A day that started crisp and clear turned to rain.  The drizzle and Underground strike altered our plans and we headed to Westminster Abbey instead of to the theater district where we planned to consider a matinee.  As is typical of the cathedrals from that era, it is spectacular including nearly a millennium of history on the site.  Admission was a head turning 15 pounds (about $25 dollars) but when you get inside it now includes a free thorough audio guide which makes the price more reasonable.

Here are some sights from today.

The weather remains as we expected with temperatures in the mid-sixties and overcast.  A quiet day here as expected which started with getting my first run of the trip and the opportunity to see how huge the bike sharing program is here.  We have a superb one in Denver which has come under fire by the Republican gubernatorial candidate as something that "could threaten our personal freedoms."  (http://www.denverpost.com/election2010/ci_1567389)  It appears that they are at an even greater risk to a loss of freedom here because of their efforts to reduce traffic and pollution and stay healthy. 

We were so European on Sunday.  Up late, coffee late, dinner late.  Okay, dinner was at 7 but that's late for us.  But the advantage of being Americans who go for the senior citizen discount at dinner is that, in Europe, there is always a table.

The house sitter is in place, a gardener hired to protect all of Konnie’s hard work this year and the trans-Atlantic flight complete.  I will try to make the next 23 days more observational than “we did this and that” but as this trip is our experimental “what would it be like to live here trip,” some days it will just be a travel diary.

We arrived at Heathrow at noon on Saturday, September 4.  We love the non-stop from Denver.  Leaving later in the evening without an interim stop just makes the trip more comfortable and the transition to the new time zone, i.e. staying up for the rest of the first European day, much easier.  Our townhouse is comfortable, equipped and roomy and, most importantly, is on a dead end lane of row townhouses in a residential neighborhood resulting in a quiet environment for those who tend to have difficulty sleeping.  Not me of course!

We are close to Hyde Park, Victoria Station, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral, the grocery store, other key sights and, we got lucky again, a Starbucks.  Or, as the picture of a freestanding Starbuck’s kiosk on the street near Victoria Station might indicate, perhaps their habit here is even worse than in US cities so always being close to one may require no luck at all.

I have learned to label the pictures which might help one understand why I might have taken some of the less obvious ones.  Just click on the image to see a description.  For today, they are just some very obvious kind of London views.  Thanks for following us.

What is it about growing up in a very small town and that connection with those you went to school with or even only knew remotely that seems to last a lifetime?  Tonight (August 18, 2010) about 25 people, most of whom graduated from Short High School in the 1960s, gathered at El Reparo, Liberty, Indiana's finest restaurant.  People came from as far away as Evansville, Dayton and Cincinnati on a weeknight to reminisce and catch up on each others lives and families.  Many had not seen each other for 40 years and more.  A great time seemed to be had by all.  I know it was a blast for me.  We need to keep growing this event.  Thanks to those who made the effort to be there.  Especially Elaine, Jackie and Jim.  We shall do it again.

And thanks to Jose and Carlos at El Reparo.  As always, a terrific job of taking care of us.

On Monday of this week I flew from Denver to Indianapolis for the purpose of picking up my Mother and flying her back to Colorado the next day.  She will be 85 on August 27 and because of the way my schedule works this month, Konnie and I decided we would bring her to Colorado to spend a week of birthday celebration with us in advance of the actual date.  After slipping in a dinner in Richmond, Indiana on Monday with my sisters and Mom, on Tuesday we flew to Denver.  After spending a couple of days in Denver we drove to our place at 7800 feet 15 miles south of the nearest city lights of Steamboat Springs.

Or "Chelsea's New Adventure."  After two days at home after the eight day baseball trip it was time to hit the road again.  This time in a 16 foot Penske rental truck to transport furniture from Denver to Seattle with a stop in Spokane to pick up her additional belongings as well as Konnie, who had flown there from Denver, and Chelsea.

