Saturday in London

Brian and I arrived in London Friday evening and -- after dumping our things at the appropriately named Darlington Hotel -- walked along Hyde Park and down Oxford Street before meeting our friend Roufa at (again, appropriately!) a rooftop bar.

That was the start of a very long, very fun evening. Among other things, we dined on tapas, mugged for our cell phone cameras, and popped in and out of a number of nightspots, including the Ice Bar. (Talk about tourist experience with a capital "T," but we loved every frigid minute!) I hadn't realized that it would stay light until almost 10:00, or I would have brought my camera along. Ah, well... we filled our phones with cell snaps that prompted many hearty laughs the next day.

And that next day was soooo much fun. Despite getting a rather late start, we ended up seeing a great deal of London by foot and by bike, starting with a walk through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens:





Then we met up Roufa again at the amazing Portobello Market.





There were oodles of antiques, plus sights and sounds abound...











I found the most AWESOME souvenir at this print shop; I picked up intials for everyone in our family and a funky way to display them.



After that, we procured some rent-a-bikes and set out to see more of the city. I was a half-second late on this snap; I meant to catch him checking out Page 1 of the 35-page rental agreement:



I believe that the words being uttered here were "Awwwwwwww yeah!"



Then we were off. I snapped this one at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, which is a very cool place for kids and families to splash around:



Then, after a quick ice cream, we were off to cycle by many more parks, monuments and ideal subjects for touristy snaps...



















Westminster Abbey:



Then some snaps along the waterfront:







And finally, we cabbed it over to Brick Lane, where we enjoyed a unique dining experience. Just as we were warned, men lurked outside every.single.establishment, wheeling and dealing and trying to smooth talk us into choosing their restaurant (A round of free drinks! Twenty percent off! TWO rounds of free drinks!). It actually got a little wearying after a awhile, so we selected and waited a few minutes and then enjoyed a great Indian meal to a thumping techno beat.



After our experience on Brick Lane, Roufa (uber host!) walked us around and into a couple of watering holes before we finally cabbed it back to the Darlington and collapsed. I was TIRED.