The Adventures of Lorie and Brian Groth

Today was our first Saturday in London… so how did we spend it?

After sleeping until noon we got out to the dog park where Milo and another dog tried to eat someone’s lunch as they innocently sat on a park bench enjoying the afternoon on the bank of the Thames river. After that interesting experience, we let Milo nap at home as we went and ran errands… didn’t really accomplish anything though. However, we did buy far too much chocolate at Hotel Chocolate (our favorite in the UK) before heading to Harrods for a rice cooker. We didn’t buy one because a very helpful employee told us where to get a cheaper one in China town, plus where to get good fish, and salsa. He understood that finding good Japanese food (fish for sushi) and Mexican food (salsa and margarita mix) is a challenge, so he happily explained it all. We may have to go back there to invite him out for a beer or something one day.

After that excitement, we visited our friend Anne who Milo instantly loved, and as you can see from the picture, Milo was quite fond of her too.

       

Last night I took Milo for a walk along the Thames river, which is only about 5 blocks from our house. The tide was out so there was a lot of "beach" but we stayed on the big wide sidewalk at streer level. Sitting in the muck was a crane or some bird that looked like one – he was just sitting there in the dark looking around. Have I mentioned that whenever I walk Milo, we get a little lost each time?

Most Americans see the red double-decker bus as a symbol of London. So to my friends and family in the States, this is a photo of how I get to work. I could take the Tube too, but then I would have to switch trains whereas the bus is a straight shot.

So as I sit on the bus typing this on my smartphone, I am listenin to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville and Live’s version of ‘I walk the line’ by Johnny Cash just finished playing.

The commute takes longer than I had expected: 10 minute walk to and from the bus and 30-40 minutes on the bus, mostly due to traffic.

Check out the Windows Live™ WiFi Hotspot Locator Beta. This link shows a map of Fulham (in London, UK) of free wi-fi spots within 1km of our house.

We arrived just fine, but Milo has to stay in lockup for another day since the vet in NY didn’t treat him for ticks. He of course doesn’t have ticks, but he is getting some Frontline today by a vet and we can bring him home tomorrow. At least he is in a good kennel and not his crate.

We have dropped off Milo at British Airways Cargo and are now in terminal 7 at JFK waiting to depart. Both of us just called our parents and Lorie is now trading our remaining US cash for GBP.

Nest stop London!

Today while Lorie took a nap, I took Milo for a walk around Times Square and up and down Broadway between 42nd and 52nd. While trying to take pictures of Milo with Times Square in the background, someone with a new Blackberry asked if they could take our picture so it would appear on the big screen. I said sure and they snapped this one, which appeard about a minute later. The people taking the photos seemed pretty excited by us – probably because all the other photos were of couples looking like normal tourists. Some other guy with a pretty professional looking camera took our picture too, but I didn’t ask what he was doing.

So on our last full day in America, we got a little bit of notoriety!   

By the way, when walking with him down the sidewalk, just about everyone quickly clears a path for us so walking through a crowd is no problem at all.

We have made it to New York City and boy is Milo excited! We plan to go out with friends tonight as Milo spends the evening at the Westin in his crate.

Milo ate a bunch of asprin this mornig so as he was at the vet we toured around and saw the sights.