Lindsay Who?

What a weird and fabulous day Heather and I had today. We are just back after a great dinner out with old friends Lisa and Brett. Lisa made reservations at a tres chic restaurant, Yauatcha, in the West End - Soho, really. It's a very cool Chinese restaurant with a tapas- style menu... we ordered close to 10 dishes and ate and chatted for about 3 hours! It was so great to see them - it's been too long. They are lucky enough to have lived in London as ex-pats for the last 5 years, and will head back to the US later this summer.

Anyway, I have bugged Lisa for a long time that she is completely oblivious to the famous people who live so close to her (in Hampstead). Last time I was here we drove right by Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow, and walked by Tim Curry. Well tonight as we left the restaurant Lisa grabbed my arm and said, "Oh Ruth, hang on, something's happening." A couple of black cars pulled up and suddently flashes started going off and the area got as bright as day. I was mesmerized by the lights and barely noticed as Lindsay Lohan walked by. Poor thing looked in very rough shape - pale, skinny as a rail, and appeared to be out of it. The paps were very polite and I had to wonder why she doesn't just smile and get it over with instead of trying to hide her face. It's not like they're going to go away and she should know that by now!

Anyway, excitement over, Lisa grabbed my hand and said, "so who was that?" Sigh.

The rest of the day was a lot of fun too. We awoke to an incredible thunderstorm and a downpour, and so all hopes of being outside today were dashed. We pulled out "rainy day plan #2" and headed off to breakfast, and suddenly the sun came out! By the time we finished eating the sky was blue and so we headed down to Westminster pier to catch the City Cruise boat that would take us up the Thames to Greenwich. We had a terrific guide and really enjoyed the 1.5 hour ride. Here's a shot of Tower Bridge that I took from the the roof of our boat:

I should mention the very weird incident we both experienced on the tube. We got on the Northern line heading south from Tottenham Court Road. Suddenly we realized that we were going the wrong way, and knew we'd have to get off at the next station, Goodge, and go to the other track. Problem was that Goodge was closed. And yet the train stopped at Goodge. So off we got and switched tracks to go back south. As expected, the train went south back to Tottenham Court Road, but then the next station was Goodge again, which is NORTH of Tottenham Court Road.

Now this sounds confusing, but what's worse is that it's impossible. We went from Goodge to Tottenham Court Road to Goodge on the same train. Heather and I have been trying all day to figure out what happened and we can't. So we've stopped trying and decided there is an alternate universe somewhere and we skipped the rails for a second. No really. Otherwise we are both crazy. :)

Greenwich itself was charming! I was there about 20 years ago, and don't remember there being so much to look at. We wandered through the Greenwich market, climbed to the Royal Observatory to put one foot on either side of the Prime Meridian so we could say we were in the East AND the West at the same time, had a snack, wandered the streets, and then took the light rail back through Canary Wharf and back into town.

From there we headed to Hyde Park and walked up to Speakers Corner, where a half dozen people were standing on stools shouting their opinions to the gathering crowds. We tried to listen in, and it seemed mostly politics and religion... go figger... On up to Oxford street for some window shopping, and eventually back on the tube to the hotel before getting gussied up to go meet Lisa and Brett.

Great day all around... crazy tube rides, rain becoming sun, movie stars and old friends. How can tomorrow top this?