The Eye
Freddy has gotten everybody tickets to the London Eye. We meet down across the Thames from Big Ben. Tami feeds the seagulls, throwing little bits and watching them catch them in the air.
The London Eye is a big Ferris wheel with pods that hold as many as twenty five people. Chris is acrophobic and stayed on the ground with Molly to keep him company. Carly is, too, but she went anyway, sitting in the middle the whole time. We got to see all of London which, in my opinion, is not as good from that vantage point as Boston.
Then we all went on a river cruise, which was nice although the commentary from the guide was a bit precious. It seemed to me like she was acting like a corporate shill, always complaining about high taxes and lousy government services. I wanted to tell her to come to the US and see what private enterprise provides for no taxes. Essentially, you get what you pay for. As far as I've seen, other than the toilets and the coffee, England is far more civilized and well run than the US.
Tami and I got lunch at an international street market. She finally got a Scotch Egg and I got a sausage roll. There was one stall that had cocktails and we got a Manhattan and a Negroni. We also bought a bottle of Manhattans to take with us. It is made with Bulleit bourbon and some spices which were the stall's main business.
We ran into Des and Co. along with Fred at the Tate Modern. After a dose of "A five year old could do that", we split off and went home for naps.
That night, Max and I got some cigars, Ashton shorties, took the bottle of bourbon, and went, along with Tami, to Hyde Park. We found shelter from the drizzling rain and sat on a bench drinking Manhattans and smoking cigars. He told us about life in the marines and we told him about life in Melrose. He was more interesting than us. There was an amusement park set up. We watched the rides go up and down and the lights flicker on and off.
