Brothers Abroad

So my little bro came to visit for a few days a while back. He was here for several days in February before leaving to tour Europe for about a month and then back here for a couple more days in March. It was our first chance to play tour guide and a great opportunity to explore some new areas and sites for ourselves as well. What follows are some pictures from that visit. Among the more unique shots are pictures of us at Chinese New Year in Trafalgar Square and (on the same day) some pictures we took outside of the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts, I believe). Anywho, enjoy!!

The first night Jordan was here, despite his jet-lag, we managed to see the Tower of London, walk across Tower Bridge, head past the Globe to the Tate Modern for a beer and some modern art and finish with a walk across the Millennium Bridge towards St. Pauls. This is during that walk.

Jordan got a great shot looking down the Millennium Bridge towards St. Paul's. Laura and I have tried to get this shot many times with limited success. Nice work Jordan!

The next day was a day of stumbling. We stumbled upon Chinese New Year, cheap tickets for Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellan and William Rees (the Sheriff of Rottingham), a changing of some lesser known guards, the BAFTA's, and some fun street performers in Covent Garden. The above is a picture of Chinese New Year.

The BAFTA's. Jordan, despite knowing George Clooney quite well for many years, couldn't get us in.

Laura and I dressed to kill at the BAFTA's

This was the next day. The above is a picture looking down the staircase of the Great London Fire Monument, which was built in the late 1600s.

Looking up the staircase. There are 311 steps, but the view at the top is worth the journey.

Upon Jordan's return from the mainland, we visited Wimbledon, but choose not to go in because of the steep tour fees, but here's a picture of Center Court from afar.

After Wimbledon, we headed up to the Victoria and Albert Museum and then to the Natural History Museum. This is the former. While we were in there taking pictures of the animatronic t-rex, the museums alarms went off and we had to evacuate. Thus, we got to leave through the fire escapes and probably saw a part of the museum that not many get to, as uninteresting as it actually was. We still don't know why we had to leave, but we're pretty sure it wasn't because of the t-rex.

Since we'd been kicked out of the Natural History Museum, we decided to walk down to Harrod's, a department store which claims to have anything you could possibly want and, if they don't have it, they'll (try to) get it for you. Inside we found mammoth tusks (priced at about £60,000) an Elton John piano (£75,000) and an antique globe (just over £90,000).

Finally, we finished off the day with supper and beers at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub that was rebuilt, that's right, rebuilt in the late 1600s after the great fire (see monument above). The cellar, where we are here, was constructed sometime in the 13th or 14th century. Laura likes to think she's shared a barstool with Chris Marlowe.