Torch Day

The Olympic torch came through Wimbledon today, and passed within a couple blocks of my house.  Josh's Aunt Kris is visiting us, so the two of us walked down the street on this gorgeous afternoon to watch the torch relay make its way up to the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where Andy Murray was scheduled to pass the torch to Venus Williams.  We decided to skip the crowds and celebrity sightings in favor of local flavor -- although I did find myself wishing we had gone to Croydon earlier in the day to see Patrick Stewart carry the torch....

Crowds start to gather on Haydons Road

The couple is clearly carrying a torch for one another

These kids were getting a little tired of waiting

Ooh, this looks promising!

Samsung bus with cheerleaders and video screen

The ubiquitous Union Jack

The Coke bus handed out free Cokes

But the Lloyds bus did not hand out cash

The torch police!

Another bus...

And last, but not least -- THE TORCH!  The torchbearer was Kelly Gura, one of the many people nominated to carry the torch by their peers.

The Olympic Flame

As we walked home with our neighbors, Kris said, "Well, that was neat!  How often do you get to see the Olympic torch go right by your house?" 

Actually, this is the second time.  When I was living in Washington, DC in 1996, the Olympic torch went right past the apartment building I lived in.  That was also the same day that Josh and I started dating, so "Torch Day" has always had a special meaning for us.  I was sorry that Josh wasn't able to watch the torch go by with me again today, but we still wished one another a Happy Torch Day when he left for work this morning.  And with another day of warm, sunny weather, it was a very happy day, indeed!

Faster, Higher, Stronger

Yes, that's the Olympic motto, but it seemed just as appropriate for the Farnborough Air Show, where Josh and I spent the afternoon yesterday.

Those of you who know my husband personally need no explanation of how excited he was about this.  He has always loved airplanes, and can identify nearly every flying machine in the National Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center without reading the labels.  He has a private pilot's license with an instrument rating, so he even knows how to fly some of them.  The icing on the cake is that his office is in the Farnborough Aerospace Center, which is right next to the airfield where this event takes place every two years, so he has been watching the pilots practicing for the past week.

I really should have had Josh write this post, since I don't share his gift.  Unlike the big air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin -- which Josh and I attended several years ago -- the focus here was mostly on military aircraft, so I was even further out of my element.

Josh poses in front of the BAE Systems pavilion

Some kind of stealth thingy with a Typhoon in the background

Josh was really excited about this plane...

I was more excited about the cute pilot that chatted with Josh while he sat
in the cockpit

It started raining just as the air show began, but I did get a few decent photos between the raindrops...

Massive A380

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo

Cute little aerobatic biplane

Some kind of military fighter jet

Pilatus

Airbus A400M

Rain + 53-degree temps = sparse air show spectators

American Osprey

Another Osprey shows off its moves

Nice props!

Funky-looking amphibious plane

Columbian Air Force!

The inclement weather put quite a damper on the air show, and most of the exhibits inside the pavilions were geared towards people in the aerospace and defense industry -- high-powered engines, computer technology, weapons targeting systems, and other fun stuff to make the airplanes faster, higher, or stronger.  Not really my cup of tea, but since the air show is only held in Farnborough every two years, I'm glad I had an opportunity to go while I am here.

Murray/Marray Mania

When you live in Wimbledon, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement of the tennis championships, regardless of your interest in the sport.  Josh and I had spent the evening there on the 4th, but that only left me wanting more.  Despite the light rain that had dampened most of the day, my friend Ingrid (a fellow US expat and Wimbledon resident) and I made our way to the queue on Friday afternoon, hoping for the best.

It was a good call -- no queue and no rain!  The clouds parted and the sun came out.  As we walked in, Federer had just defeated Djokovic in Centre Court and everyone was pouring out for a bathroom/snack break.  Ingrid and I headed to the Number 3 Court to catch the end of the Ladies Invitational Doubles match with Martina Navratilova.  We arrived just as Martina and her partner won the match, and all four ladies kindly posed for photos for all the fans in the stands.

Barbara Schett (AUT) & Sabine Appelmans (BEL) pose for photos with
victors Martina Navratilova (USA) & Jana Novotna (CZE)

Since we had just arrived, we stuck around for the next match, which was the Ladies Doubles semi-final between pairs from Italy and the Czech Republic.

We were disappointed that most of the seats were empty, but we knew most people were camped out on Henman Hill/Mount Murray to watch Andy Murray play Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in the men's semi-final in Centre Court.  The guy sitting next to us asked if we were American, and seemed surprised that we'd come all this way until we explained that we both actually lived in Wimbledon.  In fact, Ingrid was able to point out the back of her house from where we were sitting.  Then the guy seemed more envious than surprised...

Flavia Pennetta (ITA) & Francesca Schiavone (ITA)

Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) & Lucie Hradecka (CZE)

It looked like the Italian pair was going to win, so after the second set we wandered off in search of other Americans to cheer for.  We discovered that the Bryan twins were playing in the Men's Doubles semi-final in Court 12, so we patiently waited for a security guard to let us in during a break in the play.  What a difference!  It was a much smaller court than the one we had just come from, but nearly every seat was filled.  We were lucky to find two together.  The crowd was cheering for the other pair, who I'd never heard of before.  I asked the woman next to me if they were British, and she said that one of them was, and the other one was Danish.  "Well, that explains why no one is rooting for the Americans!" I said.  (There was much more seating on our side of the court.)

