i keep a diary

October 23, 2003

European Vacation Part 6: Sightseeing with The Stoddards .

When we'd gotten back to Charlene's the previous night, she made a big pot of tea. I didn't realize how much caffeine English tea has in it and I ended up not being able to get to sleep until like 6am.

On Thurday morning, the plan was to get up and head into London to do some sightseeing with Grant's family (who were coming into town from nearby Essex) and to get our plane tickets to Crete, which we'd had delivered to their house.

IMG_6595.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
We all ended up oversleeping and had to rush out of the door so as not to be late meeting up with Grant's parents, grandmother (Pam!) and (hot) sister, Gemma in Covent Garden. Grant was freaking out the whole ride in. He was like "We can't be late! My dad'll kill us!"
london ˆ tube ˆ chris a ˆ grant
IMG_2515.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
It's the Stoddards! Gemma, Brad, Grant, Pauline, and Grandma Pam (who believe it or not, reads this website! Hi Pam!)
gemma ˆ grant ˆ mr stoddard ˆ mrs stoddard ˆ nanny pam
IMG_2518.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Fatty's pic of me filming the reunion. Cah-cah-crazy!
camera ˆ me
IMG_6596.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
After all the introductions were made, we all walked up Shaftsbury Avenue to Tralfagar Square.
london ˆ statue
DSC00052.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Hi, we're tourists.
london ˆ chris a ˆ fatty ˆ me
IMG_6601.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
We enjoy your fountains.
fountain ˆ london
DSC00053.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Very much.
fountain ˆ london
IMG_6604.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
The Stoddard Family!
london ˆ gemma ˆ grant ˆ mr stoddard ˆ mrs stoddard ˆ nanny pam
IMG_2526.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Chris (being a ninja and all) out of the blue decided to climb the giant, bronze lion statue. Evenutally (with much more difficulty) the rest of us managed to climb up there with him, but I can't find the picture of all four us up there (which is a good thing because a picture of the four of us snuggled up riding a lion statue would be so gay that if I posted it on the world wide net there'd be a risk that it could cause a chain reaction and turn the entire world gay).
climb ˆ lion ˆ london ˆ statue ˆ chris a ˆ grant
DSC03883.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
After all of our lion climbing, it was time for a pre-breakfast beer *quiver*. We went into a pub and got ourselves a Stella Top (which is where you fill a pint with 3/4 Stella Artois and 1/4 Sprite. Yes, Sprite the soda. No, I'm not sure who thought to do that.)
bar ˆ mr stoddard ˆ nanny pam
DSC03884.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Grammy Pammy, Fatty and Chris.
chris a ˆ fatty ˆ nanny pam
DSC03885.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Grant and *rowr!* Gemma. (Hi Gemma! [holds hand up to ear and mouth and makes the international sign for telephone and whispers] "Call me!")
gemma ˆ grant
DSC03889.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
After our beers, we walked over into Chinatown to get lunch.
chinatown ˆ london ˆ fatty ˆ grant ˆ me chris the greek
DSC03891.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
The bathroom in the Chinese restaurant was really interesting. They had toilets, but no urinals! Instead, they had this really neat metal trough filled with refreshing cubes of pineapple! Who knew England could be so exotic?!
bathroom
DSC03892.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Chris the Greek coldlamps on the Greek Street lamp.
climb ˆ chris a
DSC03893.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Gemma was feeling really ill (I think Grant poisoned her so she couldn't stick around to be flirted with any longer) so around 4:30pm the Stoddard fam packed it up and headed back to Essex leaving us to sightsee.
car ˆ grant ˆ nanny pam
DSC03895.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
After Grant's family took off, we popped into a cafe for a quick cup of coffee...
fatty ˆ grant
DSC03894.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...and a light schhhhnack.
coffee ˆ food ˆ chris a ˆ me
DSC03898.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Then it was back to more sightseeing. Clark: "Look kids! Big Ben!"
big ben ˆ london ˆ point ˆ chris a ˆ fatty ˆ grant ˆ me
