LONDON, UK -- I'm here! Let me catch you up on my last 48 hours...
Our flight from Chicago to Philadelphia was smooth as can be, but after that the enjoyment factor took a steady decline. We had about four hours at PHL, which was rather uneventful, but then US Airways decided to split our seats up, even though we hand-picked the seats for our flight. Yeah, so much for my prized window seat... are you kidding? 160,000 miles and $300 and you move me out of my window seat and offer nothing in return? Just pathetic...
Anyway the flight itself was fine, not a lot of turbulence, and we landed at Heathrow about 30 minutes early which is always nice (hey, if you can cut the time down from a transatlantic flight, you take it!). When we got into the airport the immigration line was ridiculously long, but the officer was really friendly. She gave me a bit of a hard time asking me if I enjoyed having to apply for my visa twice (a long and frustrating experience that I will share with you if you ask, but otherwise I don't want to get into it). She was clearly kidding around, stamped my visa, and I am now officially a resident of the UK!
We checked into our hotel, "The Grand Hotel at Trafalgar Square," and nice of them our room was ready almost two full hours early. After we set our bags down we took to a cafe on the Thames for lunch, walked around by the river, came back to the room, napped (to start to set my internal clock), and then had dinner at a Mozzarella Bar... the high quality cheese is produced on the Southwest coast of Italy, and you can tell! Soon after, I returned to the hotel and passed out cold...
Today I woke up and was ready to start the day! I had breakfast down near the Thames - just some fruit and a muffin. Then we headed to the Benjamin Franklin house here in London, where he lived from 1757-1775. The house served as the first American Embassy, and Franklin (born in Boston) was charged with negotiating with the British to repeal the Stamp Act and other forms of taxation. It was a really good deal overall - only 7 pounds per person, and there was a combination of media and live presentations to explain the exhibits/rooms.
After leaving we had lunch - a fresh avocado and chicken sandwich - followed by the "Classic Rock and Beatles Tour" of London. Get this - the tour guide was an American. And continue... he was from Deerfield, and graduated from Stevenson in 1983. Chicago Mike, with the mic, was a great guide who turned our 3 hour tour into a 5 hour tour that included a Stones bar, Abbey Road, EMI Records, the Apple Store (Beatles), and the site of the 1969 rooftop concert that was the final show by The Beatles. We saw where Jimi Hendrix died, the original Hard Rock Restaurant, and much much more - it was literally nonstop for 5 hours, all afternoon.
For dinner we tried another restaurant, this time I had a Kiev Chicken meal that was breaded white chicken breast sauteed on chips.
Tomorrow I am off to LSE for registration to officially become a student... will update once we pass that milestone!
Brandon
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