I remember these lines on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album. I thought they were painted there for the photo shoot.

Turns out they're actually lines in the road with actual meaning to those who drive on the wrong side of the road. (If Brits drove on the right side, they wouldn't have to paint every crosswalk with "Look right" or "Look left" so pedestrians didn't die trying to cross after looking the wrong way. Sorry, I digress. Apparently these zigzag lines are painted on either sides of crosswalks (which are not at corners). They mean that drivers are not allowed to stop or park there so that pedestrians have a clear view of traffic in both directions. Learn something new every day. :)

Wow, we crammed a lot into a crazy Sunday. A lot of streets were closed because of the London-Surrey 100, a 100-mile bike race that ended at Buckingham Palace. (I'm sure that wouldn't have happened if the royals were actually there.)  But the Tube was running normally, so we hopped on and headed for the palace.

Buckingham Palace is surrounded by gates with gold detail. And lots and lots of people. Who could live with that commotion? Good grief.

We took some palace pics and then walked toward Whitehall (reverse of the route William and Kate took after their Westminster Abbey nuptials) to find a changing of the guard ceremony because the queen is in Scotland or some such place, and there were no guards at the palace gates. We were, of course, hungry, but we couldn't cross any streets to get to the any restaurants. We finally found one on the correct side of the road and stalked patrons to get a table. Exhausting.

We then checked out the guards on horseback at some royal building or other as we headed to Big Ben. Westminster Abbey and Big Ben are incredible, as are the parliament and other government buildings. We ended the afternoon with a ride on the London Eye -- before Alex, Erika, and Sabrina bought some incredible ice cream from a guy they said was hot. I didn't notice (really, I didn't). The Tube ride back to Chelsea was packed with spectators and cyclists from the century ride, and we got off on a different stop that was closer to the house.

But the stop  was only closer if we knew which way to go. We didn't, and we didn't have a map (don't ask), so we picked a direction, turned around once and then followed that street to a main road. We looked up and guess what? The house was right across the street. And sometimes you live right.

Enjoy the pics!

Hellloooooo, London!

Arrived in London and rode to the house in the cutest yellow cab ever. Did I take a photo? Nope. But Sabrina was jumping up and down and clapping her hands and exclaiming, "These are the cutest cabs EVER!"

After a bit of unpacking and bit of showering, we went to the grocery store and tried to find a place to eat that wasn't booked. We stopped to peruse the menu at an Italian place that wasn't open, and the owner came out and told us he could serve us only if we sat down right then and didn't stay more than 2 hours. Then he proceeded to schmooze us. We enjoyed the meal, but man, was it spendy: 125 pounds ($200 US) later, we had each had an entrée and some mineral water. Eesh. We were too hungry to care when we sat down, but we will not make that mistake again.