London Calling

What an experience...London was welcoming, easy, and fun.


We are learning new lessons and relearning the old lessons of traveling. For instance, never order food on something that moves...it will be twice as expensive than you would expect (that was an old lesson). And, make sure to give the travel day...when you are going from and old destination to a new one...the respect it deserves (new lesson). We learned that last lesson on the trip to London and again to Paris. But first, let's talk about the trip to London. At first glance, it seemed like a simple, early morning trip from Berlin to London. We figured we would be in our apartment in London by noon. We were not that far off, got there by 1:30, but we were haggard. Without a car on either end the trip involved a metro ride beginning at 6:30 followed by a bus ride to the airport. When we arrived at Berlin Schonefeld airport, we were greeted by the longest queue I have ever seen. Thankfully that was for all flights NOT going to England, France or Switzerland. You see, we were flying EasyJet...now known to our family as CrazyJet...one of Europe's budget airlines. The flight boarding was a rugby scrum. A lady seated ahead of us was being kicked by the passenger behind and she began yelling bloody murder...a fight nearly broke out. The flight attendants were nonplussed but also not particularly into customer service. We arrived Gatwick and had to queue again to get train tickets into Victoria Station. An hour later we were queued again to get our metro passes so we could take the Tube to our apartment - again, metro travel with two transfers. We were glad to finally find our new home.

The first day in a new place was tough on all of us. We were tired, unfamiliar with our surroundings, and a little chilled. Owen was not happy. By the end of the week, Owen had a different view - loved London. We visited a number of the key attractions rather quickly - an hour in the British Museum, lunch in the Crypt of St. Martin in the Fields, an hour in the British National Museum of Art, etc. We slowed a bit in the Science and Technology Museum and the Natural History Museum as both kids had a keen interest in their displays. A highlight for Owen and Lily was the London Eye. For Gina and I it was a dinner at Belgo - Belgium food and beer.