Da Bears!

A couple months ago, one of the couples we have met here - Ryan and Allison - invited us to London for an NFL football game. Each year the NFL plays one game at Wembley Stadium in London, and the this year the Bears and the Bucs were scheduled to play. Allison and Ryan happen to be big Bears fans, so they immediately entered and pool for tickets.

We left early, early Saturday morning. I found a decent place to stay - a bit out of the way, but we have decided that we prefer to be out a bit in order to see the unbeaten path.

We checked out the Tate Modern museum first, which is the national gallery of international modern art. It is rather new, and was created from a disused power station in the heart of London. My favorite was the collection on Energy and Process. These look at artists' interest in transformation and natural forces. My other favorite was in Poetry and Dream by Ai Weiwei titled Sunflower Seeds. It is made up of what appear to be millions of sunflower seed husks, apparently identical but actually unique. Although they look realistic, each seed has been intricately hand-crafted from porcelain. The display told us that for the artist, sunflower seeds - a common street snack - carry associations with China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-76). While individuals were denied personal freedom, propaganda images depicted Chairman Mao as the sun with the mass of people as sunflowers turning towards him. Yet Ai remembers the sharing of sunflower seeds as a gesture of human compassion, an opportunity for pleasure, friendship and kindness during a time of extreme poverty and uncertainty.

From there we were supposed to meet everyone at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, but Billy had on his Timberland boots, so he needed to change. Our detour took us through three AMAZING British food markets - Jubilee, Green, and Borough Markets. These are part of London's most renowned food market; a source of exceptional British and international produce. We got to taste amazing fruits, veggies, cheeses, preserves, and more. Some of our faves are below...

We headed over to the Portabello Market after that. Of course several of the main tube lines were down, so it took us over two hours to finally reach it (okay maybe we stopped for a couple pints too)... Billy grabbed an AMAZING chicken shish on the way. Compared to the Borough and Camden Markets, Portobello was a HUGE letdown. I have found MUCH better antiques at the Erlangen flea market. After we left the market we headed back into town to meet Kelley and Jesse for a night of ROCK PAPER SCISSORS.  Kelley found an online ad for a rock, paper, scissors competition, so we had to go support her! I must also add that Kelley totally did the Talladega Nights "I don't know what to do with my hands" during her interview. AWESOME SAUCE!

Kelley, Jesse, and a British couple we met

OFFICIAL R,P,S Rules

The next morning we slept in and headed to a tailgating party for the game.

THE GIRLS!

YOU GOT ICED!

Tailgating was SO cool - everyone had on NFL jerseys from all over. THe throwbacks were awesome!

FOOOOOOD!

Ryan's a Bears fan :)

British and American flags and National anthems!

ICED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And it was all downhill from here...