Treacle tart is bloody brilliant!

The Mellowsky Spew circa 2000BC

Okay, I keep meaning to get here to do some sort of introductory bit about getting to London, settling in, some notes on where we are staying, etc. But, now we're a week in and by the time my body hits the bed every night, even lifting my fingers to the keys seems daunting, never mind forming full paragraphs of thought.

So, while I wish I could give you a summary of this past week filled with colorful detail and exuberance (which I see and feel every second of every day here) I haven't the capacity to link thoughts into cohesive sentences. Hopefully in the next day or two I will be able to backtrack a bit...if not, not. We've hit a lot in this past week and I have a full-blown case of laryngitis to prove it. (Since I was very young this has been one of the ways my body has told me when I'm pissing it off.) But it's been fantasmo on every level. Good talks, good sights, good food. We've hit some of the biggies---Trafalgar Square, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham. (We happened upon Buckingham quite by accident as hundreds of London's best---some in service uniforms, some in saris of brilliant reds and oranges, women in summer dresses with matching heels--- lined up outside the Palace Gates to attend a garden party with the Queen. Apparently, once a year she opens the castle up to community do-gooders and has them for tea. Dan and I just sat back and watched hat after amazing hat head through the massive gates.

We took a boat ride up the Thames to Greenwich and went to the Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory. I stood at 0 degrees longitude and straddled the eastern and western hemispheres. (The Greenwich Mean Time clock was off by an hour and I can't understand why. Anyone understand this?) We've been to Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus and Covent Garden and Hyde Park. We've been to Leicester Square and walked down Regent Street and viewed the London Eye from almost everywhere. Today we hit the British Museum which---and I'm the type who can be easily bored in a museum---was just incredible. The f-in' Rosetta Stone! Egyptian busts as far as the eye can see. I hope to get back there again to do an audio tour. And that's really saying something.

We've been to a couple of pubs and while the food isn't my favorite, it's nice to stop and have a drink in the middle of the day. I had my one requisite fish and chips meal and decided I don't love it here either but am glad I did it. We've eaten Italian food and Thai; We've dined at a Brazilian steak house and a noodle bar. Every meal has been fantastic. Tonight we did burgers at home with the in-laws, but last night the four of us went out to a place called The Fire Stables and I won't soon forget my salad with fresh figs and raspberries.

And, of course, we saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince in an IMAX theater here in London. Fab. U. Lous. We intend to see it again. (They sell Doritos and Ben and Jerry's at the theaters here! Why is it we are still eating effin' nonparells in the States?)

Dan and I just got back from having dessert out. The other night it was champagne, strawberries and cream and treacle tart at a sidewalk table. Tonight it was cappuccino and cafe au lait and a banana crepe with rich chocolate and vanilla ice cream at a French cafe. (One rainy morning a few days ago I got up and went to a different French cafe and had a Viennese coffee---who needs skim milk when there's whip cream?---and a chocolate croissant while sitting in the window watching people catch buses, ride bikes and start their London days.

My in-laws are living in Wimbledon---a quaint cottage with blooming hydrangeas and roses in the yard---just a few minutes walk from Wimbledon Village which is a wonderful little place. I love that this is our neighborhood.

This was supposed to be a quick post so that I could get to bed at a reasonable hour and hopefully kick this illness. (Swine flu is pretty big over here so I feel heavy, fear-filled stares every time I go int a coughing fit.) Alas, it's all too fantastic not to get down. I could live here. No doubt about it.

Okay, to bed with me. Tomorrow morning we're hitting the outdoor Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill and then driving somewhere---Oxford? Windsor Castle? Stonehenge?

We'll see. Not a bad first week though. Not bad at all.

Cheerio!