Pictorial: London!

Well folks! I survived the busiest international airport in the world TWICE- made it to and from London with no problems!

I left on Wednesday night at 10:30 (though my plane was late so I didn't actually get ON the plane until about 11:00) and arrive in the lovely Londontown around 12:00pm the next day. Besides the chanting coming from the seat behind me and the guy with the whopping cough in front of me, the old man spilling over into my seat wasn't so bad. Luckily the flight heading that way from here is only about six hours, and I watched "John Tucker Must Die" for free, so I can't complain.

Customs and Immigration was fine, and after six hours you better believe I went to the 'lou'. There I found this mounted on the wall, and thought it was neat so I took a picture!

I'm not going to recount every second of the trip because you don't care and I don't have time, so I'll just say what is happening in each picture. The one below is of my parents on the subway- so cute! They wouldn't sit still, thus the blurriness.

The whole purpose of the trip was to go to the We Are Scientists shows at Brixton Academy... see below!

A closer picture- the capacity is 5,500 and they sold that sucka out two nights in a row!

We arrived there at about 5:00 and got to see the guys do their sound check. Then we went to catering (yep, they have the full fleet in the UK- including great catering!) for dinner. Below are Ian and Elizabeth getting in a moment in catering!

And there I am with the pair!

Me with my WAS sponsored dinner (glasses due to tired eyes, not for fashion, clearly).

There's always a FACE. This was in the WAS dressing room- we had all access passes, no big deal.

It's hard to describe, but the show was the real deal. The last time I went to a concert with this type of production must have been in my NSync days because none of the people I've seen since have done the whole lights-and-fog deal. It was SO cool. They rought the lights low and cued up Phil Collins' "Against all odds" to being... then they came out dramatically and layered over the recording until it died out and they were jamming to the balled. So. Awesome. Here you get an idea of the lights and crowd. Sadly my camera isn't the best for these kinds of pictures.

More lights!
And them... they are there, Ian is on the right, Keith is left, Tapper center.

Another show shot.

Someone threw this sparkly hat on stage and Ian immediately grabbed it and put it on- and of course claimed it made him look more british, which it may well have. Hilarious. I love that they can go with the flow.

Another picture of the lights so you can get a feel for the extent of them- they really were so awesome!

A picture of the crowd. Now let me say the UK fans are INSANE. They throw beer like crazy- if you're on the floor you must be soaked by the end. They get so packed in there, and there is always a moshpit happening. Kids crowd surf like crazy, and I have a profound respect for the body guards at these shows. Kids keep getting tossed towards the front of the stage and they keep gently picking them up and setting them down in the corrale in front of the stage and crowd barriers so they can trot off back into the crowd and do it again! It's insane- and they are SO much fun to watch! I can see why bands love playing in the UK!

For their encore the boys came back out dressed in jackets and matching ties and sang "The End of the Road" by BoysIIMen-- amazing. Tapper sang lead vocals, Ian did the Barry White bass pleading with the "gurrl" with full jumping around for accentuating, and Keith added the "Hoooo"'s in his lovely falsetto. The entire crowd was SO into it- how can you resist a band with great live performance and music who isn't afraid to have FUN!!!?

The concert was great, and the touching part was when they were leaving on Friday several of the staff was in tears. I thought that was such a good indication of how they've been treating the people who work for them- I'm proud!
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Below is a picture of the second gate entrance at the Tower of London- one of the main touristy things we did while there. The speared gate's edge you can see at the first inlet in the wall and it weighs over a ton-- kind of scary to walk under!

This is on the way across the London Bridge-- actually one of the least impressive bridges in the area, and yet historical. Go ahead, sing the song!

The Tate Modern Museum of Britain.. how I LOVE it! I can say that it is my favorite modern museum in the world, and probably my favorite museum of those in the.... 14 countries or whatever it is that I've visited. SO amazing. This time we only had a few minutes, but I got to see the slide installation that was there, and ride one of the slides! It was SOOO fun! I loved it, and would have spend HOURS there had we had the time!

There I am in front of the slides- aren't they beautiful!?

My mom and I don the millenium bridge with the Second largest cathedral in the world-- St. Paul's-- in the background. Who can name the largest?
This is where ol' Principessa Diana and Charles got married, as well as where ol' Wills will get hitched when he comes to that point. it is quite beautiful, but my fav-o still sits in Italia.

A view from the Millenium bridge (solely a pedestrian bridge) out onto the Thames.

Saturday we basically hung out with Ian and Eliz at the hotel. Ian is wearing my dads had and showing off a plate from the hotel....

It just gets creepier...

This one may shock you....and show you one of many reasons why I love my brother...

And here I am with a rather dull smile on because its like 2am in the picture. I am wearing a little red poppy which many were wearing the entire time we were there to celebrate armisist day. It was cool to see the people all wearing these, and they are so cute!

And there you have the pictorial post! There will probably be a few stragglers that I steal from my parents camera, but in the end you get the picture. I'll post more observations of the English when I have a chance!