Europe Arrival

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After taking the red-eye flight from RDU to London, we arrived at Gatwick Airport around 7 am. We were lucky to find our luggage right off the bat and we breezed through customs. We took a tram out to the train station and boarded the Gatwick Express for Victoria. The train wasn't very crowded, but this was the first instance which I wished I had packed a smaller suitcase. Christina and I had a heckuva time trying to get the luggage through the little doors between the cars, and even tougher time stowing them but it all worked out. We got off the Express Train and headed for the tube station which at about 8:30 in the morning turned out to be an absolute nightmare. Lugging 60 lbs. of clothes through a crowd of thousands is an expirence I'd rather forget hahaha.....

We made it to the hotel no sweat, as it is pretty much directly over the Kennsington High Street Tube Station. After a small nominal upgrade fee, we were allowed to check into our rooms early around 10 am. This was very nice because we didn't want to venture back out into London with our massive wardrobes. The upgrade is great for other reasons, as we have free internet, free drinks, and a wonderful free breakfast.

After a quick rest we decide to get back out into London, with out the bags...

First we walked the length of Hyde Park looking for a decent place to get some grub... finding nothing that looked affordable, we headed down a side street and found Harrod's. We wandered through this Macy's on sterroids until we were temped by the 10 pound lunch counters. I had a roast beef sandwich with the spiciest horseradish I've ever had and the most random assortment of coleslaws and pickles-- all and all excellent. After looking around and deciding there was nothing we could afford even if the exchange rate gave 5 pounds to the dollar we hopped on the tube for Picadily Circus. Cool circle, but honestly I thought I was in a baby Times Square... snapped a few photos and then wandered down to Trafalgar Square where we took more pictures.. then we glanced up and saw Big Ben and knew that we must..... snap more pictures. The morning rain had by this point cleared up leaving a very beautiful sunny day. Conventional wisdom suggests that sunny days in London are rare, so we decided to fly the London Eye. 12.50 pounds with out our non existant ISIC discount got us a ride. It was pretty cool but the exchange rate really made us question the value.

After the eye we were pretty weary after a long day of wandering, so we headed back to the Copthorne Tara for our free drink hour(s). I drank like three (little) Cokes, then had a beer to top it off. After heading back to the room-- we both accidentally fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

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