After an absolutely luscious night of deep sleep, we awoke to a beautiful view from the Stark Penthouse, deep in the heart of London.  Though we could not hear the music, we are sure we saw the chimney sweepers scurrying from the rooftops.

Our host fixed us a bikers breakfast (eggs, back rashers, toast, melon etc., etc.), as if we are refueling from  a weeks worth of 100 mile rides.  Still working out the cobwebs from the red-eye flight, as well as the bugs in the camera equipment, so we missed the meal photo.

Finally made it out of the door by eleven for a leisurely tour of London.  “Leisure” by most people’s standards would be to hop on a double decker bus and watch the sites go by.  Taking a tour led by Morgan, is much like Jerry leading a tour……on bike, at breakneck pace in heavy traffic coming from every direction (all from the wrong side of the road); no problem!  We were looking forward to seeing all the sites that London is famous for, with all her pomp and circumstance; so naturally this was our first stop.

Silly idea, but it made for good laughs.

We quickly adjusted to the mass hysteria that constitutes traffic in any big city,taking pictures as we rode and enjoying being back on the bikes;

stopping only as necessary for important picture taking.

Yes, we did manage pictures of The Tower Bridge, taken while standing on The London Bridge, the Shard,St. Paul’s Cathedral

a city street dating from 1293, though we believe this fountain is a bit more contemporary.  We stopped at the remains of Christchurch Greyfriars, creatively redesigned as a living garden in perfect harmony with architecture of the former Wren Church from the 13th century.

There were sites to see everywhere; I missed whoever had just walked by, but pretty sure the boys got a good look.

While covering a good bit of the famous sites, British color and character were never far away.

We wheeled past Sherlock Holmes’ home and Maxwell Smart’s office.

It was getting late, so we flew by the Eye of London in order to reach Big Ben on today’s tour.But as you can see by the clock, all we had time for was a quick kiss

and photo of Parliament before our date with the Queen.

When the boys realized that “tea” with the Queen did not include adult beverages, we did a quick circle around Buckingham Palace and scurried into London rush hour traffic past Horse Guards Parade and back to the Stark Casa.  Our seven hour, 19 mile tour was a great introduction to this city of nine million people.

Grey skies but still a comfortable 70°, as we began our late morning errand running.  But first a delightful conversation with James.  We skipped the Rolls Royce and Bentley crowed streets and walked our bikes along the commoner filled sidewalks of the real London.  Batteries, cell phone and various other connectivity possibilities purchased, we dropped down to the Regent’s Canal for a beautiful stroll to a traditional lunch of Fish n Chips (just for you, Doc) and Mushy Peas.

We biked through Regent’s Park on our way back in order to catch the U.S. play futbal.  Though we lost the match, we had a fabulous day of touring courtesy of Jerry’s new BFF.We will try to squeeze in one more day of touring, before our wonderful hosts kick us out.

Just for the Record, for the last three days we have (both) slept in to at least 8:00 a.m.  I will miss this luxury, but we certainly are enjoying it while it lasts.  After another Incredible breakfast, we head out to see just a few more sites of this fascinating city.  We took a quick trip on the original line of the World’s Oldest Subway (1863).

First stop, hot nuts on the steps leading to The Tower of London, where Jerry spent a moment with Julius Caesar Augustus.We circled the outer wall of the moat,keeping an eye on the archer (shout out to Mark)admiring the wire sculptures representing some of the many wild animals that provided a layer of protection for the royals of years past.  Fun Fact: In the 1800’s the remaining animals were moved to the World’s Oldest Zoo (London Zoo-remember the Giraffes?).

We joined a tour led by the fabulously funny, Jim,a member of the Sovereign’s Body Guard of the Yeoman Warder Extraordinary (i.e.: a very entertaining tour guide).  He told of the Bloody Tower, the Ravens that are both the life blood and curse of the White Tower  and showed us the original Watergate, 

There were tall castle walls, more animals, gallows and the magnifieienct Crown Jewels.  Thought the timing clever to first tell of the hundreds of decapitations and then advise you NOT to take pictures of the Jewels…..duly noted.  We did manage the obligatory photo with a Beefeaterand a few more of inside the castle walls.

We ended up at the foot of The Tower London for more picture taking.  Walking through 700 years of history had worked up quiet a thirst and hunger.  Rested and re-fortified, we continued along Queen’s Walk enjoying the views across The River Thames   walking past the quiet unremarkable looking, but Internationally famous London Bridge.  

The various layers of architecture from a several centuries was as varied and interesting as the people that stroll the London streets.  We hopped on a bus for a quick ride to Trafalgar Square, regrettably shrouded in tents set up for the weekend’s festivities.

We’ve enjoyed immensely three days of gorgeous weather, quite atypical.  Tomorrow is calling for torrential rains and flooding; and though that does not seem like good biking weather, we think it best to separate the boys as well as not over stay our welcome from our glorious host and hostess.  We will miss our evenings with you, Morgan and Julie, as well as all the wine we shared; hope to make it back to you in a couple of months.

Thanks for visiting us!!

As we plan our next trip, so too will the plan for our site be updated. Be patient, as we hope to make it worth the wait!

See You on the Road………..Soon!

Welcome to our New Site!  Hope you enjoy the changes we’ve made and that you’ll join us for our next ride.

We head out shortly but in the interim, thought we’d share one of the new features we will have on the blog…….video.  Though photos will still be the main feature, we will also be shooting some very homemade video.   Obviously, this clip is not ours, but thought it too cute not to share.

We Made it to Amsterdam, yesterday, I think!  Yes, it was yesterday morning; what is it about Amsterdam that makes the mind foggy?  In reality, can’t blame it on the city, yet……..maybe it was the overnight flight!

In true Netherland fashion, we bicycled directly from the airport to our hotel in Centre City Amsterdam.  Though our brains are a bit jet-lagged, we were able to snap a “guess where we are” photo.

as well as a “guess where we’ll be” photo

We will have more for you later.

So what does one do in a city with 400,000 bikes?  Apparently Walk ……. for SIX straight hours!

Does this guy look like a tourist or what……….camera and all?

Sure Amsterdam has 37 museums,tall blondes (male and female) everywhere, lots of smokers, lots of bars, what seems like more canals than streets, but what is really amazing are all the bikes.

The respect for the bikes is amazing; a separate bike lane, even a separate light at crosswalks for walkers, bikes and cars. Rush hour takes on a whole new meaning with the pedalers on the street.  When the street light changes you look for bikes, cars and trolleys all poised to run you over.

The bicyclers, however, are the most intimidating; they’re quite, riding fast and talking on the cell phones. So sorry Robyn, no photos of museums, just bicycles, bicycles and more bicycles.

Notice the parking is for bikes (and mopeds), not cars, maybe not such a bad idea?

We did manage to see a bit more than bikes.

Miles of street market offering every kind of (legal) item you could ever want to purchase (and a lot you would never consider buying),

fruits and flowers

and lots of nuts!

Tomorrow we’ll see if we can get another picture or two that does not include a bicycle.