Girls' Weekend #1 - London

While Jason's been busier than ever with work, things have slowly been winding down for me. Last Tuesday was officially my last day, but the last month has been pretty smooth sailing. Knowing that I needed to find a way to entertain myself that didn't involve distracting Jason, I planned a couple of girls' weekends with my good friend Rosalynne. For our first adventure, we decided on a tourist's trek trough London to see all of the "must-see" sights that I'd yet to check out.

We met in Windsor to start with a visit to Windsor Castle. The little town of Windsor was really neat with lots of cute shops and cafes.


Windsor Castle was huge - effectively a small city in and of itself - and was fun to explore.

We were lucky enough to be at the castle for the famous changing of the guard which was the highlight for me!

After lunch in Windsor, we took the train into the heart of London for more sight-seeing. Our first stop was the impressive Tower Bridge.

It is a common misconception that this is London Bridge, of children's nursery rhyme fame. But, alas, London Bridge isn't nearly as impressive...it's actually quite boring in comparison!

And finally, our last stop of the day was to see Big Ben and the House of Parliament.

As you can see from the picture, we timed our visit perfectly and even got hear Big Ben announce the top of the hour. A perfect end to our tour of London.

Exhausted from our day full of walking, Rosalynne and I were ready to sit down and relax, so we headed over to Behihana to meet up with Jason and Simon. No, Behihana was not a very British end to our London tour, but neither Rosalynne or Simon had ever experienced hibachi grill style dining, so we wanted to introduce them. About half way through dinner, Rosalynne's eyes got really big and she leaned over to whisper, "This place is full of famous people!" I of course then turned around and scoured the restaurant, eager to determine what big names were eating at the tables around us. After a lot of searching, I still recognized absolutely no one.

Finally, I got the scoop on just who we were in the presence; Rosalynne said, "Do you see that guy over there?..." and pointed to this guy who was sitting a few tables away (interestingly enough, he just so happened to be wearing a purple shirt and a ridiculous necklace that night as well...):

"...He's in JLS!" I then proceeded to tell her that to me, JLS is short for the Journal of the Learning Sciences (I'm a nerd, I know!). She then provided me with a little lesson in British pop culture when she informed me that JLS (short for Jack the Lad Swing - don't ask, I have NO idea what kind of name that is; all the Brits I ask just look at me like I'm strange for not getting it) is the band that won X Factor (the UK equivalent of American Idol, also produced by Simon Cowell). I tried to play off my complete lack of recognition on the fact that I'm American, but she claims they are big in the States as well. I'm told this is their most well known song, has anyone ever heard of these guys?

Am I getting old or are they not really that famous? Anyway, the other "famous" diners at Benihana turned out to be even more obscure than good ole Aston Merrygold of JLS, so I won't bother explaining who they were. Regardless, it made for a fun end to our London adventures!