Lawn sports and London Eye

We started Saturday with a morning tour of Lord's Ground--the home of cricket. We learned all about the history of the national sport of England. We entered the Pavilion, formal dining room (they were setting up for afternoon tea), the committee room (where the queen sat to watch the game), the teams' dressing rooms, the awesome aerial press box, etc. It was amazing how all the others on our tour (from the UK, Australia, and India--no Americans!), even the little kids, all knew so much about the rules, players, and history of this sport that we knew nothing about; it felt like going on a tour of a quidditch stadium! But really, it was fun to learn about something to which we previously had very little exposure.

We realized we were near a certain landmark, and so quickly decided to wander up to Abbey Road, in the rain. Worth it for the cheesy Beatles-fan-tourist photo-op? Depends which of us you ask ;)

From there, we went straight to Wimbledon! This is something we, especially Eric, know MUCH more about. Although he was smitten with the tour at the time, all he can say now is, "It was really cool." We started at the museum and then joined our tour, with which we walked the grounds, saw some of the smaller outdoor courts up close and went into the stands of Court No. 1. We walked through the private areas inside the club and learned how ridiculously exclusive membership is. At last, we entered Center Court! Very impressive.

We spent the late afternoon exploring Portobello Market, a massive street display of antiques, food, clothes and jewelry, and lots more 'junk'. It was fun to wander through the oddities. We got a mini-meal (Meredith, from a falafel street vendor, and Eric, a burger from 'Banger Bros'-- ah! Eric finally chimes in, quoting the storefront's tagline: "Banger Bros., *exquisite sausages").

Our evening began at the London Eye, a 443-foot tall ferris wheel on the bank of the Thames. We rode in a glass, round capsule high above the surrounding city, getting a bird's eye view of the layout that we're finally coming to know fairly well. Beautiful! Then we walked along the bustling pier for a bit before venturing further in to have a late dinner at 'Thames', where we tasted London's Indian food. So good! We learned which dishes we like most.

We walked back to the pier for a bit. The South Bank is definitely one of our favorite stretches to walk and wander, so it was the perfect way to end the day.


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