March, In Like a Lion...

Well, March 1st came in like a Lion. We got about 6 inches of snow on Friday night, making sure we still know we're in New England, where the weather changes by the minute. The snow wasn't going to start till after 9pm, so my friends Dave and Dan and I went out to dinner and a movie.
We went to see Jumpers, which was ok.. but way too short. When was the last time you saw a movie that was only 1 hour and 20 minutes long (short?)!

I give it a 3 out of 5, but it could have been much better.

Because of the storm, I never got to go to the computer show that I had hoped to on Saturday. Usually, when the weather's bad, most of the vendors stay away anyhow.
So, Saturday I stayed in and watched some great basketball (something I really enjoy), and watched a few things we had on DVR that we needed to catch up on.

I've been going through more pictures from my basement, but 99% of them are of the kids. I have found some though I'd like to share with you all.

They're from a trip my wife and I took to Europe back about 6 years ago. We had decided to take a tour from a large company (Globus), that visited 5 countries (The UK, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France). We took this one, as it went to at least a few places I had been to before, that I wanted to share with my wife (Brussels, Heidelberg Germany and Paris France).

We started off in London, and I could tell already we would both LOVE it. There's more history in such a small area, than probably anywhere in the world.

Our first day in this beautiful city, we took a tour of The Tower Castle. One of the funniest stories I've ever heard happened on this trip. Seems there was a young (around 21) Asian lad on the tour with us, and the tour guide was very good explaining every place, item and nook and cranny to us. When he asked if there were any questions at the end of the tour, the young man asked "Who do you think was the most popular King of England"?
The tour guide thought about it for a moment, then said "I think it'd be George the VI", to which the young man said "Well, what about King Arthur".

I was biting my tongue to keep from laughing out loud, but the tour guide never missed a beat and said "Oh, he was popular too..." as he turned to walk away quickly while probably laughing under his breath.

Here's a picture of me, with a Beefeater, or a Yeowman Warder as they're called.

Click on the picture to 'embiggen'.

They're VERY friendly, and love to talk. We chatted for about 20 minutes, before we had to go.

While there, we go to tour the inside of the castle, where the Crown Jewels are kept. Some of the things in there are absolutely absurdly opulent, and unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures in there.

All in all, it was an outstanding tour. I had to though, ask the tour guide later how he kept from bursting out laughing about the King Arthur question, and he said "I had to bite my tongue so hard to not burst out, I believe it's bleeding!".

After we went back to the hotel, my wife and I asked where we could go nearby, to get a good, authentic English meal. The staff at the hotel pointed us in the direction of a wonderful little pub/restaurant called The Queen's Head", in the Hammersmith area of London. We walked there, and halfway there we were wondering if we took a wrong turn, as it was in a residential neighborhood!

Here's a couple of pictures of the outside:

                               

Again, click on any picture to 'embiggen'.

That's it for today... I hope you enjoyed part 1 of this trip. More to come (if you're interested).