Finally stamping my passport.

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I did not expect to see a man playing a French horn in his front window this afternoon.  It was a most perfect introduction to London.

Our flight?  Uneventful, though long.  We taxied past the retired Concord at Heathrow and I longingly wished for a flight that was less than twelve hours of travel.  Denver - Keflavik - London.   Pete and I have the two ends of the spectrum of the leg room problem.  He never has enough and my feet don’t touch the ground.  I think we found our happy place in the first row after first class where we could both prop our feet on the wall and flit in and out of sleep for the last few hours of the flight.

The car service from Heathrow to our AirBnB in Greenwich?  Not great.  Maybe it’s just London traffic that’s not great.  Maybe I’m just tired.  Maybe I’m just a control freak who thinks there was likely a much more efficient route.  In a city I’ve never visited.  Where cars are driven on the wrong side of the street.  Where people drive close enough to each other to clap each other on the back if their windows were rolled down.  So, what do I know?

Our flat? Absolutely lovely when you get inside.  We’re in Greenwich because a) I didn’t want the crowds of central London, b) I didn’t want the prices of central London, and c) I wanted to take the water taxi up the Thames.  The building itself is a bit run down—in transition as a hardened Realtor might say—but the inside is a renovated delight.  Two large bedrooms, a full bath with a jetted tub and dual shower heads, a fully outfitted kitchen, and a host that literally put the kettle on so we could have tea the moment we arrived.  It’s just a short walking distance—though it didn’t feel short to this girl who hasn’t walked this far in years—from the Prime Meridian (which is on the top of a brutal hill to climb when you haven’t slept in many a moon due to excitement.

Speaking of sleep.  If my twenty year old daughter who is used to all-nighters in college can pass out at 7 p.m. London time, I think I have every right to join along.

Tomorrow a bit of book research commences with a visit to the Churchill War Rooms or the WWII museum.  Research starts in earnest in Liege, Belgium on Memorial Day.

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