To be honest, we have had the most amazing trip ever, but we are ready to go home. Our stomachs are especially ready to go home. Three weeks is a long time to be away and it is time for life to return to normal.
Yesterday was yet again a brilliant day. We had the same breakfast spread at the B&B. I had a danish and coffee with some granola cereal. The good news is they actually cleaned the room, took away the old towels, and gave us fresh ones yesterday Yeah!
We were then off to the Notting Hill Carnival.
We have had guests, who are now friends, stay at our B&B a couple of times and we met them here in London yesterday. There names are Chris and Steven. These guys even sent us free tickets to see Kylie Minogue when she came to Canada. We loved it and really appreciated their kindness. We met up with them at a tube station and then carried on to the Carnival.
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| Chris (on left), Steven and Me |
As we approached the Carnival we noticed that many shops had taken preparations against vandalism that many stores in Toronto should have perhaps considered doing prior to the G20. The shops were boarded up. Apparently in the past things have gotten out of hand when evening comes around.
Before showing you the pics of the Carnival I have to do something I promised to do and that is prove that everybody from my Weight Watchers meeting has been on this journey with me. I took everyone's name tags off their chests after the last meeting and brought them all along for support. So here are pictures of all of you at the Carnival!
I had an Egg, Cheese and Pastry sandwich before the parade so I guess, in the spirit of Weight Watchers honesty, I had better confess to that.
What follows are a LOT of photos of the carnival. It really was pretty spectacular but there at a ton of photos below so if you don't want to see them simply scroll down a long way.
There was one particular girl I knew my friend Anthony back in Toronto would like so I took these for him:
After the Parade we walked forever trying to find our way out.
Finally we found a tube station and left the area in search of a place to have lunch. Chris and Steven took us to, of all places, this restaurant.
To be fair, it looked quite nice, but there were no tables so the search continued until we found an Italian restaurant. I ordered Garlic Bread and Fettucini Carbonara. Is it possible to make a worse choice?
Well...actually...yes.
The waiter asked me if I wanted cheese on my garlic bread to which I said "no" as a last ditch chance to make at least one weight wise decision, but my good buddy Steven chimed in and said "Alan...there is so much crap in what you have ordered you may as well have the cheese on the garlic bread". I agreed.
It was only seconds later that I realized I had been conned. He ordered the exact same thing and wanted cheese on HIS garlic bread but didn't feel right doing it unless I did too! LOL.
I still had the Weight Watchers gang with me, but that just reminded me to have two glasses of wine for everyone there :-)
The waiter took an eternity to serve us and get us our bill so he didn't get a tip, but the company made the time seem minimal.
We then went up the street for coffee and walked around some more. A long the way we say a Canadian Flag which appears to be at the Canadian High Commissioners office.
After some more walking we stopped and picked up tickets to see Blood Brother's tonight, had one more beer, and bid farewell to our good friends.
We got back to the B&B about 7:30 but we were totally exhausted and decided just to stay in and watch a move called Open House.
It was actually a good movie and a relaxing way to spend the evening.
Today we want to make sure we visit the Tower of London but other than that the plans are up in the air. Regardless, I am sure is will be a GREAT last day!
Be healthy!
Alan
