Blimey!

As I mentioned in a post earlier this year, Beth and I have been putting off exploring the UK until we're a bit older.  We've always considered it an "easy" destination reserved for later-in-life.  What a mistake that has been!  We just got back from an extended weekend in London...Blimey!  What a pleasant surprise!  This is my kind of city.  Minus the crappy weather, I could easily live here and will put it on our annual travel rotation right up there with the German Christmas markets.   Here are a few pics from the trip.  Happy New Year to all!

The Tower Bridge - the only tourist sight that we took in.  While the weather was a bit dreary and bleak, it stayed dry which kept us on our feet and in streets instead of the museums and castles and churches and palaces.

The city is loaded with open-air markets, many of which were still decorated beautifully for Christmas.

Those sneaky bastards!  We chose our restaurant in Chinatown based upon the amount of Asians who were dining there.  More than 80% of the customers in this restaurant were Asian, so we walked in...only to be led upstairs with the rest of the pasty-whites, out of sight of the street.  It was obviously deceptive...but the food was excellent, so we didn't complain.

 Cozying up in a West End theater for Blood Brothers.  Man, those guys can act AND sing!  Incredible!

 Beth, always a sucker for Hugh Grant, dragged me to Knotting Hill market.  How much mileage can you get out of one lousy movie?

Contemporary art in the very bohemian Brick Lane.

 More Brick Lane surprises...excellent street food!  One of our favorite parts of the city.

Not my "cup-o-tea", but you've gotta love this sign.

 Soho - makes the New York version look like a ghost town.

Scooter seating at Camden Locks...

 ...and of course the famous Camden Markets.

We took the long way back into the city along the Regent's canal....

...and then into Hyde Park where we stumbled across this massive mirror sculpture.  That's us in the reflection.  Very cool!

 London, like New York, has a Starbucks about every thirty yards or so.  But since we are Starbucks deprived in Amsterdam, we had to stop in to warm up after a long day on our feet.