London Bridge Isn't Falling Down, FYI

AC and I have been running around like madmen trying to take in all the London sites during our short week here. I haven't been here in almost 15 years, so all the sites are essentially new for me too!

The first thing we couldn't help but notice is that it's so freaking expensive!! Not only is the exchange rate just short of $2 US Dollars to 1 British Pound, but the prices are unbelievable. My first official meal was a very lackluster fish-and-chip basket that was over 20 bucks! A short subway ride when we're just too tired to walk -- 8 bucks a piece. The smallest size cup of coffee at Starbucks is 5. As much as we like to eat at nice restaurants, we have been going ghetto this week. While I used to turn my nose up at the free breakfast buffet at the hotel, I have been gorging myself on heat-lamp bathed food every morning praying I don't get hungry again until dinner.

On better news, we've done a good job of hitting all the major sites. In addition to quick tours of Kensington Palace (the final home of Princess Diana), and seeing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (highly overrated if you ask me), we've also had our RDA of religion spending time at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral. On a kinkier side, we "served some time" at the Prison Museum where we did our penance for skipping confession earlier in the week. We also spent a day at the National History Museum, which had more dinosaur skeletons than we'd ever seen in my life! The building itself was nothing short of amazing, and we felt like we were attending a lecture at Hogwarts. Best part -- it was free!

On a fun note, we also witnessed the final night of legal drinking on the London subway. The locals celebrated the end of this era by, well, drinking! It was totally out of control, and I for one was glad we were on foot.

For the rest of the trip, we're going to try and check out Stonehenge and maybe a showing of the musical Wicked. At the last minute, we also changed our plans and are heading for Dublin Ireland on Tuesday rather than Paris.