Keep Calm and Carry On...

This is a phrase that was coined by the British Government for morale boosting propaganda posters at the beginning of WWII. The phrase has now become public domain and is being printed on everything from coffee mugs to boxer shorts. I caved...I bought a mug when we were in London. Couldn't resist. The phrase is really perfect for almost any occasion.

Anyway, we had a blast in London. We arrived on Good Friday and stayed through the following Wednesday.

Some stuff we did:
Walked down the Thames
Saw Parliament,Big Ben, and the London Eye
Watched the famous boat race between Oxford and Cambridge.
Participated in the world's biggest Easter egg hunt.
Shopped in Covent Garden, Harrods, and on Portobello Rd.
Saw Trafalgar Square, National Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral.
Watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
Saw the play Wicked.
Ate fish and chips at the Bag O' Nails Pub across from the Palace.
Found THE blue door in Notting Hill. (Movie reference)


It was quite a week! The race was exciting because of several mishaps and the atmosphere was similar to our tailgating at the OU games. Big crowds of people along the river parks, tents of food and beer and huge screen TVs to watch the race after it passed by your viewpoint. Bret indulged in local beer and I had a Pimm's Cup. A very British cocktail made with Pimm's No. 1 cup (a gin based fruit liqueur) soda and fresh fruit. It was like drinking punch.

The race was interrupted once by an elitist protest swimmer in the water. He was arrested and later charged. And then after a restart Oxford broke an oar and struggled to maintain which then resulted in the collapse of their anchor rower. Much excitement but an empty win for Cambridge. Here are the boys in front of the big screen.

The Easter egg hunt was too cool. Sponsored by Faberge, it consisted of over 200 eggs hidden throughout London. These eggs were 2.5 feet tall and decorated by various artists and designers. London was trying to break the world's largest egg hunt record and succeeded with over 12,000 participants. And we were a part of it. The eggs were going to be auctioned off for charity and the boys tried to get me to buy one but I thought a 2.5 foot egg in the living room might be a bit much. Below  are some of our favorite eggs.

Will add more pictures and details on next post.  Don't want to overwhelm!!!