London 1: London life.

So, we are back and I'm going to recap on a topical basis. Now that my jet lag has subsided, I think I'm ready!

Let me start by saying that the main motivation for this trip was to reconnect with an old friend, Neil, and meet his little family (made up of girlfriend, Clementine, and their near 2-year old son, Ralph). Neil and I met 12 years ago while I was studying in London. Our friendship quickly turned into a relationship similar to that of a brother and sister. Along with our friend, Andy, Neil is the reason I kept going back to London year after year. Unfortunately, we lost track of each other in 2000 and were out of touch for nearly five years until he contacted me in August 2005, just before we moved to Seattle. For many months now, I've been nervous about seeing him and Andy again, meeting Clem, and generally being in London again. The place has a strange hold on me. It feels like home, and I'm always sad to leave it behind.

Fortunately, it was just like "old times" from the minute S and I got off the plane. The only thing different was that Ralph came to pick us up, too! For five of our nine nights, we stayed with them in South London, tasting a bit of their day-to-day lives. Clem is an awesome cook. She's French, so I think she was born with it. Each night, she whipped up flawless meals and served us generous breakfasts over several mornings, as well. We had homemade Yorkshire pudding, a traditional Sunday roast, pastries and cheese galore. Divine!

We visited the park with Ralph and laughed each morning as he ran around jabbering in their flat. I totally enjoyed watching French and English DVDs with him, as well. There's certainly no Dora or Thomas the Tank Engine in their house. It's a completely different set of children's programming. He's a cool kid, though. He's already learning how to strum a guitar in fact! Ralph was kind enough to give up his room to us, as well, but sweet kitty Bruno just couldn't get behind that. He stuck nearby the entire time we were there.

There was a lot of soccer talk with Neil. S played video games with him and we visited the local pub, The Cambria, a couple of times, as well. The three of us went to a English Premier League game (which will pop up in a separate post), too. We met up with Andy for an evening of pizza, beer, and good convo, as well.

Overall, it was so good to catch up, so I'm really glad we went.