Jonathan Marray (GBR) & Frederik Nielsen (DEN)

Meanwhile, in the adjacent (and unused) Number 2 Court, the crowd was watching a live feed of the Murray-Tsonga came from Centre Court, so we could keep an eye on the score of that game as well.

Bob Bryan (USA) & Mike Bryan (USA)

It was a VERY close match, but the British/Danish pair of Marray and Nielsen emerged victorious, much to the delight of the crowd.  The woman next to me was so excited she burst into tears!

A real nail-biter!

After a break for some strawberries and cream, we decided to watch some of the wheelchair tennis competition.  Since everyone else was watching the Murray game, we had no trouble finding seats to watch two ladies doubles teams from the Netherlands compete.

Wheelchair tennis

It was amazing and inspiring to watch these women zip around the court on their specially-designed wheelchairs.  It must have been especially challenging for them to play on grass courts.  As far as we could tell the rules were the same, except the ball could bounce more than once before they hit it.

These wheelchairs are incredibly maneuverable

We were also impressed by two young boys watching the game from the opposite side of the court.  Not only were they sharply dressed in jackets and ties, but they were watching attentively and clapping politely at all the appropriate spots.  If we were in the US, I might have assumed they were being punished for something, but they seemed quite content to be watching ladies doubles wheelchair tennis rather than the Murray-Tsonga match.

Very well-behaved little tennis fans

We debated going back to Ingrid's place to watch the end of the Murray-Tsonga match on TV, but I thought it would be more fun to be there with all the fans.  We made our way to the hill to watch on the big screen, but there was not an inch of available space.  I have never seen it so crowded! 

The crowd on "Mount Murray"

It seemed like it was coming to a head, so we didn't want to risk missing the end while making our way back to Number 2 Court at the opposite end of the grounds.  We just smushed into the crowd at an extremely oblique angle from the big screen and tried to follow along.  It was pretty clear from the reaction of the crowd when Murray won the match.

Murray defeats Tsonga!

With the sun shining and the crowd cheering, it was a great day to be at Wimbledon!

Centre Court from Mount Murray

Purple petunias

We went back to Ingrid's house and enjoyed a Pimm's in her beautiful garden before I headed back down the hill to my house on the other side of the tracks (literally). 

When I was watching the men's doubles final last night, I was surprised to see the woman who had been sitting next to me in Court 12 sitting in the player's box.  I think she may have actually been related to Jonathon Marray!  She must have been thrilled to have us plop down next to her and root for the Bryan brothers...  But Marray/Nielsen ended up winning and becoming the Cinderella story of Wimbledon, so hopefully we are long forgotten. 

I'm sure the AELTC is glad they installed that retractable roof on Centre Court, because it's been a particularly rainy week, and it POURED rain here today.  In fact, it rained so hard that we lost our satellite signal several times while watching the tennis.  If it weren't for that roof, they may have had to add another week onto the schedule to finish all the games.  Rumor has it they are considering installing a roof on Number 1 Court as well...

The Americans didn't do too badly overall.  The Czech ladies pair ended up winning their game, but losing to the Williams sisters in the final.  Serena Williams won the ladies final.  And Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond won the mixed doubles final, so we had a pretty good year.   I know everyone around here will be disappointed that Andy Murray didn't win the men's final, but at least there is a British man -- named Marray -- on the roster of 2012 winners.  After a 75-year dry spell, it's certainly something to celebrate!

A Fourth for Tennis

The 4th of July is just like any other summer day here in London.  Cool and cloudy with scattered showers.  Apart from a few restaurant specials and gatherings at local pubs, there's not much going on to commemorate Independence Day here.  That's understandable, since the Brits would probably rather just forget the whole thing ever happened.  Josh's colleagues tease him that the 4th is considered "Good Riddance Day" here.

Since it's not a holiday in the UK, Josh had to work, but he came home early so we could head up the hill to the All England Lawn Tennis Club to watch Day 9 of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.  Since we live in Wimbledon, it would be a shame not to go at least once!  (I went twice last summer and really enjoyed it.)

We reached The Queue around 4:30 and were pleased to find there was no queue -- we just breezed right through, bought our £17 grounds passes at the turnstile, and we were in!

Tennis on the 4th of July

 The first order of business: strawberries and cream!

Andy Murray was playing in the quarter-final against David Ferrer of Spain in Centre Court, so every inch of Henman Hill -- or should we call it Mount Murray? -- was covered with spectators watching on the world's coolest big-screen TV.   We found a couple seats up in the stands at the very top of the hill and joined the exuberant crowd to watch the game.

