Katie and Brad arrived yesterday. After lunch, naps, and showers they were ready to see London. The day being nice and fairly mild, we thought the best way to get a sense of the place was to take one of the hop-on/hop-off sightseeing buses. So, we became full-fledged tourists. However, we had to make our way to Baker Street to begin the tour and by then it was 5 PM. The sun was down and the wind picked up. But we were determined to stay on the top, open deck and take bad photos, which we did while the bus made a most zig-zaggy (I know, it's not a word) path through the city, crossing the Thames six times, I think. There is no way that anyone new to the city would get a sense of its layout based on the route we took. But we had fun anyway, laughing at our photos while we froze. Instead of dropping us back at the beginning, the driver left us near Speaker's Corner. We took the subway home, ate at Wagamama, shopped at Whole Foods, and then went to the Elephant & Castle for a pint.

Today we didn't get out of the house until almost noon! Using our tickets from the bus tour yesterday, we took a Thames cruise from Westminster to the Tower of London. After a longer lunch than we wanted at a not-so-great diner adjacent to the Tower, I left Katie and Brad to do the tower and I headed back home to prepare for the last of the student dinners. I made two stops en route--one at Victoria Street to buy tickets to Billy Elliott for Thanksgiving week when my sister and her family will be visiting, and the second at the library.

Dinner was pleasant.

Hopefully we will get an earlier start tomorrow.

Happy Halloween! Happy Birthday brother Rick!