I’ve been very delinquent in reporting about the trip to London.  It’s been a busy couple of weeks!  I do want to quickly remark about our Saturday night though.  After a day of sightseeing, we had dinner in Chinatown.  The restaurant where we ate was nice but unremarkable.  Afterwards, we decided to first try to get into one of the pubs near Piccadilly and Leicester Square.  We saw an Irish Pub called O’Neill’s and went for it.  How anticlimactic!  We walked right in and straight up to the bar with no problem.  So, it was two ciders and up to the second floor.  We staked a good location to hang out and watch the people and there we stayed the entire night.  The music was Irish folk for about 20 minutes after we arrived and then switched to good ol’ rock.  We sang and danced until about 2:30 AM with anyone deciding to hang out near “our spot”. 

After leaving the pub, it was a small walk to McDonald’s for some quick food and then a long walk to find a taxi.  Before we decided to hike to find another taxi (this was actually going to be what would have been a disastrous hike back to the hotel,) we ran into a black market taxi.  The man wanted 20, but Uli refused to pay more than 15.  After a few fun moments watching Uli and driver bargain over the price, the man gave up.  I told Uli he was master.  Uli then said, ”There is no way I was getting in that car.  We would be kidnapped and raped.”  That was a good laugh.  After about 30 minutes of walking in the general direction of our hotel, we found a legitimate taxi to take us home.  When we arrived at the hotel, Uli tried to pay with a credit card.  The Taxi driver said, “Where do you think you are?  New York City?”  Again, another good laugh.  We went down the street a bit to an ATM, grabbed some cash and paid for the ride.  I had a great night, but it was definitely time for bed at that point.

Oh, and the title of this entry?   After about my fourth cider and while returning from a trip to the bathroom, I stumbled across a group of people doing pushups.  I’m not sure what was said, but I hit the floor and knocked out a few good Army pushups until they said I was worthy of another drink.  Yep, this old man still has it

O'Neill's Irish Pub at 14 New Row, London, WC2N 4LF