Safe and sound in London

Day 1: After traveling since 3 pm yesterday, we have arrived at our flat in London.  We knew our connection in Boston was going to be close (30 minutes!), but Josh and I had to valet our bags in Raleigh and then waited so long to get them that we had to run through Logan airport. So glad we ran, as the gate agents were thisclose to closing the boarding doors on our flight to London.  Once on board, though, we caught our breath and enjoyed some in-flight entertainment ("Everest" for me, "Jungle Book" for Todd and "Hotel Transylvania" for Josh) and a lovely chicken romesco.  I got about 2 hours of sleep, and I think I saw Todd shut his eyes. Not Josh, though....He was too excited to sleep!

We got the official third degree from the Customs agent checking our passports.  It started off easy enough: "How long will you be in London?" Then, "Where are you going next?"  But, it was our response to "When do you return home?" that got his attention.  He then proceeded to ask us about Josh and "What about school?", followed by requests for all of our itineraries, copies of our onward train tickets (which I'd conveniently forgotten to print)...Eventually he must have realized we were not a danger, and he stamped us through.

After a short nap, we found the tube and made our way to The British Museum for some ***free*** sightseeing. The mummy collection was fantastic, and I loved the North African mosaics.

We also got to ride up top, front seat on the double-decker bus. I can't stop singing Abba's "Waterloo" in my head. It's 7:45 pm here and all three of us are likely to be asleep within the next 15 minutes.

Front and Center on the Double-Decker Bus

Day 2: Cheerio!  The Durhams slept for 12 hours and woke up ready for coffee and breakfast! We are starting to figure out the layout of our neighborhood a bit and made our way quickly to our closest Underground station.  We went to the Royal Air Force Museum and then to the Tower of London and the oldest church in London, the All Hallows. Not far from the church, we stumbled upo
n this group setting up paver bricks into the largest configuration of Dominos I have ever seen (about 6 km long!), spread out over London in honor of the 350th anniversary of the great London Fire.  From there, we tried to go see the Queen for tea, but we got caught in the rain with no umbrella, so we only got as far as Westminster Abbey before we started seeking the Tube (that's what they call the train here!). We now call it the tube too! Keep Calm and Travel On!