London Calling !!!

After a super fun and productive week in Bath we decided to say a few more days in London before moving on to Paris and Le Lot (south of France).  This was my first trip to the UK so of course I had to take a ton of pics.  Oh yeah, thanks to all the peeps on alivenotdead.com for all the birthday wishes you guys kick ass!

The first thing we did after we got dropped off in town was wander around.  After an hour or so we ended up at Trafalgar Square where they had a giant screen setup broadcasting the  opening ceremony of the Olympics!  It was cool hearing everyone cheer for their home teams as they walked out into the stadium holding their national flags. 

After that we wandered down to Buckingham Palace.  I just had to take pics of the guards with their unique hats!

We did a bunch of other tourist stuff since it was my first trip here.  Having lived in Hong Kong when it was still a British colony I was excited to see some of the landmarks that I used to see on TV all the time. 

The legendary Royal Albert Hall!  One day.....

The Tate Modern had some cool stuff to check out and it currently has a Street Art Exhibition featuring some great graffiti artist.  Os Gemeos, Falle, Blu, Sixart, and JR were even allowed to do these huge pieces on the museum itself!

One thing I love about London is all the historic statutes and the little details you can see around town!

Being a huge Beatle fan I had to go to Abbey Road studios and walk across that famous crosswalk! 

Making new friends at Hyde Park and checking out the Richard Prince exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery (he did Sonic Youth's nurse artwork and the latest season of Louis Vuitton bags).  There's also a cool installation by architect Frank Gehry!

Portobello Market was pretty packed on Sunday with stalls selling antiques on both sides of the street.  This rockabily band was even rockin' out before it started to pour.  Oh yeah, a great place for cupcakes is The Hummingbird Bakery if you're in the neighborhood.

Is he real or metal?

We had to check out a good musical and Billy Elliot came highly recommended.  The songs were good and the performance was insane so It's definitely worth checking out! 

My favorite clothing brand Maharishi at Covet Gardens.  More camo!

Gotta get my vinyl on!  There's so many good record stores including Rough Trade and Sister Ray.  We also caught up with our friend and fellow Alivenotdead artist (and 24 Herbs MV director) Alex who took us to a great jem off Angel station called Flashback.  Thanks man!

Rollins was in town which would've been cool but we decided to go watch our new friend Carly play instead. 

Carly rocking out.  It was great hearing play her own songs and throwing in a new tune that was written during our Creative Exchange project called "Changing our Time."  Awesome set!

Krysten Cummings was the host of the songwriters show and Carly recognized her right away.  She was the original Mimi Marquez in the musical Rent! A great show and a good way to end our last night in London!

Good times, good friends, and good memories.........next stop Paris!