Vacation in London

So since we've last talked I've done a lot. Starting on Friday night we went to TGI Friday's in Covent Gardens. I know, I know, you would have thought I needed a break from TGI Fridays food as I only stopped working there 2 weeks ago, but Stefano, the friend I'm staying with LOVES Friday's food.
It turns out, Fridays is not much different in London - they still have to sing Happy Birthday to people and the food isn't all that much different other than they have kept things on the menu that the U.S. stores got rid of long ago.

I've done some browsing too, but not any real shopping. My suitcases arrived in London at the max weight, so buying anything at the moment is NOT an option (sad, b/c I love to shop) but it's probably a good thing since I need to budget anyways until I get my school money later in Cairo.

I was trying to think of what were the things that I missed last year in London. There honestly is not a lot, since I was here for 7 weeks last time I got to see most things. The two things I came up with first were seeing the grave of Karl Marx and visiting Buckingham Palace. I did get to see Karl Marx's grave. Its located in Highgate Cemetery on London's northside - a very old cemetery.

Tombstones here in the UK are very different from US headstones. They come in basically two varieties - tall statue and what I describe as a "planter tombstone".

The planters are long (the size of a casket) and are filled with dirt which was intended to be tended by decendents who would plant flowers, etc and take care of it. However, years of neglect at most, have either left them overgrown with weeds and bushes or just covered in grass.
It was a very interesting cemetery because the tombstones are bascially on top of one another and there is hardly any space between tombstones at all. Just like all of London, space is a premium and its hard to come by, so in death, like life, homes are ran up against one another.

The queen leaves for Windsor Castle two months of the year and while she is not in residence you can tour it. So last year I got to see Windsor, but not Buckingham b/c she doesn't leave until mid-August and I left at the beginning of August.
However, it costs about 50 American dollars to tour it! What are they thinking. I'm sure its cool, but I'm also sure it can't be much different than any other royal castle I saw last year. So I think Buckingham is probably out.

Today we're going house shopping (Stefano has to move) which should be fun to see flats and prices in different areas as London is a place I would like to live after grad school so this will give me a great preview. And tonight at 8pm I'll be watching Avenue Q in London's theater district.
I couldn't leave without seeing a show, and I've heard such good things about Ave Q.

Very excited for the day. Wednesday I leave! So not much time left. I wanted to take it easy this time, it's less about sightseeing and more about vacation before I head to Cairo and life gets crazy one more.