sweatshirt and started SCREAMING "GEAUX TIGERS!!" Now, this wasn't just a passenger... it was someone working at the food court. Anyway, we both tried to sleep while waiting for the terminal, but that didn't work. They had CNN on and they were replaying the ever-so-loud and obnoxious memorial service of James Brown... and I swear, he has a lot of screamers in his family. I would just be about to go to sleep and then I'd hear these shrills coming from the flat screen TV and I'd jump up. To describe Contintental's Terminal, let's just say it was a giant United Nations and we were probably the only Americans there. We finally boarded the plane. I figured that would be a good time to take some Benadryl. But of course, it never kicked in. Catherine and I sat down next to a kid whose name was Byron, but he insisted we called him "Jace." I have NO idea how those names are related, but let's go with this... anyway, he was a 16-year-old from a London suburb who stayed with some relatives in Houston for a few weeks. He gave us his name and number and told us to call him when we got to London. There were some interesting movie/ TV selections on the plane. I watched "JOHN... TUCKER... MUST... DIE," and I think I got just a little bit dumber. I also watched some Friends, What I Like About You, I Love Lucy, etc. episodes and "Little Miss Sunshine," so that was pretty cool. It was really dark outside so I couldn't see anything, but I could have sworn that 75% of the trip was spent flying over Greenland. Catherine complained that she had the flu and she wasn't feeling well at all...

We arrived in London at 7 a.m. Tuesday.