So tonight is our last night in London. We head out tomorrow to catch an early train to Holyhead, Wales...and from there we take a ferry to Dublin. One caveat...there is apparently a storm that is effecting the Irish Sea. We were supposed to take a quick ferry to Dublin, but due to forecast gale force 8-9 winds, that ferry was cancelled. So we had to book another ferry...a much larger ferry...through a different line. So the ocean should be pretty rough. This is a description of gale force winds:

18 to 32 foot waves and 39 to 54 mph wind. Tons of rain and possible fog. Good god.

So we'll see what tomorrow brings. We're packing it up tonight and leaving at 7:00 AM tomorrow.

Some thoughts on London...

London is CROWDED. There is a lot of construction and an odd mixture of really old and pretty buildings with new modern buildings. We more or less saw everything we wanted to see in two days..and spent today just chilling out due to the big travel day tomorrow. These are some of the things we saw and experienced...

• Changing of the horse guard
• Buckingham Palace
• Piccadilly Circus
• Houses of Parliament (very, very ornate and pretty)
• Big Ben
• Westminster Abbey
• St. Paul's Cathedral
• National Gallery
• Trafalgar Square
• Prime Minister's home
• New Scotland Yard
• London Bridge and Tower
• St. James Park
• Royal Courts of Justice
• Fleet Street
• Countless pubs
• Camden Market
• Carphone Warehouse (!)
• A couple of rides on public transit - the double decker red buses
• Meat pies
• Two awesome cab drivers

Our final take on London - it is really, really crowded. It's nice to hear English again, and the people are pretty friendly, but it looks like any other city with the addition of a few really pretty architectural examples. I think we both agree that we enjoyed Paris more out of the two. The food was better, the city was prettier, and even though it is also a large city, it didn't feel as crowded and rushed as London. In hindsight we would have spent an extra day or two in Paris and reduced our stay in London. Plus Paris uses the Euro while London uses the Pound, and the exchange rate is much worse with the Pound.

Side-bar: We were downstairs eating in the pub a little while ago and this guy comes in, gets an orange juice and a bag of chips, sits next to use while eating them, and started licking his fingers and lips really, really loud. It gave me the giggles.

So we're off to Ireland. Wish us luck on the boat ride.