London, 3/28/07

London, First day
Flight was uneventful, but staggeringly uncomfortable. Despite two sleeping tablets, I couldn't sleep until the last hour or so of an 8 hour flight. I tried every way of folding or stretching my legs, but it wasn't until my mother lifted up her armrest and let me put my head in her lap like I used to do when I was little that I could finally get a little sleep. Well, that worked like a champ and I slept until they turned the lights on in the cabin just before landing.

We took the Gatwick Express train from the airport to Victoria Station, and our hotel was just a few blocks walk from there. We arrived at the hotel too early for check-in, so they allowed us to leave our bags downstairs and head out for some sightseeing. We headed straight for Buckingham Palace (the queen was in, but I think her doorbell must have been broken - no one ever answered the door), Westminster Abbey (absolutely gorgeous, but photos weren't allowed, so you'll have to trust me on that or go see it yourself), Big Ben, The London Eye, and Whitehall Court.

While trying to take a photo of Big Ben as seen through the London Eye, I walked across the lawn of a park, past the necking couples and picnicking families, and what should I spy on the other side?The TARDIS. Yep, really. Ok, maybe it wasn't THE Tardis, but maybe just A Tardis. Still. The TARDIS, the London Eye, AND Big Ben all in one photo? I am a walking MasterCard ad - Priceless.

We headed back to the room around 5:30 or so, to rest for a bit and freshen up before heading back out for dinner. I discovered that the free Wi-Fi was exactly as described, and took advantage of it by sending a few messages latting friends back home know I'd arrived, and by posting some photos of our adventures so far.

We headed out to dinner, and just went wandering around looking for something yummy. Mom recognized the restaurant Grumbles from a guidebook, so we went in there. There was no one to seat us, and we found an empty table, so we just sat down. A dismayed-looking waiter approached, briefly speechless. When mom said,"we didn't see anybody, so we just sat ourselves - is that okay?" the waiter replied, "No..! We are completely booked until nine o'clock - the restaurant is full!" ...mmmmkay. So we quickly gathered our things and scampered out to find another restaurant. A few doors down, we found Sole Mio, an Italian place. They welcomed us inside, took our coats, offered us bread and olives, and there we had a fantastic meal of fresh tomatoes, avocadoes, and mozzarella, along with some cheese fried and topped with anchovies and a tomato sauce. Those were the appetizers. Then for the main course I had some pasta in a tomato-based sauce, with mushrooms, cheese and eggplant (sorry - "aubergine"), and mom had chicken with some cheese and eggplant.
Did I mention the cheese? It was all very yummy, and topped off with a cappucino. Absolutely delicious. And they were very nice and friendly, and our neighbors at the next table, very close by, were a fun couple of guys, cracking jokes and offering to let us pay for their dinner. Aren't the English nice?

We went back up to the room, watched some 'telly,' and slept like babies until morning.