Stopover!

Today, Beth and I experienced:

• An excited group of people congregating around/taking photos of an animal in a tree in Hyde Park.  Being well trained from our many game drives, Beth and I hurried over to the crowd to see the cool bird or animal everyone was excited about.  Then we saw that it was a common gray squirrel.  Seriously.
• A large group of girls screaming outside a radio station when glimpsing their favorite boy band.  When we first heard the high pitched squeals, I thought for sure it had something to do with "Twilight".  I was happy to be wrong (sorry, Jen).
• An Italian couple who sat next to us on the Thames cruise and spent the entire time taking photos of each other/themselves instead of the scenery (or in fact looking at the scenery at all).  Why bother to spend the money on the cruise at all?
• Two mimes on the Tube who we hope were on their way to or from work, and not just dressed as mimes for fun.
• A gay pride parade/rally.  Several "hen" (aka bachelorette) parties.  Were the feather boas for the parade or hen parties?  Hard to tell.
• A gazillion people, speaking many many different languages.  You don't have to worry about the tourism industry here.  It is alive and very well.
• Puppets singing about racism, porn, and life's purpose.  Beth and I lucked into 7th row tickets thanks to TKTS and finally got to see "Avenue Q."
• Carrying our (very heavy) bags up four flights of (very narrow) stairs.  No elevator available at our hotel.  It made me wish I hadn't supported the Safrican economy so much.

It's London, baby.