An International Affair

On Friday, Jenn's rehearsal dinner was at Butcher Hooks & Cleaver, an awesome bar in the Smithfield area of London. Dinner included the bridal party (and close relatives), and drinks followed with out-of-towners.
(space)
The pub was just a ten minute walk from where we were staying. Smithfield is known for its meat market. It is also the site that William Wallace was executed.

Christie, whilst ordering some soft drinks for her and the kids, realized the London terms for Sprite is called lemonade. If you want the real lemonade, you call it a fruit lemonade, or some other distinguishing term from the soft drink. This pub (and even the Chinese restaurant the other night) made ample use of dumbwaiters.

Louis dives into the Fish n Chips.

When the out-of-towners started arriving, we met Jenn and Ed's extraordinary group of international friends. The handful of people I was able to talk to at length (both Friday and Saturday), were currently living in places like Pompei, Qatar, and your more "typical" locations like the Hague, Amsterdam and Madrid.

It must have been such a warm feeling for Ed and Jenn to know that all these people traveled from so many different countries to share in this time with them.... it was heartening for me to meet them all. Everyone was extremely friendly and the stories each person told of their background/experiences were fascinating. They were also completely interested in where we were from, and what we did, and where we've traveled.

We also met quite a few couples, like Jenn and Ed, that came from different backgrounds. From what I recall, there was one couple where the lady was from Germany and the guy was from Portugal. When they met at university in Barcelona, they spoke the best common language they knew, English, to each other. They informed us that American English was much easier to understand than British English, as Americans do not cut off their words so much.

Jenn's bridesmaid, Tessa, is a New England native that will be married in three weeks to Moranax, whom she met while working in Holland during the past six years. Louis found it fascinating that this guy was able to down 11 Guinesses like water.

The threesome. What a great night, and a fun crowd. Paul spent the night conspiring to take the beer glasses home as souvenirs.

Jenn looked great Friday. She was glowing and relaxed and that night was actually able to get some sleep. An update - Jenn received THE VEIL Friday night! Her friends from Barcelona arrived successfully at 10pm, and the box in which it arrived was attached to Jenn thereafter.

The rap sheet. (Proofs included.)