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London Calling...

Our first day in London was a total success!

I'll try to keep this brief because I am pretty much dead tired... Hey I only traveled halfway around the world today. Yesterday and today have blended into one giant long super-day with 3 to 4 hours of plane sleep in between. It's 10:23 pm right now in London yet only 4:30 pm in the states and my body feels like its 2:00 am.

Bleh.

The flight over was actually pretty awesome! I watched the first half of Les Miserables, the first 20 minutes of Finding Nemo, then blasted some Beethoven while reading up on some African Friends and Money Matters  for Kenya. I finally got some shut eye when the flight crew turned off all the cabin lights including personal overhead lamps. Well if you twist my arm... ;) Also, I enjoyed some of the best food I've ever eaten  at 30,000 ft in the air. I ordered a "Special meal" and ended up getting a "Hindu dinner" which consisted of some of my favorite Indian dishes: chicken tikka masala curry, chick peas, and nan. Landing in London was almost too interesting for comfort when our pilot suddenly pulled the plane up from the original landing pattern due to another plane that was taking too long on the runway. Yikes.

After landing in London, we navigated our way through the tube system to our hotel for the night, The Highbury Center, then decided to spend the rest of our afternoon at The British Museum. We stayed until closing then hopped a double-decker bus back to our side of town. We finished our evening with a sit down meal at a pretty awesome Italian place, which I don't remember the name of... Let's just say that Gnochi alla Romana went straight to my eyelids along with all the travel fatigue.

I absolutely love the city of London, in just the brief time we've been here. It's got a hustle-bustle quality to it that is very similar to New York but with a touch of old-world charm. The traffic is crazy but it seems to flow, a sometimes teeth-gritting mix of cars and taxis and buses and crazy little speedy cyclists. The metro system here is amazing. I swear, its what metro was meant to be. Super convenient, timely, and fun. Of course this is coming from someone who's spent less than a day using it. :)

Speaking of "days", this one is quickly coming to an end I am sorely needing the sleep. Hope everyone is enjoying their afternoon in sunny Texas (or wherever you are). It's cold here!

Aberdeen Park - walking from our hotel to Central London

You get more than a phone call with this baby

Brit Museum 

King Tutt ;)

Greek War Horse (a.k.a. what jet-lag feels like)

Ending the day with some UK Italian

Blending into the wallpaper


London street view


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