English Breakfast

Here is a "traditional" English breakfast. It comes complete with an egg, bacon, sausage and toast. That seems normal enough, but would someone please explain what the french fries, fried tomato, fried mushrooms and beans are doing here? This was a breakfast I enjoyed for the experience, but I'll not soon be making this dish at home.

Unsurpassed Decadence

Today we went to Harrod's, completely unprepared for what was in store for us. The walk up to the store at around 6 PM was a nice, and the Harrod's building, which was lined with strands of white lights, stood out dramatically amongst the other shops along the street. Upon entering the store, we immediately knew we had sauntered into an establishment that, were it not for the other fellow tourists lowering the social class of the place, we would not be at all comfortable entering. Harrod's houses goods of the highest fashion labels in every department. I never even saw the men's floor, which included a cigar bar and high-fashion items I could never get away with wearing. The picture above is of the "food court," which featured some of the most wonderful prepared foods I've ever seen in one place. One of the most expensive items I saw was a cut of beef referred to as "Scottish Filet," which sold for 39 pounds per kilo. With our abysmal exchange rate, that works out to about $40 per pound. Sheesh.

While there we enjoyed two dishes at one of the bar-like food counters. Pauline had a lox and cream cheese bagel, and I had a Salmon dish that I cannot describe, except to say it was quite good. Pauline, caught up in the moment, ordered a glass of champagne., although I know it more as a 10 pound ($20) glass of champagne. Sheesh.

We followed up dinner with a trip to the toy floor, where the girls had a ball rooting amongst the stuffed animals and games. This was followed up by a trip back to the food court where we had intended to find a piece of chocolate for the girls, but found most things closed. Most things, that is, except a swanky little cafe hidden in a corner. I walked in, and was immediately met by the glares of fifty twenty and thirty year-old Arabic men and women, each of whom appeared to make as much in a day as I do in a year. Being alerted to my being completely out of my element, I silently backed out of the room, humbled that I had just witnessed people who actually shop at Harrod's, and don't just go there to see things they can't afford in the displays.

Tired of Walking

We have walked everywhere we've been so far. Given we walk at least three miles per day, the girls get quite tired. Here's Camille giving a familiar look of exasperation upon hearing we're not there yet.

Big Ben Intimidates Isabelle

Big Ben has been quite an exciting landmark for Isabelle and Camillie. Since it was featured in Peter Pan and Mary Poppins, the kids just about lose it each time they see it. Here's Isabelle demonstrating excitement whilst freezing.

The London Eye

Pauline's remedies her tendency to blink at flash photography by looking nowhere near the camera. I've no idea what Isabelle's doing. The London eye is a ferris wheel built for the millenium celebration. It takes 30 minutes for one complete rotation. We've not attempted this trip for fear of the inevitable bathroom emergency five minutes in.

The Lions at Trafalgar Square

Here are the girls at the huge lions beneath Nelson's Column.

Our first morning

The hotel was half a block from Trafalgar Square. Here's Isabelle amidst the pigeons. We got an extremely early start for our first morning. This was due to Pauline's having been up and about since 3 AM, and she was pretty anxious to get out. Unfortunately, none of the shops were open, but that didn't spoil the morning. It was lightly raining, but strangely no one used umbrellas. I can only assume this is because the rain would come and go so quickly that by the time you got your umbrella out it would stop raining.

Jet Lag

Here's Isabelle in the van on the way to the hotel. This is what it looks like when your body thinks it's 4 AM when it is actually 12 PM. We took a nap when we to the hotel, which may not have been the best idea. We all had a hard time sleeping the first night. Pauline woke up at midnight and couldn't get back to sleep.

In-Flight Entertainment

Virgin Atlantic had a wonderful in-flight entertainment system. You can see each seat is equipped with its own remote control, which allows you to navigate through movies, TV shows and music. It also doubles as a game controller. You can play anything from Backgammon to trivia games against other passengers. Without this, we surely would have gone mad over the 10-hour flight.

Prepare for takeoff

Here we are at SFO waiting to board the plane. This is the happiest the children will be for the next 48 hours.