Los Peterson

I'm back on U.S. soil. Although it's nice to be home, I could have stayed another week in England. What a trip. Next time we're getting one of the grandparents to watch Gunnar, because it would have been 100 times better with Renae. But it was still a great time.


It started with a day trip to the English countryside. Here's "town center" of Avebury, a village surrounded by large henge and stone circles dating back only, oh, 5,000 years or so.



Here's a shot of a section of the outer circle:



After walking around the circle a bit, my friend and I got a bite to eat at this pub which was established before the U.S. declared independence.



Here's something you don't find too often in NYC. A big open field with rolling hills as far as you can see:



Then it was off to Stonehenge. I've seen so many pictures of Stonehenge that I thought I would be a little disappointed seeing it in person. It failed to disappoint. What an awesome structure.



I got so caught up in the moment that I actually purchased a bunch of souvenirs in the shop (I never do that). Most of them were for Gunnar (his very own "Spoonhenge" - which I hoped would get him more excited about eating, a black t-shirt that says "Stonehenge Rocks", and a Stonehenge popup book). With the dollar so weak, I think it only cost me about $35,000.

Here I am in all my touristy glory:



I was quite jealous of the carefree and relaxed nature of this gentleman sketching in the light breeze:



And one last shot before we left:



I couldn't get used to sitting as a passenger on the left-hand side of the road. Every time a car would approach from the opposite direction I would flinch a little because it just felt wrong.



I loved the old little towns that seemed to just suddenly appear:



On Friday I spent most of the day walking around London.



And ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Wagamama. If you haven't eaten at Wagamama, you don't know what you're missing. Renae and I even bought the Wagamama cookbook about 9 years ago. I wish they had one in NYC.







Then my iPhone battery was running low, so I found the nearest Apple store, stole some iPhone juice and purchased a new Rilo Kiley album over the free WiFi.



At that point I was getting a little board. So I called Renae and asked her for any suggestions of places to visit (since she lived there about 9 years ago). She said to walk over to Hyde Park.

Best-advice-ever.

When I got to Hyde Park I heard music playing. Turns out they were right in the middle of the 02 Wireless festival. I bought a ticket for 50 pounds (yikes!) and ventured in.



Made a quick stop at the halfpipe before heading to the main stage (mental note: start skating halfpipes again this summer).



And then headed over to the main stage. Beck was performing. I've seen Beck perform before, and this wasn't one of his best shows. He was extremely mellow. I like the more hyper Beck. That's just me.

After Beck finished, I had a decision to make. Head over to one of the smaller stages and watch the New York Dolls play, or push my way towards the front of the main stage and see Morrissey. I've never seen him perform, and admittedly, I've never been a huge fan. So I wasn't quite sure what to do. A Canadian couple who I made friends with told me I had to stay and that I wouldn't regret it. We pushed our way up as close as we could. Turned out to be worth it. Morrissey put on an amazing show.



I'm not sure how many people were there, but it seemed like a HUGE crowed. Later that night I saw the concert replaying on TV and it just looked like an endless sea of people:



The sound was too loud for my little Canon Elf, so forgive the audio on this clip:



I found this photo a bit interesting (beer, cigarette, trash and a healthy sugar snap pea (none of them were mine):




All in all, a fantastic trip. I wish Renae had been there with me, but there is always next time...