2,995 photos of Africa, some GUUUUUUUUUUUD gelato, a WICKED lamb burger, and a new champion...

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the Pond after another GREAT DAY (with perfect weather) in the Mother Country. Today is a milestone, as ONE YEAR AGO TODAY the Taylors landed at London Gatwick, had their first meal in the country (full English at the Prince Regent), and sent out their first blog post. And now, here we are, 251 posts in, and still going strong.

Okay, so when I left you, the Taylors were about to kick off their day. I am happy to confirm that it was another great one, even if those jokers from the Iberian peninsula pulled off the victory (now is a good time to point out that it is LOUD AS HELL outside our windows - nothing but screaming and honking. Can't they duck into La Tasca or something and celebrate with some jamon?).

Today's featured activity was a tube journey to Bermondsey, where we crossed off another of the "bucket list" items - the Design Museum. Back story on this one - whilst on the US Airways flight back from Charlotte in May, I read an article in the in-flight magazine about an architect who spent 10 years traveling around Africa, visiting each capital city and observing the civic, commercial, and residential structures of each place. The result was a 2,995 photo montage displaying 52 capitals of the continent (he elected to not display Mogadishu, as he said the images were still too chaotic and painful).

We rolled down there about 3 PM, and we spent the next 2.5 hours looking through the photos and reading his commentary. I must tell you - whilst it was A LOT to take in, it was truly impressive.

The design museum itself is pretty neat (and set in a GREAT location right on the Thames), and we explored some of the other floors as well. The freakiest thing we saw was this damn stalker panda bear contraption, where a hundred robotic pandas follow your every move. Yeah, it was pretty much something out of a horror movie.

After that, we walked home along the river, where we soaked up the PERFECT weather and even made time for some Gelato!!! I went with coconut and watermelon, whereas muffin went with white coffee and hazelnut. Needless to say I was ONCE AGAIN bested by my perfect pumpkin's choices. It was the FIRST TIME we've bought ice cream in London, and we were actually shocked that it WAS MELTING. However, no complaints from us - check out the view as we got fat and happy.

We spent the next hour walking home along the Thames, but ultimately we hopped the Tube at Embankment to ensure that we could get home in time for the World Cup Final. But not only did we make the start of the match, MUFFIN PUFFIN WENT EMERIL LEGASSE IN THE KITCHEN!!!! I mean, why just watch footy when you can enjoy some Holland cheese as a starter and then have your sexy wife whip up Lamb Burgers!!! We had all the fixin's - tomatoes, onions, ketchup, mustard, sweet chili sauce, lettuce - it was so guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuud (peppy cheekies). Check out the feast fit for kings!

And now, with the World Cup behind us for another 4 years, we can start settling down and heading to bed. However, I think I'll do a little reading to night (I'm into "Child 44" thanks to Dean, and it is AWESOME). Also, I meant to tell folks that I finished "The Kiterunner" and "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" recently, both of which I would HIGHLY recommend.

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and Jenny