Christmas in continent

Just to remind D. that I don't make up any of the stuff that I write here the fire alarm went off at 4:00 AM again this morning, marking the second time that's happened since her arrival. And then apparently it went off twice more today while I was out shopping and jogging, not necessarily in that order.

Spent the day packing for our trip to the Continent. Tomorrow it's Paris; we've got a hotel booked but since we're on a Eurail pass we're going to make it up as we go along from that point forward. Our likely itinerary will be 1-2 days in Paris, 1-2 days in Bordeaux, 1-2 days in Lisbon, then the rest of our vacation will be spent in Albufeira, in Portugal's southern Algarve region. We'll be there for Christmas and New Year's, then back in London on the 3rd. So I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful holiday, and here's hoping for a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. May the best of '06 be the worst of '07. Not sure how the internet connectivity will be, so this may be the last post for a while.

As mentioned in yesterday's bleary-eyed post, we've managed to take in some sights of London over the last few days. It's really odd to be a tourist in my own town. The first time I visited London was over 20 years ago (!!), and I'd long since forgotten most of it. The subsequent visits were all purpose traveling, i.e., on business which invariably meant flying straight in, hitting the hotel, doing the business, then getting out again without much time for gawking and gawping. So we made up for it over the last couple of days. First on D.'s list was the London Eye, which as tourist traps go was actually pretty ace. It's kind of weird to be looking down at Big Ben, but that's what happens. Here's a few shots. You can click on the pictures to see larger versions in a new window:

In this next shot you can see the shadow of the Eye on the Thames:
As you can see we had brilliant weather for it. I'll shut up and just show you the photos now:
After we hit the Eye we walked along the Embankment for a while to St. Paul's Cathedral. Just as we arrived the bells began to peal, and it put me in such a Christmassy mood that I had to ring Mom and Dad on my mobile so they could hear them. Hope they sounded OK on the voice mail.
From there we walked on to the Tower of London, from whence we could see the Tower Bridge. Like many newcomers, D. was somewhat disappointed by the famed London Bridge -- at first she refused to believe that it was "just another bridge" until we walked under it -- and understood why so many people mistake the majestic Tower Bridge for the aforementioned span of rhyme and lore.
We really only managed to cover a fairly small area of London -- mostly Westminster and the City -- but we've got a few days on the other side of the New Year's holiday before D. has to go home (insert frowny face emoticon if you dare) so we'll be seeing more before she goes back, and then I hit the books again starting on the 8th.

Of course no set of holiday snaps would be complete without a shot of the Santa Claus Motorbike Squad, which happened to roar by as we crossed Westminster Bridge:

That's all for now. Have to hit the sack to get an early start. Happy holidays!