DSC00061.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
"Parliament!"
buildings ˆ london
DSC03900.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Clark: "Look kids! Big Ben!"
best ˆ big ben ˆ london ˆ fatty
IMG_6609.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
"Parliament!"
chris a ˆ fatty ˆ grant
IMG_6611.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Clark: "Look kids!" Audrey & Rusty: "Yeah, we know dad. It's Big Ben."
big ben ˆ london ˆ police
DSC03903.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
After we were done recreating that scene (from one of the greatest movies of all time), we walked through St. James Park (which was only noteworthy because Grant identified it as the location where he made out with some cute girl last time he'd been in London) over to Westminster Bridge to check out the view of whatever that over-sized ferris wheel that the Brits make such big deal about is called. (Oh, it's called "The London Eye." Alot of people don't know this, but its full name is actually "The London Eye [Wonder Who Thought This Big Ferris Wheel Would Be Interesting].")
london
IMG_6617.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
While the view from the bridge was pretty spectacular...
buildings
IMG_2539.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...it wasn't spectacular enough to negate the 30mph winds that were whipping down the Thames River and causing us to...
cold ˆ grant
IMG_2535.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...practically freeze our buns off.
cold ˆ me
IMG_2536.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
We hurriedly snapped a few more pics (Here's me wearing Westminster Abbey as a hat)...
fatty ˆ me
IMG_6618.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...and then got the hell off that windy-ass bridge.
chris a ˆ fatty ˆ grant
DSC03904.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
On the way back to the subway we passed the Channel 4 building (which is a lot more interesting in person that this photo would lead you to believe).
buildings
DSC00063.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
After that, we hopped back onto the tube, headed back to Charlene's flat...
briefcase ˆ chris a ˆ fatty ˆ me
DSC03905.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...packed up our stuff...
fatty
DSC03906.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...thanked Charlene's roomies for their wonderful hospitality (thanks again!)...
kitchen
DSC03907.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...and grabbed the train to Heathrow to catch our 10:20pm flight and kick off the next leg of the trip: Crete!
airport ˆ chris a ˆ fatty ˆ grant ˆ me
DSC00065.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
We chatted up the totally cute Greek girls working the Olympus Airlines ticketing counter and they hooked the four of us up with...
airplane ˆ fatty ˆ grant ˆ me
DSC03909.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...the center emergency row! Let's hear it for extra leg room. Awww, yeah.
airplane ˆ legs ˆ chris a ˆ fatty ˆ grant ˆ me
DSC03911.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
We landed in Athens 3:59am...
clock
DSC03912.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...and had an hour and forty-five minutes layover to kill before our puddle jumper flight from Athens to Iraklio (or Heraklion), Crete!
airport ˆ asleep ˆ grant
DSC03914.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
We landed in Heraklion at 5:45am and while we were waiting for our baggage, we ran into...
airport ˆ sign
DSC03915.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
...a huge Cretan man that looked like a bizarro "Ogre Version" of our good friend Ross Martin. Not willing to let him escape undocumented, we dispatched Chris (who speaks fluent Greek) to tell the giant Ross-Ogre (R'ogre, if you will) that he looked just like a friend of ours and would he mind posing for a picture. There was an uncomfortably long pause as he pondered our request (which I spent fearing he was about to crush all of our heads like grapes) but instead he gave a polite nod and posed for this fantastic pic.
airport ˆ doppleganger ˆ strangers ˆ thumbs up ˆ chris a ˆ grant ˆ ross m
rogre.jpg
original not copied to this machine yet
Here's the side by side comparison: The real Ross Martin's on the left and the Ogrified Ross Martin is on the right. If you squint a little, you almost can't tell who's who! Hahahah.
doppleganger ˆ photoshop ˆ strangers ˆ ross m