London, first day

Well, we made it over the ocean, safe and sound. Whew! Our kids actually did really well on the plane, and got several hours of sleep. That was a good thing, because we didn't really have too much down time once we arrived.

We had a long delay in Chicago, then some hiccups with our rental car, and finally got sorted and started on our way into London by around 1p.m. We took a quick driving tour through downtown London, then headed to our flat in West Hampstead. I took some pics as we drove, but they are on the other camera. I'll have to see if I can get them uploaded later. 

After settling in at our flat, we rode the tube downtown to have a look around. The kids LOVED the Tube ride...

We decided to go down by the London Eye and see if we could get a ride at sunset. But... the line was enormous! Er, whoops, I mean the "queue" was enormous-- to use a proper English word here.:)

So, we just looked at it instead, and said we might try to come for a ride on Monday. 

Plus, our kids were a little too tired for that. So, we settled for a nearby playground...and they perked right up, imagine!!

And we then had a fun little ride on a carousel...

Then we gazed at the Thames and watched the lights come on the Houses  of Parliament and Big Ben. Kinda dreamy, kinda cold.

For dinner, the stars were aligned and we lucked into an International Food Fair on the South Bank. Yay! 

Brian got stuffed grape leaves and Arab sweets, I got a taste of curry and some amazing cheese samples, and then we shared huge bruchetta slices to share with the kids, along with some delicious chicken sausage sandwiches on ciabatta bread. Turkish delight straight out of Narnia for the kids for dessert.:).I LOVE those little quaint food fairs!

On the way back to the Tube, we walked by my old work, at Kings College London, and I took a picture of it.:)

I also took a picture of the National Theatre Gallery building. It was lit up red last night. They  light it a different color every night. My old boss, Caroline, and I used to be the last ones to leave the office at night. We would look out the window together to see what color the theatre was lighted each night.:)

"It's red tonight," I would have called out to Caroline yesterday. So, I called it out to my family instead, and they all thought I was weird.

That was the end of our first day. Kids were in bed by 8 pm, and slept through until 8:15 am. Except for Camille...

She had taken lots of naps while we were out, so she was a little restless in the night. But not too bad. 

And now we've already had another whole day I need to write about. Stay tuned...