Sorry for the delay in posting pictures… They’re up now! April 1st and April 2nd! We’re headed to Westminster to do touristy stuff now… later. Love, Gabe and Maya.

We arrived in England on April Fools day and took the tube (subway) to Leicester Square (pronounced “lester”) where we met Maya’s cousin Christopher Benz (Chriff). He walked us around the Square, Piccadilly Circus and China Town to a pub in Covent Garden called Punch and Judy’s. Punch and Judy’s happened to be in Maya’s homemade guidebook and Chriff also reccommended it. Unfortunately, it seems to have changed from a classic pub, known as a hangout for artists and actors and backpacker tourists, to a hop office-crowd hangout. Our first pints were still great, but we didn’t linger

We took the tube up to Hampstead where the Benz’ reside. They have this great, old, 5 or 6 story Victorian house right next to a great big park called The Heath, which is the oldest open area in London. They were kind enough to set us up with a great spot in the basement. We dropped off our bags and shook off the impending exhaustion and set out for a walk around the neighborhood with Chriff and his sister Kathleen. The walk did us good and made for some nice pictures. The Benz home is on Chrischurch Hill, and the first place we walked past was Christ Church, a towering old church near the highest point in London.

Next we went by the Benz’s church, an olden Catholic place on a back street called St. Mary’s. Next door to the church was a great old cemetery which afforded lots of great photo opportunities… I only included one here, but I have a bunch more.

We circled the neighborhood and walked past the Admiral’s House where part of Mary Poppins was filmed. Then we walked past a posh apartment building where supposedly one of the Spice Girls and James Bond (Pierce Bronson) live.

After our walk around Hampstead, we went home and ate a great dinner (Vegetarian Lasagne! Thanks Peggy!), relaxed for a bit and then headed out to the pub with Chriff. We went to a place called Freemasons’ Arms and had several pints with Chriff’s friend Tom. Luckily for us, pubs close early (I guess there was a law passed long ago so that English men would go back to their own houses and didn’t stay down at the Public House all the time) so we went back to the house and crashed.

Catch you bloaks later
-Gabe & Maya

Maya and Chriff

Punch and Judy’s Pub?

Christ Church

Hampstead Tube Stop

St. Mary’s Church

St. Mary’s Church (inside)

Cemetery near St. Mary’s

Posh Apartment

Mailman

A church on Hampstead

Today was our first full day in the United Kingdom. First thing, we went to the British Museum, the oldest museum in the world. It houses a huge collection of antiquities, especially Egyptian artifacts. We spent 3.5 hours there and while we saw most of the museuem, we only had a chance to closely examine a tiny portion of the exhibits. I took a ton of pictures, a couple of which I’ve included here.

After the museum, we got a quick bite to eat and rode the tube back to Hampstead

Maya’s aunt fixed us another awesome vegetarian dinner and then we headed to the Primbrose (?) Pub to watch the football match with Chriff. The match in question was England v. Turkey in the European championship playoffs, which is of course a big deal around here. We met several of Chriff’s friends, drank a few pints and cheered like natives when England scored not one, but TWO goals in the last few minutes of the game… er, match.

Since pubs close early, we rode the tube to West London, where we had quite an interesting (and fun!) outing. I have some pictures on my other camera, but those might have to wait until we get home to be posted, since I don’t have a card reader for that nice big card (room for 670 pictures! Thanks, Ryan!) Two bars and a bunch of drinks later, we headed home at about 4 a.m. Not bad for a couple of yanks still suffering through our jet lagged first 48 hours in merry olde England.

To The Museum

The British Museum

The Tube

The Rosetta Stone

One eared cow

Baccus, the God of Wine

Look Dad! Young’s! It’s 1/2 a block from where we’re staying.