Sherlock Holmes

Here in West London is one of the worlds more famous addresses. 221b Baker Street is the boarding house where Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson lived from 1881 to 1904. It was built in 1815 and is now a museum where tour buses drop off loads of people daily. I went thorough the 4 floors of the boarding house and museum today and got a few photos. The famous detective Holmes, never caught that bad boy "Jack the Ripper". I think he's still sneaking around here. I've been in some shady places and have taken many pictures here in the city. I'm going to look back through them and check closer because I've got a feeling he's in some of them.

Happy Birthday Kiana

Happy Birthday Grand Daughter Kiana, 4 years old today. Remember last summer at Lake Chelan. Sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate with you. I will be there in 2 weeks..Save me some birthday cake. You got some real class! You might not know it yet, but it all comes from your Grand Dad. Anyone can see that!

Priscilla

Saturday night at the theater. Tonight we saw the musical Priscilla at the west London Palace theater. The Palace, opened in 1880 is the biggest theater we've been in, and all 3 levels were packed. The stage show Priscilla is based on the Oscar winning movie. We were entertained with wild costumes, performances and music we all know. This is how you enjoy the busy city life in the middle of a cold winter. A Pub and a Show...Good stuff!

Rick

Last night we had good friend Rick stay over with us here in London. Rick is Canadian and has traveled a bit with his career as a geologist. We first met 2 years ago when he worked in the UK and have since kept in touch. Rick has recently lived and worked in Rome and now just took a job with Cepsa, which is a large energy company based in Madrid, Spain. What a lucky guy, being able to live in different countries and experience other cultures. Now I have a friend in Madrid and will go for a visit when he gets settled. Here are photos of Rick and an old shot of us together in Rome in 2009.

Love Never Dies

In 1998 Julie and I saw the Phantom of the Opera in San Francisco. Most people have seen or remember the story. Last night we saw the musical, Love Never Dies, which is a sequel to the Phantom. This might be the newest East London show which opened at the Adelphi Theater in March of 2010. So once again we were entertained by the incredible talented actors, dancers and singers that these London shows offer. A great evening! And you won't even believe the show tickets I got in the post yesterday ?????????

Window Washers

Click on this link below, to see the window washers work the building from our deck . These workers have to go through a lot of traning to work these tall buildings. The safety checks happen every 6 months on all of their equipment. I got some darn good stories to tell but these guys deffinetely got better stories than mine. I took this video at about 2 PM and posted it on facebook. London window washers

Year End Parties

Julie manages the London Central region for Barclays, which is one of 7 regions in the Country. There are 10 Areas in her region, each of which has up to 20 retail branches. There are even some branches with upwards to 60 staff members. It is very common here for large companies to host their year end parties in January. It is also common in this city of 8 million people, for spouses and partners not to be invited, as there are already hundreds of employees attending each event. Julie tries to get out to most of these functions which recognise all top performing employees and teams in her region. Here she is helping area manager Nigel, present well deserved annual awards in the Heathrow area. As you can see, on occasion I get invited to these events and it really helps me appreciate the job that she is so passionate about. I do enjoy mixing with the crowd and getting to know many of her colleagues. This gets to be rather stressful duty as I am instructed to accept all drinks that are handed to me, with a smile, and dance with countless beautiful ladies. And that's not the worst of it...I had to attend two different area parties last weekend, both Friday and Saturday nights and I've got no idea how many I will go to next weekend. Just to set the record straight; I don't accept any pay at all for these long unending late night hours that I put in. It's just not that easy being me! I might need an assistant...

Back to Windsor Castle

This is Windsor Castle about an hour East of London. This is the oldest Castle still being used by royalty and a great tour as I've been here a few times. I got a shot taken with one of the guards, who are always present here at the Castle. I thought I might apply for one of these jobs but they are really big shoes to fill and they aren't allowed to talk. This might be a problem because I do like to blab, a little, most people didn't know that.

Salisbury Pub

The Salisbury Pub which opened in 1892, is another stop on London's list of best pubs. Here in the Covent Garden area of central London we checked yet another great pub off of our bucket list. Julie and I met a wonderful couple, Colin and Corinne here today. They are planing the wedding of their daughter Bridget to our nephew Charles, in April. They are from Cambridge, England. I actually thought that I would be able to visit all of the best pubs here in London, but after 3 years I'm finding more every week and falling behind.

Cambridge

Cambridge is located 50 miles north of London and is the home of the famous University of Cambridge which opened in 1209. This is a city of 110,000, and about 25 % are college students. Next to England's Oxford University, Cambridge is the top ranked University in the World. It is ranked even higher than Yale, Harvard, and the famous Wenatchee Valley College, where I studied. This is a fun city to visit with many street performers and of course too many pubs to hit in one weekend. Here is a photo of Julie and I in front of Kings College Chapel. After spending a day in this city of more than 20 colleges, I feel that I've absorbed much more knowledge by just being there. I didn't think that was possible.

Happy New Year

We brought in the New Year in the small British village of Harlton. An hour train ride from London got us to Cambridge England where friends Jerry and Paula picked us up. After spending the day in Cambridge we went to the only small town pub in Harlton, where you had to wear some kind of a hat. So there we were with about 50 of the locals in a jammed packed pub having a great time. It was a good break from the usual wild new years eve in London. All the best to everyone. Have a bloody good new year!