Better than bombarding your inbox: Visitors & a tour

Song of the day: Me like Bees, Pneumonia

Our friend, Nye, is currently in the lead for most visits. This past weekend was his third time staying with us. His cousin, Steve, was in tow as well. We went out for dinner Friday night, but Kenz and I were too zonked to do much else.

Grainy, out of focus picture of Kenz & Nye

Steve and I. Same unfortunate photo quality.

Steve had planned ahead and purchased a ticket to a concert for Friday night. He got ready to go out as the rest of us changed into pajamas.

He wound up seeing one of his fav DJs at a popular London nightclub.

I wound up going to sleep immediately after Steve left. Nye and Kenz stayed up to watch a movie. Well, Kenz stayed up to watch a movie. Apparently Nye passed out right after the opening credits.

I took the two of them to breakfast at a cafe the next morning...

A picture of a picture of food.

...and then the three of us went to the Imperial War Museum.

I didn't get too many pictures inside the museum. The entrance is being refurbished. Whereas that didn't affect too many exhibits, it did throw off the entire feel of the place. I look forward to returning once all the remodeling is finished.

As the three of us stepped out of the museum, the sky opened up and we were caught in the heaviest London rainstorm I've ever seen.

Trying to stay dry

Steve & Nye were off for the rest of the day and night, touring around town. I swam back to the flat.

Random Photo Break:

You can't tell, but Kenz got splashed by a bus driving through a puddle. It was sad/hilarious. Sadlarious?

The worst Batman I've seen. Hockey pads.

Tattoos are forever.

Kenz got a compliment from a stranger.

I saw the smuggest cat in all of London.

Elephant & Castle, 5am.

Kara & Kenz making fun of me.

Steve and Nye left on Sunday afternoon, and Kenz had us on an adventure by that evening. She had booked a "London Conspiracy" walking tour. Neither of us really knew what to expect; she'd found the tour on Groupon. Of course, she was excited about the topics. I was just happy to go for a stroll in the nice weather.

We met near Covent Garden tube station.

And were given a sheet of paper with a number to text to play a 'game' during the tour.

This guy was ready to party, beers in hands and pockets.

We wound up about twenty deep.

It didn't take long to figure out how informative the tour was going to be. Our tour guide wrote a fiction book that takes place in London, where someone gets caught up in the underbelly of secret societies within the city (I couldn't really understand the full plot). Endeavoring to sell copies of the book, he leads these guided walks on the weekends. At times, he'd stop and rap (acapella) a few bars of original material having to do with conspiracy theories, secret societies, government misinformation, etc. Apparently the book has some rhymes in it as well.

The only problem was that it didn't really appear that he'd done intensive research for the book or tour. We'd walk up to a building, he'd say one or two sentences about the building itself (This was where the Bank of England started. The Bank of England controls money. This building is now a law firm.), then ask a similar amount of rhetorical questions (What do you think about things like the Fed and the Bank of England? Do you believe the government tells you the truth?). We'd get a text message from the 'game', telling us what happens to a character in the book at the site (In the novel, Chantalle is made to wear the Templar cross on her clothes at the Society of Light). People would ask questions, but our guide had no answers.

It was ambiguous. It was descriptive. It was fun. But it wasn't all that informative. There was no real new information (or actual conspiracies) shared. We both bit our tongues until the walk was over. Whatever. We enjoyed the stroll, weather, and company.