It was a rainy day as we traveled back to the city from Sonoma Valley and wine country.

On my tour of Southern California I visited all my friends in Santa Barbara including the guys behind FotoCielo. They were having MokaDesign redesign their website so it was nice to talk through some of the ideas and proofs while I was there. I think that might be my only web design client that I’ve ever met with in person.

Ricky and Tim run the operation and Kiel is a photographers/office dude/nutrition expert.
(Tim, Kiel, Ricky, me)

They were super nice to take me out to my favorite sushi place, Sushi Arigato on State Street.

And I made a stop by David’s place although he seemed to sneak away with a girl before I could get a picture so here is the view from his house.

I spent the 4th of July on Coronado island in California with my dad and brother. There is a huge parade each year on the island that we were able to enjoy.

This cute dog was sitting by us.

With a base being on the island there was a large presence of military in the parade.

Including the girl scouts with their Operation Thin Mint car.

In the San Diego bay there was a ship with a huge flag on it

The sunset was beautiful

Then the fireworks began with the San Diego skyline behind.

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Independence Day! What a great country we have!

Here is the parliament building with the famous clock tower housing the “Big Ben bell.

Matt and I visited the British Museum and the National Gallery (behind us) where we saw some great pieces by Rembrant, Monet and Van Gogh amongst many others.

While I wasn’t in Ireland, I was still much closer than I had been before and so I had to see how the Guinness was. It was DELECTABLE!

My friend Ashley was my guide for a couple of London’s secrets. She told me we had to visit Piāno a small piano bar. If you’re in town over a weekend evening definitely go check it out with a group.

Our second day we hopped on one of those annoying tour buses and rode around the entire city. One of our stops was at the majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral. The cathedral was one of my favorites sites to see in London.

The the view from the outside of the top tower was awe-inspiring. It seemed just as high as the London Eye which we decided to skip because of the cost.

We also passed under the famous Tower Bridge. This summer scaffolding will go up around the bridge as it undergoes a facelift before the 2012 Olympics.

The guards in front of Buckingham Palace wear those goofy looking hats. We didn’t find one that we could take a picture next to but after further investigation you can go to St. James’ Palace and just around the corner past the courtyard is a guard on his own that you can apparently stand next to. So if you’re visiting London be sure to head over there for a photo op.

And as I mentioned before, both of the full days that we visited we had beautiful sunny days. Here at Hyde Park everyone was out playing football (soccer) and enjoying the weather.

The city of Athens in general is a dirty city but it does have a beautiful area surrounding the Acropolis. Here is one of the walkways with open cafes along the side.

It’s pretty amazing to see the old ruins with the entire city surrounding it. Here you can see the Temple of Hephaistos standing strong amongst the rest of the Agora.

From the Agora you can view the mighty Acropolis built upon its limestone bed. It is an amazing sight from below and I can only imaging the majestic presence that it had when it was completed. From the Acropolis you have a wonderful 360 degree view of Athens as it stretches on one side to the mountain and the other to the sea.

Here the Temple of Hephaistos stands on the hill overlooking the Agora.

The temple is the most complete of the buildings remaining at the Agora. Here are some of the 46 mighty columns.

And of course I had a wonderful cappuccino before we left Athens and headed for London.