God Save the Queen

We flew to Heathrow airport in London and drove to Bristol, a port city, on the western side of England. It has an interesting and sordid history - it was the port where slaves were brought from Africa to be sold and sent on to other parts of the world. The harbor was man-made so the ships could dock on stable water away from the Bristol channel and the Celtic Sea. I walked along this harbor on Thursday and Friday while Pete was in meetings. We had dinner with his UK office team one night at a port restaurant called Mud Dock upstairs from a bike shop. Of course, I have to tell you what I ordered: pastry-crusted goat cheese tart with sauteed veggies on top with fresh bread and olives.
This picture was taken in the garden of the Bristol Cathedral - a beautiful old building with, of course, a cemetery in the back. By Friday noon, we set off for London where Pete had a conference to attend. I checked in to the hotel in the May Fair district in the West End. It was a great location - near Piccadilly and just a short walk to Buckingham Palace. So, being tourists, we spent Saturday walking the area.

First stop was the Queen, and the changing of the guard at the Palace. A huge crowd shows up for this daily and I'm not sure why. These guys in funny hats walk back and forth, yelling, playing show tunes, and then another guy takes his posiiton. The Queen is safe. And that's all that matters.

We went on to more tourism sites like Big Ben and Parliament. The sun was shining even though it was a chilly day. We warmed up when we saw this pub named in honor of Sherlock Holmes. It was warm inside, so was the beer and so were the fish and chips. The pub was a traditional layout with a center bar and 2 separate entrances - one for the upper crust, and the other for the commoners. Not sure which side we were on - tourists' side I think.

After much needed warming up, we walked up to Trafalgar square and into St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church. (Mary shown here in a reflective mood or was she sleeping off the pints?) The pipe organ was amazing to look at and someone on cue starting playing to wake Mary up. Trafalgar Square was hopping and pigeons were dropping. So, we kept moving and lo and behold, found another pub along the way. After warming up there, we were off to Heathrow for our flight back. When we walked in the door to our apartment in Wiesbaden, we actually felt like we were home. This week, Pete has a trade show in Amsterdam, so I am planning to go along. It's about a 4 hour drive from here and we will be gone til Friday. The blog may be on break for a bit unless there are newsbreaking pictures....
Good to hear from our friends and family.
Tschus!