We arrived in Denver Saturday afternoon nearly on time which was somewhat remarkable given the weather they had around Chicago today.  We had a 45 minute connection and left Philadelphia 40 minutes late but made it.  It did not go unnoticed to Logan that his second trip to Chicago consisted of a five minute stay.

I like to think the private time of interaction is meaningful to the grandchildren as well as me since Ryan
and Logan have already initiated conversations about doing a baseball trip again
to different locales.  We did have a discussion a few days ago about
how we could combine cities with baseball teams in an efficient way. 
Then on the way home today Logan asked "How are we going to get
to Toronto?"

We'll figure it out.

Thanks for following Ryan, Logan and me on our travels.  Here are a few pictures of my spring trip with Isabelle and Kristin.

Six major league baseball games in five cities in seven days and 6,500 miles by the time the boys return to Phoenix.  The oldest parks.  The newest park.  Obviously Ryan and Logan are fans.  We watched all 54 innings and stood in the bleachers for batting practice for multiple hours before the games including tonight in Philadelphia where the game time "feels like" temperature was 102.  It is brutal in the pre-game bleachers as they can each attest to now but to the persistent go some spoils as they head home with four major league baseballs including the two snagged tonight.  That's exactly four more than I have to show for over a half century of attending games.

In the meantime my friend of many years, Jerry Schemmel, was added to the radio team of the Rockies, fulfilling his lifetime dream of being a Major League Baseball play by play announcer.  Thus the fortunate convergence of events tonight.  We had great seats again but this time I didn't have to make my daily visit to an ATM and pound the 100 degree pavement looking for sellers or dealing with those middlemen because of our tendency to end up at sold out venues.  (Baltimore was the only game not sold out.)  And the fitting climax to this epic journey was to spend some time in the press box tonight witnessing the broadcast and seeing the views of the broadcasters.  It seemed to be a thrill for all three of us.

Heading for Denver via Chicago on Saturday with my travel partners continuing on to Phoenix.  I do believe they are ready to begin the 2011 planning.  Count me in.

We rolled into Baltimore’s Penn Station about 1:30 on Thursday to be greeted by our hottest temperatures of the trip (not by much though), a very oppressive 93 and higher.  We went straight to Oriole Park at Camden Yards and nailed three seats four rows behind the visiting Minnesota Twins dugout.  We had decided to be at the park when it opened so that the boys could participate in the entire batting practice in their quest for more major league baseballs.  So there was no time to do anything other than grab lunch, swing by the hotel and return to the stadium.  They spent 90 minutes in the right field bleachers chasing balls and trying to snag them from the air against much taller and aged competitors.  Unfortunately, they came up dry.

One would not expect to say that a 5-0 five hit victory by the visiting Twins against a team 30 games out of first place was packed with excitement but the boys got a variety of action.  While the game was well played and enjoyable, they saw three Oriole ejections on a horribly blown call by the first place umpire (what a great job…you get to screw up and then send away anyone who disagrees with you even though the world can see it was you who was dead wrong (oh my, yet another reminder of my experiences with investment managers)), an idiot who ran onto the field and taunted the Baltimore police officers for probably five minutes and an up close performance by the Oriole mascot.  Let’s see, even I can think of trespassing, resisting arrest, not obeying a police officer and probably more.  During the field invasion incident the boys were hoping to witness their first tasing.

The Orioles too have a great history as exhibited by the retired numbers of the likes of Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripkin Jr. and Jim Palmer among others.  And while Yankee Stadium is an incredible venue, it is so over the top that it can be a distraction from the game and, as mentioned earlier, the costs are absurd.  Oriole Park, much like our Coors Field, is just a beautiful and relaxing place to enjoy a game.  And while still overpriced as are all professional sports, our seats at less than a third the price of comparable seats at Yankee Stadium seemed like a steal.

Tomorrow, Philadelphia and the sixth game of our journey.  Go Rockies.