Rivers, More Beers, and Rogue Beagles

On Saturday, Dave and I ventured out a few Tube stops to Hammersmith for a wine-filled lunch at the River Cafe. It seems that there isn't a whole lot of excitement in Hammersmith, but then what do I know (good thing I got a book, see below). We did some walking along the 184-mile-long Thames Path, the Brits are serious about their national trails - which is awesome. There are also a ton of rowers and rowing clubs in Hammersmith. The Thames in this area is really pretty, especially with all the rowers on the water.

What a bright, sunny day - enjoy it now suckers.......

Hey Dove (aka. A.C.), it's your bar.

We decided to walk home past the Fulham Football Club Stadium. Apparently you do not f-around there if you are a fan of the opposing team.

You also must be rather svelte to get into the place, that is one of the doors to the stadium! No wonder people get crushed at football riots here. Even Dave can barely fit through that opening.

We randomly stumbled upon the Fulham Palace, which was the summer retreat for the bishops of London for like 600 years or something. We walked through the palace and grounds, it was just gorgeous and there were lots of ruins and old stuff - cool.

The best part was that there was a rogue beagle running around the gardens! He was a little bigger and stockier than Witty, but pure beagle. He had clearly escaped from his owner and was running from table to table at Fulham Palace's cafe looking for food. Then he found the trash cans, jackpot - leftover sandwich crusts galore! After cleaning up there, he ran into the cafe and got chased around by the waitstaff. The whole while, Dave and I were sitting back laughing - usually we are the ones embarrassingly corralling our rogue beagle. All they needed was a piece of ham and that dog would have done anything they wanted, lesson #1 for beagle owners - always have a pocket full of ham. Finally, the owner showed up and we watched the "catch me if you can" game ensue between the owner and the dog. Pure entertainment!

That night we went to a beerfest, some sort of local brewers thing. It was, uhm - interesting. This is going to sound horrible, but I have never seen so many nerds (in the truest sense of the word) in one room. And I used to live in Silicon Valley, so that is saying a lot. Plus it was really hot in the event room, so then everyone is sweaty, nerdy, drinking overly hopped beer, having bad breath from dehydration, and spitting when they walk to you. Ew, I can't say I was unhappy to leave early.

In other news, Dave left me to go to the U.S. for work - oh and we are getting fat. I blame the cream-covered meats in Budapest, oh and the sick amounts of beer we are drinking. Thus, today's activities involved walking Dave to the Tube to say goodbye, doing a 10+ mile run, and eating a veggie and fruit filled lunch. After the run, I went over to Soho with thoughts of "what would Dave not like to do that I can enjoy to my heart's content while he is gone". So I went to a few bookstores and wandered the aisles for a while, like 2 hours. After that I decided to meander back to the Tube, but since there is so much work on the system occurring right now (partly to prep for the upcoming Olympics), I had to walk a million miles to get back home. Luckily, there was plenty of shopping on the way. Oh, and I did get two books while shopping.

A UK guidebook so I know what the hell I need to see while I am here, and a general history book because I am tired of looking at monuments all over Europe and not knowing why they are significant.

I am a bit nervous about being here without Dave, which sounds really retarded - I know. I am in LONDON, a city with 8 million things to do, get over it Amie. I work from home so I don't get a whole lot of face-to-face contact with coworkers the way Dave does. I am worried I won't talk to anyone all week; therefore, I am planning out some activities to avoid loneliness:


- Check out some local spas and find one with a coed jacuzzi. Really we were redic about our hot tub in Palo Alto, I always felt like those Japanese snow-monkeys that hang out in hot springs. We used that thing pretty much every night. Dave wants to put one on our patio here, but there really isn't room.

- Go to the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and see about volunteering since I miss my Sammy more than I ever thought I would. I pathetically try and pet every dog I pass.

- Visit the Tate Modern, Dave hates modern art with a particular vengeance I don't understand.

- See the Degas exhibit at the Palace of Fine Arts, hopefully with the lovely Miss R.C.

- Have coffee or lunch and catch up with D.L.

- Plant the backyard, it is time. We cleared the weeds weeks ago but have been too lazy to plant.

- Do some more running club workouts.