Jess and Fugi's great adventure - Part 2

Finally, the conclusion to Jess and Fugi's great adventure:

Sunday

10AMish

Went with Matt to grab some breakfast on the way to church. They call it a croissant with cheese and ham, I let them know that it's actually called a croissanwich over in the States. Church was very nice - they had a substitute preacher (who didn't bring his wife because she had "domestic duties" to deal with, i.e. laundry)....we'll just leave it at that! Had some tea and cookies after the service with the congregation.

1PM

After church and a quick change of clothes we headed to the British Museum. They were celebrating the Mexican holiday - Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). It was very interesting - especially since we had an actual Mexican with us! The "mexican" food consisted of the nachos you get at high school football games and tacos that in no way resembled tacos! but i digress...

6PM

After much negotiations between Holly and myself, we compromised on going to the London Hillsong Church for their worship service (which we all enjoyed) and then headed for the London Eye. The Eye was a big step for a guy that unless he is on a plane, is not too fond of heights! It was a truly amazing ride and view of London. I managed not to embarrass Bree - as it was the American dad in the group that rode with us that suggested they moon the people in the glass cabin below.

Late Night

Headed back to Wandsworth (starving) and stopped by Nando's (www.nandos.co.uk) for some dinner. The girl at the counter tried to talk Fugi and I out of each ordering our own Full Platter. She thought we didn't understand that this was a meal that a family usually orders - she obviously didn't understand how hungry we were! After we finished our meals - much to the surprise of the waitresses that kept coming by to see if we were really going to finish it - i went to the front to order some soft serve. As I pulled out some money to pay for it - the manager told her that anyone that could finish a full platter gets free soft serve - final score: Jess and Fugi - 1 Nando's - 0

Monday

3:15AM

Alarm goes off and we get ready for Paris. The car picked us up and we were at the train station by 4:30 for our 5:15AM train ride. We slept most of the way to Paris - didn't even realize when we had gone under the Channel until Bree's phone buzzed me that we were now in France. As soon as we got to Paris we got on one of the tour busses that you can get on and off of - we took some pictures and got off at a stop. Then we waited an hour for another bus to come by - once it did, we rode around and saw Notre Dame and got off at the Eiffel Tower. It was very cold but it was an awesome view and we were only on the 1st Floor(180 feet up). We checked out the food (ate at 3 restaurants before we found a decent meal).

9PM

Got on the train back for London and I think exhausted would be a gross understatement! We made it back to the flat before midnite (i think matt and bree were both relieved and surprised).

Tuesday

10AM

Bree took the day off and took us all around London - we had a schedule and stuck with it (most of the day - explanation comes later). We headed to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. It was very crowded and they put on quite a show with the marching band and many horses. Of course the Q-tip hats made the soldiers look 6'3 instead of 5'5. We walked down the "Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk" as the a small drizzle (suprisingly the only rain i remember) came down. We met Matt at Gordon's Wine Bar for some lunch - very old and cool place - check it out - gordonswinebar.com. Had some beef stroganoff and warmed up from the rain. After lunch we boarded one of the Thames Clippers and headed north for Greenwich. It was a nice ride and a long walk up to the Royal Observatory. Learned alot of cool tidbits about the Prime Meridian and headed back to the Clipper for a ride back home. So far we had stayed right on Bree's
schedule for
the day - here's what we had left on on Bree's agenda:

5:45PM Leave the flat to meet Matt for Dinner at the Sushi restaurant.
6:15PM Eat Dinner at Sushi restaurant.
7:15PM Meet two of Bree's friends at the theater for Othello.

Here's how it went:

5:45PM Left the flat to meet Matt. Arrived at Waterloo Station to get on the Tube. Jess and Fugi lose Bree on the was to the Tube. We go ahead to the Tube, as Jess had paid attention to where we were going to eat. Arrive at the Charing Cross Station - forgot to mention we didn't have a cell phone. I try to use the phone booth - to no avail. Long story short - we finally got in a cab that let us use his cell phone - got in touch with Bree and met her and Matt at the McDonalds across the street from the theater.

EDITOR'S NOTE 1: In all the hundreds of visitors that we have had over the past 5 years, Jess and Fugi were the FIRST to get lost. When asked later, what is the cardinal rule of 'what to do when losts from a group' - Fugi answered correctly by saying 'Go back to the last known place' Jess, however, said 'We weren't lost!' Question: How many theatres did you go to before finding the right one? And seriously, if you didn't want sushi you just had to say so.

EDITOR'S NOTE 2: Regarding the paragraph below, let's just say i was slightly distracted from the earlier events of the evening.


The play was great - really small theater and great actors. (Mom and Dad you can quit reading at this point) As we are leaving, Bree realizes she dropped her work phone during the play and can't find it. We look up and down the rows and find nothing. She lets the management know that it was lost. At this point her personal phone rings - she talks for a sec, hangs up and informs us it was McDonalds - she had left her wallet there (not her phone!) Now that this is all over we go hang out at a restaurant over looking the Thames to end the night and our trip. It is here that Bree's coworker - as she gets ready to leave - realizes she has an extra phone in her purse - yes it was Bree's. And we thought Othello was going to provide the mystery and entertainment for the night!

Wednesday

8AM

Got up and headed to the airport. It was an awesome trip - best ever! Thanks to Matt and Bree for putting up with us for the week. Looks like it will be Hong Kong for next year! Thanks again and love you guys!!