More Wimbledon & World Cup, and Nadal's Autograph

July 2, Andrew and I hung out at "Walkabout". It was a really cool pub to watch the Nadal vs Murray tennis game and a football game. We had a great time... specifically because Brazil lost to one of our favourite teams, the Netherlands! YAY!

July 3, we went back to Hyde Park and walked to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. This is one of the best things we saw in London because it was so different. It was really cool, being a large circular pool of water (knee deep at the deepest parts) that you can walk around in. It was so nice because we have been sweating buckets in London. It has been very hot the entire week and with no AC we have been dying!

Then we went to Nottinghill (and left soon after we got there because of the crowds!), then we went back to Walkabout to see Germany win (YAY), then we took a quick walk around Leicester  (pronounced 'Lester'...) Square and Covent Market before going back to the hostel for some rest.

July 4 was a big day for us! We woke up early to get in the queue for the Wimbledon finals. It wasn't much of a wait and as we walked into the grounds we turned to our left and saw Nadal warming up. We stayed for about 30 minutes and as he came off the court he signed an autograph for us. Grandma Luft is going to be so excited because Nadal is her favourite player, she even has his picture on her fridge. Nadal went on to win Wimbledon... for the 2nd time.

Although we will miss the British, who have queuing etiquette and can make anything sound proper, we are now off to Germany (Cologne) for a few days. Hopefully Germany will keep winning in soccer so that we can celebrate with them in Berlin for the finals July 11.

Brussels, London, Wimbledon and The Wimbledance

It has been a while since the last blog and we have been up to quite a bit. 

June 27 Andrew and I spent a night in Brussels. We didn't really do that much, just walked around the main square and of course watched some World Cup Soccer.

June 28 we caught the Eurostar (train through the Chunnel) from Brussels to London. Once we arrived we checked into our hostel, got some groceries, cooked dinner (it has been a long time since we had hot food!) and went for a stroll in Kensington Gardens.

June 29 we decided that we were really going to be tourists and see all the sights that we could possibly see because we anticipated spending most of the week watching tennis matches at Wimbledon Park. So we first went to Trafalgar Square,

then we went to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards (much better than in Monaco), 

had lunch at St. James' Park, 

went to Westminster Abbey, 

saw Big Ben, 

the Tower of London, 

Tower Bridge,

took a river boat to the London Eye, went back to the hostel for dinner and then back out to go to Hyde Park to read and play some crib. 

June 30 we had to get up early to make it to Wimbledon to stand in line for ground tickets. Just as we got our tickets and got on the grounds we turned to our left and I spotted Federer warming up for his match. Andrew and I were so excited to see him!

After our encounter with the Greatest player of all time, we went and setup our blanket on the Hill to watch the matches on the big screen. Andrew went wandering before the matches started and he ran into Nadal who was on his way to warm up for his match. 

So we had a great day at Wimbledon (even though Roger lost... he was injured). These guys below really helped make our day. They were 4 of them (one is missing from the picture, obviously). They were getting smashed watching the tennis matches, cheering for Andy Murray. They were all dressed in white tennis gear (which is mandatory for the players at Wimbledon). They were constantly standing up and doing this weird dance thing, which was really funny. They would point their hands out to either side above their head, and then pump them up and down. After the last match of the day we saw them and were about to walk right by them when Andrew said "Heyyyyy" and started to do their dance. This really got the guys excited and they wanted a picture of them and Andrew doing the dance. They called the dance the "Wimbledance", and were quite certain that it was "going to catch on next year". Hopefully we will see them again Sunday for the finals.

Yesterday (July 1, Canada Day), we went to the British Museum. Andrew really enjoyed looking at all the really old stuff, while I preferred to scout out benches and to admire from afar. The museum was really neat, I can't believe how much stuff the British stole (even though in the description of what the object is it usually said something about how the Brits "paid" for the article or saved it from being demolished, etc.). Then we spent the afternoon at the Camden Market. We were on the hunt for a few pieces of clothing... but left empty handed even though they had a thousand stores there!

Then last night we went to see Billy Elliot (I couldn't convince Andrew to see Grease or Dirty Dancing, both of which are playing in London). It was a really good musical and we really enjoyed ourselves.