There is such a thing as too much caffeine. Three lattes and two diet cokes constitutes an excess. I went to bed at 1 a.m. and was still very awake at 4. I finished three crossword puzzles and read the entire Rick Steves Istanbul. It was a pity since it was my first night at Yoli's in Stratford-upon-Avon and it had been a long day. 

We spent it in London. I had a plan to meet Yoli (my former roommate) and Matt at the British Museum at 1:30 (I imagine that if I lived in London, I would arrange to meet everyone at the BM). I like surprises and had arranged for a couple other school friends to see Yoli at the museum. She knew that Jess was in London, but was completely unaware of Katherine. We all ended up having a picnic in a sunny park and then having a quick peak at the National Gallery. I've never liked taking posed touristy photos, but the rarity of having us all in London meant that I insisted on a photo in Trafalgar Square. 

The bus back to Stratford was not quite comfortable. We were stuck in traffic, the air conditioning was spotty and there was an unfortunate bathroom smell permeating...everything. However, Yoli and Matt had just purchased a Travel Scrabble, so we were entertained. 

Today, I met Barry the Butcher, in downtown Stratford, which consists of a couple main streets. We bought lamb shanks and sausages, the former of which we slowly braised in wine, tomatoes, and anchovies and then ate with couscous and broccoli for dinner. We're currently attempting to make molten chocolate cakes that are actually molten. The first batch was really soft cake but didn't have any gooey centre. In the midst of all the food, we've taken a couple walks, first to Anne Hathaway's cottage and the second across the river to play mini-golf. We didn't get to play though. It turns out this course requires people to bring their own clubs and balls. Odd, no? And we took part in a movie quiz that focused quite a lot on the X-Files, the television show. This, we agree, is not a legitimate category for a MOVIE quiz. British trivia nights are entertaining and I got to meet some of Matt and Yoli's schoolmates. (By the by, the emcee was much more sober than Smithy)

I'll post photos tomorrow.