Winning London

Since at least 53% of decisions in my life are based around what I've seen Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen do in movies, this week I decided to skip right over France, and fly the 65 minutes it takes to get to London.

After living in a non-English speaking country for four months, it was a breath of fresh air to be able to eavesdrop again. Although, I can't tell you how often I had to remind myself not to spout off in a British accent when someone asked me a question or made conversation. Really I just can't help it. It reminds me of the restaurant scene in Master of Disguise, which- since I can't find a clip on the internet- perhaps only my brother Devin will be able to appreciate.

Whilst in London I saw all the traditional sites, ate the traditional food, visited the traditional burial tombs, walked the traditional 12+ miles a day, and enjoyed lunch at Buckingham Palace (Note: "At Buckingham Palace" sounds much cooler than "outside Buckingham Palace, by myself, with a poorly made sandwich." The "at" is as close as I'll come to having lunch with the Queen, so don't you take that away from me.)

But even among all this, my absolute favorite part was seeing Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater. Not because of the play, obviously, but because I made friends with a lovely British woman named--yep, you guessed it-- Jane, who yes indeed does have two sons named Tom and Harry. And what kind of London trip would it have been without that stereotype being fulfilled?

London was one of those cities that I'd really like to go back to one day, and am planning on it, if for no other reason than I didn't take one of those red telephone booth pictures.

Always good to be back in Frankfurt! I was thinking how great it will be when after this week I won't have to ask myself, "Should I re-inflate my bed a little before I go to sleep?"