Our sleep was definitely a little wonky -- Terry fell asleep by 8:30pm while watching a biography of Susan Boyle on the tele. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning (3am-ish) to Terry just turning off the tele (I really like saying tele) to go back to sleep after being up from midnight. I think we'll have it down by tomorrow as it is ten to ten and we are both still awake.
We started the day with an easy jog along the river Thames. Aside from the picturesque views of swans swimming under little bridges and cobblestone pathways and brick buildings with Christmas wreaths and widow boxes of pansies and ivy, oh, and holly with yellow berries, my favourite part of the run was when we past an older Italian man walking his 3 pooches. Terry was about 200 metres ahead of me and I could see the man point to him and say something. As I neared I heard him ask, "Is she with you?", to which I replied with a smile, "yes." He then quite sternly in a strong Italian accent gave Terry what for for not waiting for me. We carried on with a smile and a wave.
We passed a church with a little cemetery -- everything seems little here -- with headstones from as early as 1676. I love the detail in the architecture; every nook and crannie is adorned with a goblin or a flower or some kind of swirl or curl. The detail is just breathtaking, right down to baby chub rolls on the legs of cherubs.
Anyway, on the way back from our run, Terry was waiting for me up ahead and I was thinking, Oh, it's so nice that he is waiting for me... and then I saw our Italian friend and knew didn't want to get caught again. We had a little chat about which way is it to London and then he asked, "Where are you from, America?" We told him we were from Canada, to which he replied, "Oh, Canadians are nice people." So are Italians!
We spent the afternoon in Central London, which I will write in more detail a little later... I think it's time to sleep soon. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, many many old, beautiful, white and gold buildings, and many many statues. Oh, and the Canada Memorial...
Here's just a couple of my favourite signs before I sign off:
way out -- aka exit
give way -- aka yield
look left (or right) -- painted on the street at crossings for us tourists
mind the step
mind the gap
alight here
park here and your car will be clamped
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