Monday, July 30, 2012

London Has a Bit of a Buzz


"The Dark Knight Rises" premier

The Olympic Torch comes to Tooting
There is a definite buzz in the air these days, with people from all over the world crowding the streets and the tube to take part in the action. It has been a busy couple of weeks for us, too, with a great visit from Alison and her family and then the start of the Olympics. Greta and I had prepped ourselves for the crowds and the celebs by attending the red carpet premier of "The Dark Knight Rises." We didn't get to see the film, mind you, just to crowd in with thousands of other people to watch the stars arrive on the red carpet. It was fun to be there, but we got bored after a while and decided to head out to dinner. We also braved the crowds (actually just happened to be walking there at exactly the right time) for a glimpse of the Olympic torch arriving in Tooting last week. It's all-go around here!



When we went to the Tower of London on Thursday, we had no idea that the "Today" show would be filming there, but it was a great surprise. We watched them do some interviews and I had a brief chat with Danny DeVito, which was pretty funny. There were lots of Americans there, all super excited to see Matt Lauer and the rest of the cast. It's always cool to walk around the Tower, and this visit did not disappoint. We followed it with a walk to Butler's Wharf and a great pub lunch before heading back to London Bridge.

Our version of The Beatles


It's finally hot and sunny in London, so we've been going to Tooting Bec Lido, the huge outdoor pool just up the hill from us, and swimming to cool off. We took our visitors there for a picnic dinner and evening swim and they enjoyed the lively atmosphere, too. The day before, we walked to Abbey Road (had to cross that famous street) and sat outside with a picnic in Hyde Park. They left Friday and then we had our cousins move in for an overnight, after going out to dinner with Alan and Isabel and all the family. We're having fun spending time with everyone, but not focusing too much on the goodbyes, as we don't want to get too sad. We rushed home to watch the Opening Ceremony, which we all agreed was very well done (what a relief).




On Friday we met yet another relation, Tim, who is a local chef. He's a really nice guy, and we found ourselves wishing that we had looked him up sooner. He even came to meet us at Richmond Park Saturday, where we had gone to watch the Men's Olympic Road Race and have (another) picnic. We screwed up the start times, thereby getting to the park hours early, so we had an excellent view of the event. The cyclists went flying by, and it was over in just a few minutes, but it was worth it to see their speed. Then last night, we had amazing tickets to see GB play the United Arab Emirates at Wembley Stadium, where Great Britain won 3-1; it was such a fun night. Oh, and we are 99% certain that we were sitting directly behind Robert Pattinson (no, seriously), which made it an even more exciting evening.



The girls are now done with school, which was pretty emotional for all involved. They had such a wonderful year here and met such nice friends, that it was hard for that to come to an end. Franny's class had a "Leavers' Ceremony," in which they did a performance and some students received awards. We were so pleased and proud to see Francesca win the Literacy Award for best student in her grade, and her name is now engraved on a cup in the Links Primary School trophy case. We hugged the Head Teacher goodbye and said that we'll stay in touch, which I really hope to do.


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