Thankfully, our landing was great. One of the smoothest I've experienced. We had to wait a bit to get off the plane. The pilot kept calling someone to the front, and said he wouldn't let anyone off until that person showed up. We had no idea what that was all about, but finally he let us off.
As we walked through Heathrow, we saw our first signs (literally) of being in another country: words spelled and used differently. We ended up in a large room where we waited in the "queue" for customs. This was all new to us. On the plane, we'd had to fill out a blue card (which no one explained to us; we finally had to ask) to enter the country. Madison remarked that it was just like the airport scene in Argo. Except that we weren't trying to sneak out of Iran with a CIA agent, of course.
Baggage claim went smoothly (I'd worried about our luggage getting lost), then it was off to find our driver. My friend Michael (with whom we were planning to meet up later in the day) had recommended we hire a car instead of taking the Heathrow Express. This was an awesome idea. It wasn't that expensive (much less than NYC) and took out all the worry.
We located our driver without too much trouble. He helped us with our bags and led us to the "car park." I sat up front and, of course, went to the wrong side of the car. Was glad I sat there, though, because it was good training for when we rent a car later in the week.
Hoped by some stroke of luck our room might be ready so we could freshen up and relax a bit, but it wasn't. So we checked our bags and headed out the door to explore. We took our time weaving through the streets of South Kensington and eventually made our way to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park.
We'd passed on breakfast on the plane (felt like we'd just eaten dinner a few hours earlier), so by this time we were getting hungry. Luckily, we found a nice little cafe in Hyde Park, the Serpentine Bar & Kitchen, which was serving breakfast. Our very first meal in the UK! So glad there wasn't a language barrier (that's next week), other than a word or two on the menu that we didn't understand. The food was excellent, though the place was a bit noisy due to a marathon that had just finished and all the runners that were excitedly checking their times.
Went through St. James Park and sat down on the canvas lounge chairs that we thought were free (I needed to sit because the pollen was getting to me), but we soon found out they weren't from the guy who collected the money. I tried to catch him to pay, but I guess he just let us go because we were clearly Yanks and I didn't look to well at the moment.)
We passed by the Prince Albert Monument and Royal Albert Hall, both of which were dedicated to Queen Victoria's husband. She clearly loved the man.
We eventually made our way to Buckimgham Palace, where we found everything blocked off by police, Royal Palace Guard, and some other folks that I guessed were military police. Turns out they were rehearsing for the Queen's birthday parade the next Saturday. Even though we wouldn't get to see the real parade, the rehearsal was quite a treat.
From there we made our way to Westminster Abbey, catching sight of Big Ben and the London Eye along the way.
The Abbey was amazing, and so much bigger than I expected (understandably, we could not take pictures inside). There's the main room that you usually see at Royal weddings and coronations, but it's divided in half by a little structure in the middle. The other half is just as big. Everywhere you turn there alcoves, hallways, and other sections. It was built, modified, and added to so many times over the centuries, no one knows just how old it is.
I knew that there were people buried there, such as Poets Corner where several of Britain's greatest writers are interred, but I had no idea just how many people are buried there. Most of English royalty are buried in elaborate sepulchers, most of which feature life size statues laying on top, hands praying and pointing skyward. We saw Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots (who were both interred in the same side room), and a large assortment of Williams and Henrys.
By this time (just around 4:00 in the afternoon), we were getting pretty tired. We attempted to walk back (Marsha loves to walk), but finally gave up and took the Tube back. I'd purchased Oyster cards online before we left, which are pre-paid cards for riding the metro. Wish NYC had something like that. Navigating the Tube is amazingly simple; much closer to DC's metro than the NYC subway.
We had dinner at a Pub I'd discovered via the hotel website, the Hereford Arms, which the hotel stated had great fish n' chips. As someone who loves fish n' chips, I was really looking forward to having some in an actual English pub. They were excellent! Some of the best I've ever had.
We went back to the hotel, finally got in our room, and got our bags. Several people (John included), had suggested that we stay up late to adjust quickly to the new time zone, but it was a lost cause. All three of us passed out in no time, around 5:00 pm. We each woke up at some point around 5:00 am, then went back to sleep for a few more hours. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll feel much more refreshed.
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