Minding the Gap

Well, it's finally here: The start of our trip! We arrived in London around 11am local time (about 4 am in Colorado, where we left from) feeling equal parts tired and excited. After making our way through customs and retrieving our (already way too heavy) packs, we hopped on "the tube" from Heathrow airport and trucked our way to our rather-expensive-one-night-only-"jetlag"-hotel near Paddington Station.

For me, walking up the narrow flight of stairs, barely managing the corner with my pack, and squeezing through the door into an absolutely tiny hotel room (complete with it's very own sink and a shared bathroom down the hall), was like seeing an old friend. Though I've never stayed at this particular hotel before, much of Europe is set up very similarly, and the small spaces, funny bathrooms, and unusual outlets are all familiar to me, and bring back many wonderful memories. For Sean, however, everything is new. He's taking it all in, enjoying the novelty, and making the necessary adjustments (we literally can't walk past each other in the room without performing a move that might accurately be named "the hug and turn").

After decompressing a bit (and grabbing some incredibly delicious, and much needed Indian food), we took a little walk through Hyde Park and then re-boarded the underground, making sure to heed the persistant warnings of the voice over the intercom reminding us to "mind the gap". We spontaneously decided to follow a strong recommendation of Sean's Uncle Chris, and stopped off at Westminster Abby! --------------->

 We were too late for the day to take a look inside, but resolved to come back on another day, because the outside of the building was more than enough to whet our appetites. We also walked past the House of Parliament (left), but again, were not able to go inside. For today, we settled on some taster pictures, a pint at a local pub and a shower back at the hotel. Whew! What a day! And now... BED.

Jenna