The One Where Janessa Goes to London

In this episode, James takes 14 year old daughter Janessa out of school for a few days and together they travel to London, England. Although James is there on business, the trip is purely pleasure for Janessa. While James attends meetings and conferences, Janessa is free to explore the expanses of the city- or at least the places that can be reached via the underground, or subway commuter rail station. When James isn't working, he and Janessa spend their time sightseeing and sampling the the local fare. Here's a few of the best moments and quotes from the episode:

1. The father-daughter pair took the London Eye, an enormous ferris wheel with cars that hold twenty-five people in them. They were able to see all of London from the top, even though it was a bit of a foggy day. Janessa was delightful to discover a framed picture of Marilyn Monroe made entirely of jellybeans in the London eye gift shop.
2. When James was at conferences that Janessa didn't want to go to, he'd give her a couple pounds and she'd walk down to the underground station. She would take it a couple stops and follow a map down to a connecting train. A memorable part of the plot was when Janessa described her experience to her family later. She said, "So as I'm getting off there are all these signs that say Mind the Gap. That's like the space in between the car and the walkway. Then as the train is starting up, there are lit pictures in the sides of the tunnel, so it plays a video commercial as we go by really fast."
3. One of their favorite stops was Picadilly Circus, which James described as "the Times Square of London." The scene was actually shot in Picadilly, and it looked incredible. One of the travelers had a camera out at all times to capture the sights. There were art emporiums and museums. The streets were lined with thousands of shops and vendors, as well as nice stores with familiar American names (I spotted a Tiffany's, among others). Their purchases included scarves, a purse and boots, and mini buses and other souvenirs. They ate pastries, fresh cream puffs, and hot pies folded into little handheld crusts.
   
4. In the second part of the episode after the commercial break, Janessa and her father took a bus ride down to Stonehenge. They rode in the top and front of one of those red double-decker buses that London is so famous for. The bus driver acted as the comic relief. He drove like a maniac, causing Janessa to remark that she thought they were going to die. But they eventually reached the sight safely, although a little shook up. They took pictures with the stones and the many sheep nearby.
5. Janessa was so excited about the aisles and aisles of unfamiliar, foreign candy. One in particular caught her attention. The Yorkie Bar had an intriguing label that read 'It's NOT for girls' so true to character, that was pretty much the first thing Janessa tried. She was a bit disappointed to discover that it was simply a plain chocolate bar. Another disappointing factor was the British fixation with putting raisins in candy as if it was as standard of a filling as caramel or peanut butter. But despite these, they did discover some amazing treats that Janessa wished were available in the U.S.
6. Towards the end of the episode, the two traveled to Amsterdam for a day. James was in meetings pretty much the whole time, so Janessa took the opportunity to sleep in and watch Dutch TV in the hotel room for a while before going down to breakfast. In the Netherlands they put bowls of sprinkles out next to the breads and the toaster oven. Janessa was unsure what to do until she saw a man approach the table. He made himself a piece of toast, spread it thick with butter, and poured sprinkles all over it. Janessa followed suit, choosing the chocolate variety of sprinkles. She remarked that they the taste resembled Nutella spread. Yummy!

I really enjoyed this episode. The bright colors and vivid images of the setting were incredible; I almost felt like I was there myself! Although not much happened to further the plot, I liked watching the characters explore new territory. It was definitely a memorable episode that I'd watch again and again.