Happy Birthday Matthew! Farewell To The Miedemas

Happy 22nd Birthday Matthew!!! I swear I feel older on my brother's birthdays, more than I do on my own!

This morning consisted of some sleeping in after our long day yesterday. Once we were finally alive, I drug Keith in and out of a few souvenir shops - he loved it! Haha. Then we met up with Ian and Becky around lunch time. We vowed there would be little walking today so we hopped on the tube (subway) and went to Kensington where Harrod's of London is. Wow! What a department store. It is 6 levels and has well dressed doorman welcoming you. The store has everything you'd need, at a heafty price tag for most things. Designer perfume, clothes, amazing food hall (court does't seem fancy enough a word for this place), groceries, etc. It was an experience we had to see. It was Keith and Ian's idea really. Hehe.

Hopped back on the tube and went to Picadilly Square so we could find a pub to grab a late lunch. Finally found a really cool pub called Waxy O'Connor's. Quite a large, impressive pub with lots of character. I believe this would turn out to be one of my favorite watering holes if I were living in London. After eating, it was time to go. We were getting very scarse on time at this point. Keith and I said our goodbyes to Ian and Becky and were on our high speed return to the hotel to grab our bags, then off to Paddington Station to catch our train. It didn't happen. Our journey of 2 tube rides, a brisk walk to the hotel, and another to Paddington, we missed our 5pm train by 5 minutes. Whoops! No big deal, a train leaves every hour so we had a bit of time to kill. Simon met us at the train station - actually he gave us the play by play phone calls while we were in transit to the station - calling every few minutes to say he was there, the train is leaving soon, the train has left. At this point we were around the corner from the station. So close! Arrived home at 11:30pm.

Called Matthew with birthday wishes, but he wasn't home. I got to talk to Graham for a half hour - he's never home so this was great! Caught Matthew online just before I headed to bed. So wish the boys could be here with us.