The Clampetts go to London, Part 1

So I've been incredibly remiss in blogging about my ongoing visit to the United Kingdom. I had planned to blog at least every other day, and now I've been here a full week, and not a single blog post besides this one. What the hell, author lady?

I do have a legitimate excuse, though. Seriously. You see, every day, we come back from sightseeing and pretty much faceplant within a five-foot radius of our bed, and don't wake up until it's time to fling ourselves towards the train station the next morning. I'm telling you, I haven't slept this well in years. And, yeah, okay, I've been uploading pictures and putting them on Facebook, but I've been borderline catatonic with exhaustion most nights and haven't had the brain cells to compose a coherent post. The jury's still out on whether this post -- written while I'm taking a day off from traveling -- will make any sense. So just blame my fatigue if this post suddenly horse potato couch laserbeam kitten squirrel.

But Lori, you guys are supposed to be on vacation. This is true. We are on vacation. And the vacation is doing what it's supposed to do, which is recharging my brainbits and pouring gallons of inspiration into my skull. I'm itching to write like I haven't itched to write in ages, and this itch won't be treated by any over-the-counter ointments. I need to write, yo!  The only casualty to this recharging is my body, which is currently aching in places I didn't know existed and is, according to my guesstimates, approximately five pounds lighter than it was when I stepped off the plane a week ago. The reason for all of that can be summed up in two words: Aleksandr Voinov.

You see, Aleks is a resident of this fine city, and is not a big believer in doing things halfway. When I asked him to show Eddie and me around London, I had no idea that we would be seeing a month's worth of London in the space of a week. No joke. Since we've been here, we have:

1. Visited the Churchill war rooms.
2. Toured the London Museum, the British Museum, the National Army Museum, the Maritime Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the science museum.
3. Attended a play in the West End, which starred James McAvoy, and yes we met him afterward (squee!). 
4. Explored Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and God knows where else.
5. Visited at least half a dozen bookstores.
6. Seen Big Ben (sorry, the clock tower containing the bell that is called Big Ben), Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and the Thames from several angles.
7. Logged God only knows how many miles on the Underground (aka, the subway). 
8. Saw Django Unchained.
9. Visited a Templar church, an old church near the spot where William Wallace died, and the Salisbury Cathedral.
10. Visited the Roman baths in...Bath.
11. VISITED FREAKING STONEHENGE.
12. Visited, boarded, and didn't get kicked off Cutty Sark.
13. Got high off chocolate fumes at M&M World in Piccadilly.

In a week. One. Week. All of this while moving on trains and our own feet (plus a bus for the stuff outside London).  Because Aleks has, in his own words, turned sightseeing into an extreme sport. (For the record, he's been as thrilled as we are whenever a bench comes into sight and we have the chance to sit for a few minutes, so we're not the only ones with slightly tender hooves.)

So how is London? 

Well, it's big. It's crowded. It's kind of terrifying in some ways because it IS so big and crowded. And I really, really, really don't want to leave.  Kind of weird when you consider I've never been a fan of cities, and even Seattle grates on my nerves after a while, but I like this place. I've only been here a week and I'm already planning my next visit this summer. Never thought I'd say this about a huge city, but I could totally live here. 

But what the hell is a travel post without some pictures, am I right?  We've already taken a good 1,000 or so photos, and I'm finally getting my butt in gear and cropping them, resizing them, etc.  So stay tuned...photo post is coming very, very soon. 

And just to tide you over until I have a chance to post all of those pics, here is a shot of my husband being...well...