Picture Post

Here we go...our last few days in photos:

Killing time in Athens, we made our way to the ORIGINAL olympic stadium...built in ancient times, fell to ruin, excavated, and reused for the first modern games in 1896...still used today for the end of the Athens Marathon. (Which of course begins in Marathon, 26.2 miles away), and was used in the 2004 Olympics for the archery competition. Can hold 50,000 peeps.

Look, Jill Gidlund's favorite little creature...scavenging at our table during our last Greek meal.

spycam on the job once again: sleeping vendor on Athenian street...

and we're off...Big Mama and Big Backpack, supporting each other while waiting for the metro to take us to the airport.

Ah, this London weather is SO NICE. No more stickiness, lovely breezes, and it stopped raining when we got here. :)
For reals, we're in London now...
Here comes the publicity caravan for the Tour de France prologue stage...lots of free but useless stuff gets thrown at the spectators.
These folks made a real effort...baguette waving, garlic holding, the stripes, etc.
Lo was the most successful catcher of us all. Of course, we gave everything to Stasia and Kayla, since we're grown ups and don't need silly tchotchkes.
We took a break from hanging out in the park watching the Tour and walked through the tres riche neighborhood of Mayfair. Here's what the average street looked like. I felt right at home. :)
Our little lunch group. We were super excited because we found a little grocery store that was just marking down their sandwiches for quick sale. Sometimes food tastes more delicious when it's real cheap! Especially in London where everything is twice as expensive...

Shout out to the Jensens!
So that's George Hincapie, or at least the best photo I could get of him. (They were whizzing by super fast!) He went on to win 3rd place yesterday. But the guy who won was truly amazing...fastest speeds ever recorded in the tour prologue.
This was the crush of people trying to cross over the tour route at one of only a few crossing points in Hyde Park. It was crazy packed, but still fairly orderly...very British.

Look, it's Lance! (or at least, Madame Tussaud's version of him). There was a bike next to him you could climb on and take a picture, and it was so cheesy, but I was actually gonna go for it...utnil I found out it cost 5 pounds. That's 10 dollars too much. :(
Here I am at Princess Diana's memorial fountain. You are allowed to: put your hands or feet in, sit along the edge. You are not allowed to: walk in the fountain, which was a big circular shape. The granite is from the princess' native Cornwall, and the shape emulates her big arms of love encircling the whole world, just as she was in life. (I made up that last bit. :)
Recognize those girls crowded into the tube train?