Here's Corinne's postings along with a website for a movie I see advertised on the double deckers but have not heard of in the states...but stars the girl from 24.

http://www.captivitymovie.co.uk/

London Town

Sunday, June 17
Flight from PHX to Charlotte: Uneventful.
Flight from Charlotte to London: Long. Tried to sleep the whole way.

Monday, June 18
We believed we were relatively successful in getting enough sleep, but once we got on the shuttle to the hotel I couldn’t help but “rest my eyes.” The driver must’ve noticed because every time I nodded off, he slammed on the breaks or jerked the wheel to wake me up. Very thoughtful.

We were fortunate to be able to check in our room early. The room is TINY, and has this weird appliance on the wall neither of us can figure out. You turn it on with a timer and it warms up, but we have no idea what for. (Stephen’s note – I think it’s to get wrinkles out of your pantaloons)

Once we got cleaned up and somewhat situated, we decided to spend some of the day at Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, which is a short walk from the hotel. As you can see in the pictures, it is absolutely gorgeous. (Stephen’s note – I haven’t figured out the whole picture uploading quite yet) There are ponds and statues and giant trees and wide open fields… right in the middle of the city. Just amazing.

Once we got through the park, we stopped for a pint, then we kept walking and walking and thought we’d take the tube back to the hotel. It was much more difficult than either of us imagined – people plow through the turnstile and we were the idiot tourists holding up three different maps trying to figure out which line, which platform, which stop. We got it all figured out with some help and made it back to the hotel intact.

We went to a nearby restaurant for some wicked expensive (but yummy) fish and chips and then passed out.

Tuesday, June 19
Today we took a full day tour to Stonehenge and Bath.

The short version:
Stonehenge is rocks arranged as a calendar.
Bath has ruins of Roman hot spring baths. They’re kind of interesting, but mostly gross. The rest of the town is adorable, though besides shopping I’m not sure what there is to do there.
We drove through the countryside and saw farms and pigs and cows and sheep and rolling hills. It was interesting and pretty and all in all a fun day.

Tomorrow I think we’re going to shop and brave the tube again.
Thursday is our first tour day with our group.
Friday we’re thinking about doing a half-day excursion – Windsor Castle sounds interesting, but we’re going to check and see what else is available.
Then it’s off to Paris.

I leave you with some of Stephen and my observations about the UK.

1. If you’re unsure which way to look before crossing the street, look down. Streets are painted with warnings to “Look Left” or “Look Right.” It sounds stupid but it really helps when you have no idea what’s going on.
2. Beware of tanks crossing. (In the countryside, they apparently practice military maneuvers and have tank crossing signs. We saw both the signs and the tanks when we were out today. It was surreal.)
3. Parks have a lot of squirrels. They’re cute.
4. Fries are chips and chips are crisps and a field (like football or soccer) is a pitch.
5. “Overtake” can mean “pass.” So when you’re driving you say, “I’m going to speed up to overtake that slow coach.”
6. Starbucks truly are everywhere. There are a lot of American stores in general. There’s a GAP down the street and others I can’t remember now. McDonald’s of course, and Burger Kings everywhere. It’s kind of disappointing.
7. A semi-truck is called a lorry.
8. “Shire” is pronounced “share,” to mean “a share of England.”
9. England doesn’t necessarily use the metric system. Things in stores are measured in liters and pounds and quarts and ounces with no rhyme or reason, and all speed limits are posted in miles per hour.
10. Brits think soda is very bad for you, but cigarettes? Not so much.
11. Stephen LOVES looking at the cars. The most common cars we see are the Ford Focus and Mini Cooper.