Across the Pond

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So I wrote these blogs by pen and paper while I was on my trip Mar. 1 -10, so....enjoy!!

Arrived in London about 8:30 am, after a long 7 hour flight from Orlando, which had been delayed. We flew Virgin, which was a nice plane, but very cramped. I slept for maybe an hour and a half. Jay got no sleep whatsoever. The flight was pretty uneventful, which is a good thing.

So we arrived at 8:30 am, which was about 3:30 am, Orlando time. We went through customs pretty quickly and I exchanged some money at the currency exchange counter. I was a bit nervous, the guy from the tour group was supposed to pick us up, what if he didn't come?? Well, we got our bags almost immediantly and I began to look for our driver.... and there he was holding a sign with our tour group logo. He was a nice gentlemen, and his name escapes me. We had flown into London Gatwick and it was about an hour drive to the hotel. Of course when we went outside to the parking lot the first thing I told Jay, "the stearing wheel is on the other side of the car!!" It seemed so odd driving on the "wrong side."

Once inside the hotel, the hotel manager walked up to us immediantly and told us the tour director would be there to meet us. Well, within 5 minuets, we met Joel Reid, our tour director. (He pronounced it "jol" or "jowol" and not "jo-el") anyway, one of the first things Joel said to us was "Dont worry, today will be the longest day" he must have known we were going on no sleep! Well, there was a short walking tour of the immediate area and the hotel rooms wouldnt be ready til 2, so us, and the rest of the group went on the walking tour....and whew! It was FREEZING!!

Saw a few nearby monuments such as Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Tower of London, the gherkin, or the "egg" as I think it looks like. Also saw a cute area, I don't remember what the name was, but I think it was "market street" or something.

I was about to fall over dead, and luckily around 2:30 we checked into the room. We had to meet for orientation by 5 and followed by dinner. I fell asleep immediantly and when I awoke about 2 hours later I told Jay I felt like I had been asleep for 5 hours or more. I mumbled to him "is it still the same day?"

Well at 5, we met downstairs in a private room for orientation. Wine was served immediantly. It would be the first glass of many. Joel went over the basic itinerary of the trip and told us of a dinner in Rome that he had organized and was trying to get people to go. Well, the only "extra" thing we had paid for on the trip was to go to the Vatican. The tour group offered many different excursions, but we had not signed up for any others. I remember Joel telling us, "today will seem like the longest day of the trip, days from now when we are in Rome, today will feel like ages ago."

Well, dinner was probably around 6 or later, it was at a nearby pub. It was strange, they shut down the pub for our group only, which consisted of about 40 people. We got seated next to a nice couple from Indianapolis named Stacey and Glenn. It was even stranger, that on the pub tv's they played videos by Elvis!! The food was ok that night, it was an included dinner (pre-paid w/ the group) which was roast beef and "chips" and of course, more wine!

Afterwards, we walked to Tower Bridge and I took some night photos. I loved that bridge and our hotel room had a perfect view of it. We were in bed about 10:30 and Jay said to me, "I can't believe we are going to sleep at 10:30" I told him, "who cares, I;m tired" because we are normally night owls. Then I thought, "it's only 5:30 in Orlando!"

But I was happy, I was in Europe!!

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Photos

Tower Bridge
me in front of Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge
This is Tower Bridge and not London Bridge

London Bridge
This is London Bridge

Tower Bridge
The view from our hotel room!

gherkin
I think this is a cool building

Bridge
Tower Bridge at night

walking tour
this is when we were on the walking tour of the immediate area from the hotel

walking tour
I think this was called "market street" or something,
parts of it were used in the Harry Potter movies

the hotel
the hotel we stayed at

walking tour
This is by the same architect who designed the Pompidu (spelling?) building in Paris

walking tour
Joel said this building looks like a "kitchen sink"
I thought it was interesting

gherkin
another one. It looks like an egg

Tower Bridge
freezing my butt off!!

Bridge
Jay

Bridge
This bridge is so beautiful

Jay
"what should we do tomorrow?"