Today we caught up with L’s cousin E, who lives somewhere south of woop-woop (actually in the commuting belt for London, but outside the M25 so therefore in the boonies). We rushed down breakfast in order to make all the right trains, and got ourselves to Hampden Court, locale of the famous palace where Henry VIII liked to park his rump on occasion. Met E, and decided to check out the grounds of said palace. Not sure about E, but L and I were craving a little greenery and open space. The greenery soon got cold, so we decided a picnic in nearby Kew Gardens would be good. We piled…

Today was L’s birthday. Regardless of how old she claims to be, in London she is a baby (I would say spring chicken but we’ve seen that on a few menus lately). The hotel building is many times her age; our local underground station is three times her age; and London had grey hair before she was born. We spent the morning wandering around the Camden Markets, an interesting sprawl of little markets that combined make up on big marketplace. Interesting, fascinating stalls, shiny things, clothes, souvenirs, fabulously smelling foods from around the globe, the ultra modern and the trendy retro, bizarre and grotesque items, and heavy metal t-shirts, among…