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London
We arrived this morning to the London Heathrow airport. After about 30 minutes of staring impatiently at the television screen showing where the plane was on the map, I couldn't believe we were actually (
finally) here!
I hadn't even made it out of the airport, and I must have looked like a child just entering Disney World for the first time. In all honesty, I felt like I had just had five cups of strong coffee. Knowing that a crash was coming on soon (due to my sleeping a grand total of 25 minutes on the overnight flight), I fully planned on enjoying every second of my high.
Thankfully, it was only enhanced when, after retrieving our luggage, we found a man holding up a large sign with my name on it. Not just my name, my full name - first and last!! Mr. F owns a chauffeur company and gave us a good deal on a driver from the airport to our first hotel in London. I hope you aren't doubting my sanity too much, because there will be plenty of time for that later. I did realize that I was entirely too amused by the sign with my name on it. So I just spent an entire paragraph talking about a sign.
Anyway...
The driver took us to our hotel, and yes, drove on the "wrong" side of the road, on the "wrong" side of the car. I flinched every time we passed any other car. Also, the cyclists here are absolutely mad! Bikes and motocycles, they drive through cars, weaving in and out of cars, inches away like they have a death wish!
The hotel is just beautiful. We are staying at the Knightsbridge Hotel near Harrod's. The staff is
delightful. I've never experienced such service in my entire life (and it's not like we're at some five star resort) and it's all done with such cheer. 😊
The tea... oh, the tea... I'm sipping tea in London and it just doesn't get any better than this. Enough said.
I am truly blown away with how kind, friendly, and ready-to-help everyone here is. I feel so welcomed, which is so relieving. My biggest embarrassment is being regarded as a "stupid, American tourist." Thankfully, I haven't experienced that yet.
Several of my friends have spoken about going on a college visit and just knowing that that was where they were supposed to go, like they just felt at home. I absolutely feel this way here. I feel like I belong here in this city, which quite frankly is not very reassuring, and quite to my mother's chagrin, but I'll certainly enjoy it while I"m here.
Only one of our rooms were ready when we arrived at the hotel. My mom, my sister, and one double bed the room. I passed out on the floor, in case you're wondering how that worked out (which was about the same size of our room, mind you. Oh! The English! 😱), and reflected upon my arrival in London and what would be in store for tomorrow. AH! I just can't think about it or I'll start getting all giddy and anxious.
However, speaking of stores, we went to Harrods today! The only department store that basically has a dress code! It was a great experience, not that we bought anything due to the £400 price tag on the scarves... We did have lunch and champagne there, though!
After that we walked around London, taking pictures of all the Christmas light displays and did some more shopping. Everyone is so fashionable here! Another reason why I feel so at home--finally people who find it acceptable to where heels... well, everywhere!
I just realized I essentially have not slept for 48 hours, which is probably the cause of my spasmodic writing here... OK, sleeping now...
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