LONDON - We arrived bright and early Tuesday morning to glorious Kensington and the Tetrault familys beautiful home. (cant find the apostrophe key... please excuse these next messages...) After naps and showers, we regrouped and set out to explore Piccadilly Circus, via "tube" navigation. We enjoyed people-watching over a little drink at an outdoor bar-cafe, and then headed over to Ronnie Scotts jazz bar to try to get in to see Wynton Marsalis" brother Branford perform. Unfortunately the place had reached capacity so instead we explored Soho and headed home to a nice warm, comfortable bed.
Wednesday we walked from Kensington through Hyde Park and all the way to Buckingham Palace just in time to catch the changing of the guards. It was packed, so we snapped a few photos then headed over to Westminster Abbey, and then walked along the Thames to Covent Garden to have a quick lunch before seeing "The Producers." The show was a hoot and we are so glad we splurged and saw it! Afterwards we walked around Covent Garden Market and had a drink at Punch & Judys, and then stopped to check out Navajo Joes on the way to Leicester Square. We tried Ronnie Scotts again, but tragically there was a private function that night!
Thursday we were treated to a guided tour through Kensington and up Church St. to Notting Hill by our wonderful host, Ricky Tetrault. He showed us his favorite spots, from bakeries to the Churchill Arms Pub, and then we had a delicious lunch at Beach Blanket Babylon, a posh little spot in Notting Hill. We then headed on our merry way to the Tate Museum, which was interesting and excited us to make it to Italy for more great works of art! Of course we could not "do London" without a stop at Harrods, so we made a quick detour on our way home through the perfume and jewelry section of the store... ahh, delightful. They even had a Christmas tree up already! Dinner was led by the Tetrault boys, 5th graders Ross and Ryan, to their favorite local place, the Scarsdale Pub. We had a great time visiting with them and hearing of their European adventures. The London trip was capped off by a nice visit with Kaitlin Daniells (Mollys friend from HWS) and her boyfriend Duncan, who had come for dinner in Kensington. All in all it was a delightful and perfect start to our trip!

ITALY...
PISA & FLORENCE - After a near death experience on our way to the Stansted Airport (our driver carressed the open roads at 4 am by driving 80-100 Kph! we also enjoyed a flat tire only 1 km away from the airport...), we arrived sleepily to Pisa on Friday morning. We lugged all of our baggage all the way from the train station to the Leaning Tower (not an easy trek), and had a nice lunch nearby before catching a train to Florence. We were greeted in Firenze by pouring rain in the late afternoon, and again dragged ourselves through cobblestone streets up to our hostel. We immediately connected with 2 of our roommates, Lisa and Rose, and enjoyed chatting and sharing adventure stories with our new friends. Today (Saturday, 10-21) we set out with Lisa, Rose and another new friend, Ashley to explore and hit the sights here. We stood in pouring rain to see David, but it was well worth it. I got goosebumps as I turned the corner and first saw him, and he really is amazing in real life, just as everyone says he is. We poked around a flea market and then the open air markets around the Basilica di San Lorenzo piazza and finally were so fed up with the rain that we headed home. It has been so much fun to meet great girls who are traveling alone and want to go on adventures together! Tonight we have a dinner reservation at Zazas, recommended by Augusta Nadler & Louise Sheldon, other Hobart buddies.