Watching the action in Centre Court

After a couple sets we decided we'd rather not spend the entire time watching TV when there were plenty of other matches we could see in person.  Since it was Independence Day, it seemed fitting to support the American players, especially since everyone else seemed so focused on Andy Murray.  (The last British man to win the men's singles at Wimbledon was Fred Perry in 1936 -- but no pressure, Andy!)  We found the top-seeded American mixed doubles team playing in court 14 with hardly any spectators, so we settled into the front row to watch the rest of the game.

Bob Bryan & Liezel Huber

There's a big difference between sitting in the front row and watching a giant TV from the top of the hill!  I think their coach was sitting right behind us.  Bob Bryan and his twin brother Mike won the men's doubles at Wimbledon last year, and Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond are the top-seeded ladies doubles team, so the US has a good chance of winning at least one of the doubles titles this year.

 Our additional support must have done the trick, because Bryan and Huber won their match!

After grabbing something to eat, we headed back up the hill to the resale ticket booth to see if we could score tickets to watch the Williams sisters play their doubles match in Number 2 Court.  When people with reserved seats in one of the show courts (Centre Court, Nos 1, 2, and 3) leave early, they are asked to scan or hand in their tickets so the seats can be resold to other tennis fans with grounds passes -- and the proceeds go to charity.  It's a great system!  We were able to get two tickets for £5 each and hightailed it back to the other end of the grounds to catch the rest of the match.

We had already missed the first set and part of the second by the time we got there and there was a break in the play to let us in.  We were surprised to see how empty the stands were.

Venus & Serena play in front of a lackluster crowd

It was a good game, and we recognized their opponents from a match we had watched last summer -- one was American, the other from India.  Can someone explain to me how you can play doubles with someone who lives on the opposite side of the planet?  There seem to be a lot of pairs from different countries playing at Wimbledon. 

The sisters confer between points

The Williams sisters persevered and won their match as well.  Clearly we are a good-luck charm!  (Although not so much for the American on the other team...)

As we were leaving the Number 2 Court, we walked past an excited mob swirling around an extremely tall guy with shaggy blonde hair.  He was posing for photos and signing autographs, but I had no idea who he was.  I asked a woman who was snapping photos if she knew, and she wasn't sure either, but said her husband told her he played for the Dallas Mavericks.  I wasn't sure what an American basketball player was doing at Wimbledon, but I did some research when I got home and identified him as Dirk Nowitzki, who is German and played tennis as a teenager.  He is SEVEN FEET TALL!  Sadly, I didn't have my camera handy, so I didn't get a photo, but if I was standing next to him I'd look like a hobbit.

If we had been in Centre Court, we would have seen Will & Kate seated next to Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf in the Royal Box, but this was our only celebrity sighting of the day -- apart from the tennis players themselves.

Ooh!  As I'm writing this, I just finished watching Serena Williams win the ladies semi-final and the Bryan twins win the men's doubles quarter-final.  Go USA!

So, no fireworks, no hot dogs on the grill, and no sweltering heat, but we still managed to celebrate the 4th of July by cheering on our fellow Americans at Wimbledon.   I still miss the fireworks, though...

Happy Birthday, Josh!

After both being out of the country on separate trips and then having friends in town, Josh's birthday kind of snuck up on us on Saturday.  Despite not having made any plans for the day, we managed to make the most of it by venturing into central London and being spontaneous. 

Our first stop: the half-price TKTS booth in Leicester Square.  Josh has been wanting to see "One Man, Two Guvnors," so we tried to get tickets for the matinee but they were sold out.  Not to be discouraged, we high-tailed it to the Haymarket Theatre box office and managed to get last-minute discounted seats in the center of the third row of the first level.  Score! 

One Man, Two Guvnors

We both enjoyed the show, although we had a little trouble with the thick accents at times.   I wish we could have seen it with James Corden before they moved the production to Broadway, but the West End cast, including the lead actor, was excellent.  Go see it!

Since we hadn't eaten lunch, we were pretty hungry after the show, so we had an early dinner at Lupita, one of the few halfway-decent Mexican restaurants in London.  It's nothing fancy, but they have decent mojitos and make fresh guacamole right at your table, which was enough to make us both very happy.

Mojitos and fresh guacamole!

The night was still young, so after dinner we walked over to Covent Garden to see if our good ticket karma would work at the Royal Ballet.  Not so much.  They only had full-price obstructed view seats left.  We passed on that and made our way back to Trafalgar Square, where they were setting up for the big Canada Day celebration. 

Admiral Lord Nelson watches the planes go by

 Not wanting to be reminded that we Americans are second-class citizens here in London -- there won't be a big party in Trafalgar Square on the 4th of July -- we headed across the street to St. Martin-in-the-Fields. (Yeah, it's not really in the fields...)

St. Martin-in-the-Fields

We had better luck here.  They still had tickets available for the evening concert, "Handel by Candle." Since the sun doesn't set here until 9:30 or so, the candles were mostly for show, but it was a nice idea -- and a lovely concert, with a mix of orchestral and choral music.

Inside St. Martin-in-the-Fields

After the concert, we walked across the Hungerford bridge back towards Waterloo station and were treated to a beautiful view of the London Eye and Parliament under a rare, cloudless sky

London at dusk

I don't think we could have had a better day if we had planned it weeks in advance!