Blame it on London

A few months ago I made a goal to visit 50 countries by the time I'm fifty.  I'm worried that I set myself up for failure and if I do, I'll blame it on London.  There's only so much time and money for travel, but instead of going somewhere new, I keep wanting to return to one of my favorite places--London.  Dylan and I just returned from a week there (Andy joined us over the weekend) and even though it was my fourth visit (Dylan's third), we still haven't seen everything we've wanted to see.

We spent two days at the Yahoo Wireless Festival--I'll blog about that in a separate entry--three hours at Top Shop, five hours at Warner Brothers Studio Harry Potter exhibit, two hours at Westminster Abbey and a leisurely afternoon at Columbia Flower Market, Brick Lane, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. We also had tea at Fortnum and Mason and trekked out to Highgate Cemetery.  All of these (with the exception of Top Shop) were new experiences for us.

All the gorgeous flowers at the Columbia Road Flower Market

Like the flowers, I'm desperately trying not to wilt in the London heat.

From what we later read, these are supposed to be incredible bagels.  We were too hot to eat.  

Finally got some relief at the wading pond at the Victoria & Albert Museum

Maybe I could conjure something frosty with Voldemort's wand.

After reading Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, a haunting novel set at Highgate Cemetery, I had to visit. It was an extra treat to be able to visit Douglas Adam's grave where I left a pen from Milo's, a fitting tribute, since that's where I've done a fair share of my writing.

Forget what you've heard about English food being bad. This was delish.

So, I'm okay if I don't reach this goal, especially if it means I get another visit to London. But who knows, maybe I'll succeed--tomorrow we're off to Turkey, Greece and Spain.

p.s. Photo credits go to Dylan (which also explains why she's not in the pictures).  She's been lugging her fancy camera around and getting great shots.  Just wait till you see what she did at Wireless!