Drew this one is for you! ME running with Jesse Ownes...LOOK I'm in the lead!!!
We got to talk via SKYPE with Drew, Katie Lin, Harper, Grandmother, Granrand, Granny, and Pappaw! Ben was at baseball practice :(
(We will try and SKYPE everyday!)
March 8, 2009
As I write this it’s 11:00 a.m. (UK time) Sunday morning. For the first time in years, I slept eight hours straight without waking up or moving an inch. It felt so good I decided to stay in bed a couple more hours. Obviously Sonya didn’t mind either. When we finally got to bed last night we had both been awake approximately 36 hours. It’s hard to sleep on an airplane when they wake you up for breakfast at 11:45 p.m. (CST). Who am I kidding? It’s hard to sleep on an airplane at anytime, especially when you’re traveling coach.
Yesterday was a very busy day to say the least. We tried to keep moving in order to stay awake until bedtime. As hard as it is, we’ve done enough international traveling to know that this is the quickest way to adjust to the time change and avoid the dreaded effects of jetlag. After we arrived at London-Gatwick (7:15 a.m. UK time or 1:15 a.m. CST) we hopped on the London-Gatwick Express train to Victoria Station and we were able to check in at the hotel (Victoria Park Plaza) by 9:00 a.m. thanks to a very friendly staff who fulfilled my previous request of an early check in. We freshened up a bit and then hit the streets for the day.
Our first stop was to buy tickets for the Saturday evening performance of “Wicked” at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. After that we hopped a cab to “Buck House” (slang for Buckingham Palace) to see the changing of the guards. It was quite impressive, but I hate crowds and it was CROWDED! We decided to walk back to the hotel which is just a few blocks away and stopped by a local pub, the Duke of York, to grab some fish n’ chips for lunch.
After lunch we bought a three-day tube (London Underground) pass only to find out that two of the main lines from our station were closed for the weekend. Grrrrrrr…. We decided to take an alternate route to Piccadilly Circus and then walk to Trafalgar Square, Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. The sites and sounds of London are amazing. I lived in England for two years of high school (1983-1985) and not much has changed as far as old-timey black cabs racing around every corner, red double-decker buses blocking your view every time you try to take a picture of a landmark, and looking right as you cross the street instead of left. But what I had forgotten is how many people there are from so many different places. There aren’t many people roaming the streets of London whose native language is English.
One of the biggest disappointments of the day was when we arrived at Westminster Abbey only to find out that it was closed to visitors at that time. They close at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and are closed on Sundays for worship. We decided we would visit again on Tuesday after our planned tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral. So we grabbed another cab and visited Madam Tussauds Wax Museum. The taxi ride was very exciting (as you can imagine), but also very nostalgic for me. It’s hard to describe what it’s like for me to come back to a place I used to visit frequently when I was 16-18 years old. It was so long ago and I was so young that it literally seems like I dreamed it all. Yesterday I dreamed that familiar dream again, only this time it was real (I think – somebody pinch me).
Madam Tussauds was always one of my mom’s favorite places to visit. I knew Sonya would love it too. It’s expensive and gimmicky but a must-see if you’re ever in London. We took our picture with a lot of celebrities (i.e. Tom Cruise, Jennifer Anniston, Johnny Depp, John Travolta, Julia Roberts, etc.). Funny, they’re not quite as glamorous looking in real life as they are in pictures. They looked very waxy and cold.
We enjoyed dinner last night at an American favorite – Burger King – then we headed off to see “Wicked”. The musical was very impressive, but we must admit that we were so sleepy that we almost didn’t make it through the performance without falling asleep. As a matter of fact I saw Sonya’s head nod a few times and she punched me in the side of couple of times for some reason. Finally, at about 11:00 p.m. we nodded off for the night.
While at Madam Tussauds yesterday, we bought the “Big Ticket” which also includes admission to the London Eye and the London Dungeon. And that’s where we off to now. I’ve never been to the London Eye. I believe it was built for a World’s Fair or some other big event after I moved away. The London Dungeon, however, was my favorite attraction to visit when I was a very creep, almost morbid teenager, so I’m very excited!
Some misc. notes:
· It didn’t take us long to figure out that London definitely lives up to it’s reputation of being an expensive city to visit.
· Sonya is having a hard time understanding the “English” language. I’ve had to interpret a few times (although I’m a little out of practice) and I’ve had a few Brits ask, “Pardon?” or “What?” because they don’t quite understand our southern dialect? Although it’s funny, I keep expecting someone to ask, “Y’all ain’t from round here, are ya?”
· Sonya’s estimation of our distance-on-foot yesterday is 2,000 miles although I think that’s stretching it a little.
· If European’s are truly a couple of years ahead of us in fashion then soon our ladies will be wearing short skirts, black tights and knee high boots.
· Sonya is learning how to deal with her addiction to internet, email and Facebook via iPhone. We don’t have the data roaming package here in Europe. It’s all for the glory of God, right?
Cheers!
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