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After a very fun night with Tom and Catherine, including the most fabulous meal, we got on the tube to go to Nick's flat the following morning. We left there to go out sightseeing in London, something that I had not done for years. We saw the houses of Parliament, Big Bens, Westminster Abbey, No. 10 Downing St., Trafalgar Square and then to the Tower of London and the late night Jack the Ripper tour.

This was a lot of fun and was great to hear all of the facts about the case and then get to the theories ourselves. However, Jen was not impressed. We finished the evening with a good ol' English curry! Sunday followed with a trip to Harrods, and then to the V&A museum, we were able to make it out of here just in time to visit the Science Museum and go and play in the Launchpad area! Big kids!

We left London, leaving Ryan there for a few days and we were back of to stay at Nick's before meeting the folks again. We met them Monday morning in Burton-on-Trent, an old wool town not too far from home. We had another fun evening playing cards and having a "few drinks" before the pre-birthday birthday lunch on Tuesday.

We went to the Yew Tree, a Marco Pierre White establishment where we had the most fabulous meal (http://www.theyewtree.net/menus.php)! Thanks again Mum & Dad!! That evening we went and picked up Ryan from the station to start the influx of visitors to Wylye.... we went to the pub and ate Welsh Rarebit!

Okay, Jen taking over now.

So Wednesday we gave Ryan the classic Buchanan Salisbury tour, complete with multiple views of the Cathedral and numerous pints. We went back to Wylye for some more pints and a delicious dinner, and stayed up late chatting. Thursday was a mellow chill out day, with a few errands thrown in and some movie watching. Friday, trouble arrived from Vegas, by the name of Chrissi. We also had our old friend Mark train in from Eastbourne, and we started the prebirthday celebrations at the pub, followed by the most fantastic roast dinner, and more drinks.

Sunday (happy bday Oli!) we basically hung around until Nick arrived, then the boys minus Ryan killed some brain cells by playing guitar hero for hours on end, while Ryan, Chrissi and I went on a walk to the nearby village with James. We walked along the countryside, watching the sheep roam around, and found out the answers to such deep questions such as "What exactly IS thatch?" and "Who keeps these country paths so dang clean?!". Oh America, we must educate ourselves so we don't feel so silly asking such obvious questions!! Thanks James for tolerating us!

We ended up back at the house doing a bit of group band practice, passing around the mic and breaking some eardrums (poor Luce! sorry!), then it was time for a delicious paella and a surprise cake for Oli! It was in the shape of a pork pie, complete with pint of lager and pickled onions- it was eerie how lifelike the cake looked, though thankfully it didnt taste like pork. It was amazing! Well done Soz and Emma!

Then it was off to the pub for some drinkies before heading into Salisbury for the evening. I won't bore you with the details of our evening, but there was a heck of a crowd out there to celebrate, and we painted the town with lager. Seriously, that floor was lethal.

Sunday was a bit of a chill out day, watched a bit of Rubgy in the pub in Wylye, then off to bed at a reasonable time to head to Brighton for the next few days!!

Once again, details aside, Brighton was fab, a great mix of revisiting old haunts and memories and making new ones with some of our favorite people. Lovely! Wednesday we headed back to Wylye for out last evening there, and we enjoyed every minute of it. Thursday we were able to pick up some last minute supplies for our trip, and after a sad goodbye, we hopped on the train to Waterloo. Waterloo-tube-heathrow-Comfort Inn hotel. Bar food and bed, early morn! Check out- shuttle bus- 8am flight to Mumbai. Crappy plane but oh well! 5 hours in Mumbai airpirt, 2 cruddy meals later, we boarded our 3am flight to Chennai. MOSQUITOS EVERYWHERE; it was impossible to sit still in the plane until well after takeoff because of the swarms. Welcome to India!

We arrived in Chennai at 5am, emerged from the airport by 6, and were met by a sea of touts and rickshaw drivers. After a bit of chaos and frustration, we successfully found an atm and ended up in a legit cab to the bus station. Yet another sea of confusion, we found our way to the proper terminal and bay, and finally got on a bus to Mamallapuram at 7am. WOW. The lines in the road are strictly for show, as the buses are all over the place, dodging cows and motorbikes. Craziness! More soon my lovelies!