Happy Halloween from London!

Started the day with a Sherlock Holmes tour.

Next stop was Tower of London... Great for spooky tales of imprisonment and executions!

We stopped by the Tower Bridge and made it in time for the last tour of the day.  We went up high into the top of the bridge for an amazing view and also got to see the engine room that operates the bridge.

We saw so many people dressed in costumes today, and found a Haunted House underneath the London Bridge.  The scary men said they would execute the bear if we didn't go in... so of course for the sake of my own life, I had to risk my life and go through "the tombs of London"

We finished the night with some dinner at The George, a pub that William Shakespeare frequented and Charles Dickens wrote about.  We had quite an adventure this Halloween!

~Mr. Bear

London Waterloo and more!

Went to the train station at London Waterloo to start the day... so much to see!

Shared a meat pasty at the London Eye.

Walked past Big Ben across the bridge and then to Westminster Abbey... Beautiful!

Met a horse on the way to Trafalgar Square.

 Finished the evening with a trip to Piccadilly Circus which was lit up with fair attractions and an artist market... we will have to go back when we have more time to see everything.

~Mr. Bear

Kingston and Richmond

Showed JR around our neighborhood in Kingston on Wednesday.  Then Thursday evening he met us in Richmond at the office so we could all go out to The White Cross pub for dinner.  The leaves are beautiful here and we walked through the Richmond Green just in time for sunset.

Richmond Green

Back to the UK!

Flew back to London today... arriving as a very tired bear.  JR is joining us for this trip, so we will have to show him around town!

Sunrise from plane

Flying over Ireland

The Bags are packed, We're ready to go

Getting ready to get back on the plane home... it's been a great 3 weeks of exploring London, and I will be back for 4 more after a short break.  After I am back home in my own bed, for the next 48 hours I will be in hibernation mode!

Here are some photos from the past week to tide you over until next time! :)

Water? You have a decision to make.

Angus has a cousin in London!

Hard at work at the office

Permanently??

Flying in Style!

Thanks for following my travels... Til next time!

~Mr. Bear

Not Just Pub Food

Continuing with the trend of food... We have observed quite a bit of international influence on the types of food that can be found here.  Actually, London is a very popular place to find curry, which we still need to try while here.  In addition to Indian food, there are several places to find Mediterranean varieties of food, in fact there is a Turkish restaurant near the flat that always smells good when we walk by.  Of course there is the French baguette panini-type sandwich at a shop at almost every corner, which makes for great portable train food... speaking from experience.  There is also a Thai place nearby that we should go to one evening, since it always seems to be pretty busy there, it must be good.

However, our first international disappointment came tonight when we saw the silly picture of a "hamburger" in a McDonald's window.  Surely they were not trying to make changes to what the U.S. perfected in the 1950's... so we decided to give it a try and see how their Micky-D's differed from ours... what were we thinking?

We ordered their burger called "The M" which you could get with or without bacon... but bacon is not really a decision you have to think long and hard about... with!!  We also ordered one of their chicken sandwiches, which they so pompously call "Chicken Legend"... but what came from that box should not be described as legendary.  With a sandwich, if you made it a meal, you had a choice of the fries that we are used to or potato wedges that are the "chips" you would get with fish and chips.  Those were probably fine, but we didn't want to push the health risk any further than we already had... this bear can't handle that amount of carbs!  London does so well at international food, they just can't do American as well as Americans do, but hey no one is perfect!

The biggest shock was that they have no mustard packets... It seemed like a natural thing to put mustard on a burger, nope, here you mustn't insult "The M" like that... We should have known it would be trouble when the first line on the brown bag read, "Next time you're tucking into your favourite McDonald's burger... etc."

Now I feel yucky... worse than when I eat a double quarter pounder with cheese back home... and eating half of each of these abominations has made this bear's tummy sick.  I'm going to have a cup of tea and then hibernate it off.  Time to tuck into bed... not into a sandwich... that's just silliness! :P

~Mr. Bear

Good News: The Bridges Are Not Falling Down :)

Did so much walking this weekend, these paws have blisters!  Between the many trains and the many bridges, we have walked miles and miles over London.  This weekend started with a visit to the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, and the London Bridge.  Contrary to what you may have heard, none of the bridges appear to be falling down :)

Sunday started with St. Paul's Cathedral... absolutely massive and beautiful!  We crossed yet another bridge, the Millennium Bridge and found the Tate Modern Museum and also the Shakespeare Globe Theater.  We missed the last showing at the theater, but hopefully we can make it one day after work this week to watch a play and see the inside.