London: Dinner and Celebrity Spotting

Your mom and I kept exploring the beautiful city of London and had plans to catch an album release party from an English pianist that your mom has been following for a little while. We got even more than we bargained for!

We spent a more relaxed morning and afternoon checking out some of the local fare around our flat in Shepherd's Bush, and my love affair with English ales continued to grow.

By this point we were getting a bit more used to using the Underground system.

To kill some time we trained over to Baker Street and the famous 221B address from the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. There's a museum there, of course.

In preparation for the show we got our bells on, and I'd never seen your mom so fantastically radiant.

Near the church where the show and album release party was held was a renowned book store, Daunt Books, so of course we checked it out before dinner.

We learned a lot about this musician's philanthropy and major efforts to reconnect music programs with primary schools all over the country. He puts a lot of effort into these things, it seems, which is easy to respect.

We also were surprised (well, I don't think your mom was too surprised) when your mom's favorite British actor showed up. I was genuinely star struck, and I felt a bit creepy taking a quick picture, but hey, I'm a tourist and this guy is probably one of the most famous people in the country!

James got a nice ribbing from his producer here as the show got underway, and the show was phenomenal. He's truly a gifted and committed player, and he seems to really love Chopin and the story of that composers pieces, which he delivered before playing and made the show all the more intriguing. They also raised a lot of money to benefit school music programs, and one woman pledged a couple thousand pounds to have dinner with James himself!

We tailed the party to, of all places, a shoe store not far away and got to rub shoulders with the celeb again. Afterwards the sky opened up and we randomly took shelter in a classic pub around the corner.

Then finished the evening with a nightcap at the pub closer to our flat. Another wonderful day in this amazing city. We stayed up late just reflecting on the first few days of our adventure!