London - Day 1 [Sat]
London!
Caught a glimpse of a dirty River Thames as we were landing. Heathrow was horrible - had to walk forever to Border Control ... impersonal atmosphere ... baggage claim was like a whole lot of animals trying to get to the one feed trough. From the time the plane landed to the time I met Catherine was over an hour. We manhandled my luggage onto the Tube, then down the road from the station to her flat, in the rain. We did get quite wet, but I found it extremely refreshing after the dryness of the plane.
Met two of the three flatties while we vegged out in front of the Olympics on TV. Later, Cathering took me out for a walk - down to Shepherd's Bush to see what was in the mall (their local supermarket and movie theatre). Then we went into town by Tube and saw St Paul's Cathedral which was packed with tourists. You could go right inside without paying and I was quite appalled at the clamour, especially when we realised that evening prayer was taking place very soon. Even though I could have stayed and wondered over the 'ornateness' of the place for much longer, the atmosphere was totally ruined and we got out. Walked across the Millenium Bridge and saw the Globe Theatre - I was surprised by how it was just 'stuck' there in amongst everything else in the South End. The weather consistently deteriorated from this point - wet, windy, cold - but the walkway was packed with tourists. Walked past the London Eye (looks scary!) and back over a bridge past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben to the Tube. Grateful to be be home and out of the weather we plopped down in front of the TV once more and had dinner.
I'm sleeping in the lounge, between the sofa and the window. We watched Ocean's 13 on TV, with me dozing off here and there. At 10pm they said goodnight and I went to bed. I am a bit dismayed at how much stuff I brought with me. Granted, a lot of that weight was presents. I'm just glad I have a base where I can leave all the unnecessaries while I'm travelling elsewhere.
Caught a glimpse of a dirty River Thames as we were landing. Heathrow was horrible - had to walk forever to Border Control ... impersonal atmosphere ... baggage claim was like a whole lot of animals trying to get to the one feed trough. From the time the plane landed to the time I met Catherine was over an hour. We manhandled my luggage onto the Tube, then down the road from the station to her flat, in the rain. We did get quite wet, but I found it extremely refreshing after the dryness of the plane.
Met two of the three flatties while we vegged out in front of the Olympics on TV. Later, Cathering took me out for a walk - down to Shepherd's Bush to see what was in the mall (their local supermarket and movie theatre). Then we went into town by Tube and saw St Paul's Cathedral which was packed with tourists. You could go right inside without paying and I was quite appalled at the clamour, especially when we realised that evening prayer was taking place very soon. Even though I could have stayed and wondered over the 'ornateness' of the place for much longer, the atmosphere was totally ruined and we got out. Walked across the Millenium Bridge and saw the Globe Theatre - I was surprised by how it was just 'stuck' there in amongst everything else in the South End. The weather consistently deteriorated from this point - wet, windy, cold - but the walkway was packed with tourists. Walked past the London Eye (looks scary!) and back over a bridge past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben to the Tube. Grateful to be be home and out of the weather we plopped down in front of the TV once more and had dinner.
I'm sleeping in the lounge, between the sofa and the window. We watched Ocean's 13 on TV, with me dozing off here and there. At 10pm they said goodnight and I went to bed. I am a bit dismayed at how much stuff I brought with me. Granted, a lot of that weight was presents. I'm just glad I have a base where I can leave all the unnecessaries while I'm travelling elsewhere.