Big Ben (the bell inside, at least) and the Houses of Parliament

Well. I'm sorry, but I can see no way around it but to inundate you with blog posts from here on out about our trip. Step into our living room while I pull down the projector screen and rack up my slideshow. Again, my apologies, but today, an overview.

It was really hard to get out of town. Neel's flight from Greece to London got messed up so I spent much of our last day trying to get flight and lodging for him sorted. Our dogs got in another fight (I know.) , and I broke it up with my arm and suffered an impressive beagle bite for my pains. Really? The easiest part was actually flying to London.

Once we were there, all was delightful. We reunited with Neel at Annie and Richard's flat and spent the next two and a half days enjoying London. Annie had Tuesday off and gave us a great tour where we hit so many major sites (more on that at Insideology and here tomorrow) . Wednesday we called "The Festival of Neels (Neils)" because we met with two of Neel's cousins (one from the Indian side for lunch and tea and one from the Irish side of the family for dinner). And still there were so many people left that we didn't manage to see. (I'm looking at YOU, Chi.)

Thursday Annie and Richard bundled us into a cab for St. Pancras where we boarded the Eurostar to Paris!

After settling into our apartment, we took the Metro into the center of the city. A stroll along the Siene took us to the Eiffel Tower. (Neel kept promising that it was just around the bend, but he didn't mention which bend!) Our first night in Paris we spent under the tower. Second day we were full-on tourists, using a hop on/hop off bus to get orientated and see the city.

That however, is when things began to fall apart. Neel had brought a bit of a cold with him from Greece but recovered quickly. Callum, however, started a sore throat on our second day in Paris and by that afternoon he was quite miserable. By dinner he had a high fever, and all our plans changed. We said good-bye to our planned trip to Normandy, and it was a measure of how miserable Callum was that he didn't protest at all.

So a final lazy day in Paris instead before back on the Eurostar to our friends in London. A sunny Sunday on Primrose Hill was the perfect ending to our trip. Tomorrow I'll write more on our time in London, and Thursday I'll devote to Paris. I think it's inevitable to think of comparing the two cities, especially when you visit them in conjunction, and I won't deny that we've done that, at least a little. Still, I'll try not to do that here. Each city has its own particular charms, and we were lucky to be able to see them both.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you more about our wanders around London-town and what a lovely tour guide Miss Bird was for us. We really had the best of times. She dialed in, and London put on a show.