As Nancy has already alluded to the torturous journey from London’s Heathrow airport to our room in saying it took almost 3 hours, and some things are better left forgotten, I will pick up the story at the train platform where we disembarked and found Mary awaiting us. Mary had arrived earlier in the day and had already checked in, had a nap to combat the jet lag, a pint with the pub’s oldest and best customer, who supposedly spoke English but none of us were convinced and then decided to get some fresh air and wait for us at the train since we were due in shortly, actually probably overdue by that point.



This is Mary and I arguing about which direction our hotel is in, I should have known better than to argue though since, as I said, she had already checked in. Did I mention it was a long day of travel? That’s the hotel behind us.

We checked in, stopped to have a refreshing liquid at the pub and met the pub’s oldest and best customer who assaulted us in some previously unheard variant of English. Nancy, Mary and I all looked at each other but judging by the confused faces all around nobody had quite understood what it was he was saying. So, being friendly like I am (and knowing we were only staying for the rest of our drink), I invited the chap to pull up a chair. This earned me an incredulous look from Mary and a kick under the table from my dearest wife. Well after he was sitting he became much more intelligible and we were able to pick out one or two words in ten, so we were able to gather that he was quizzing us on US History of all things, why I’ll never know since he apparently already knew the answers. In any event he seemed a bit sore about the losing the revolutionary war, I pondered this briefly considering for a moment if he had actually fought in it but then quickly ruling it out we simply told him to “get over it” and move on, lots of cool things have happened since then and we’re friends now. While he struggled with this concept we all finished our drinks, excused ourselves and made our way out of the pub.

We traveled by train into the heart of London (perhaps the Eye of London is a better expression). Here’s a shot of Mary and I where we emerged from the subway right next to Big Ben!

And here’s Mary and I with, what else, the London Eye behind us!


Nancy of course was taking the pictures and so I turned to Mary and seeing the Blog entry in my head, I said apparently too softly for Nancy to hear “Mary and Mike go to London”. Remember this as it comes up later in our stories….

But rest assured Nancy was there and here’s proof!

And here is some interesting background information that I found, well, interesting…I’m sure everyone is familiar with the infamous nursery rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down.” I seem to remember our tour guide saying it had something to do with the plague that happened in London, but upon researching it a bit more I can find no such reference. The song itself appears to relate the many times the bridge was built, and subsequently fell down. Several bridges have actually existed at or near the sight of the present bridge for 2000 years. The most recent bridge that you see today was opened in 1973. The previous bridge finished in 1831 was apparently sold to an American in 1968 and transported stone by stone and can now be seen in Lake Havasu, Arizona! Anyway the London Bridge isn’t the prettiest bridge and I found the Tower Bridge to be far more interesting and picturesque. I must admit that for some reason I’ve always thought of the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge as one and the same but have now learned otherwise. See how educational travel is??? Anywho, here’s a shot of Nancy and Mary holding up the Tower Bridge so it should be there for future travelers to enjoy.

Here’s a closer shot of the Tower Bridge, ain’t she a Beaut? (The bridge is nice too!)

A working draw-bridge it’s one of the prettiest and most distinctive bridges I’ve seen and it’s been here since 1894.

While we’re on bridges, there was one other that warrants mention. The Millennium Bridge is London’s newest bridge and is completely pedestrian. One of the world’s first horizontal suspension bridges, when it was first opened apparently it wobbled something fierce, inducing nausea in not a few people, thus earning its nickname “wobbly bridge.” Apparently the wobble was so bad that the bridge closed after being open only a few days to have the engineers work out the problem which they did. I noticed only a slight movement as we walked over it ourselves. It’s also quite pretty when lit at night although I don’t have a picture to show you of that.

Oh wait, wrong picture …different suspension bridge, we’ll get to this one later…



As it was already almost 8pm we walked down to the London Eye where we had arranged to meet Wendy for dinner and a drink. Here’s what it looks like from underneath. Mary and I came back the next day to go up in it but more on that next blog!

Wendy was a little late in arriving, probably because SHE ATE WITHOUT US at home, but she led us into the heart of London, Trafalgar Square, where we finally settled at a restaurant on a corner of it that had outside seating. There we enjoyed dinner while watching (and commenting on) the very eclectic styles of London fashion walk past. By the time we finished it was already getting late and we needed to catch the last train back to our room so Wendy helped us find the station and we said our goodbyes and wished her well for the summer. After a short stay in England, she was heading to Australia for a month. Ah teaching does have its perks.

Nancy has pretty well covered the highlights from the following day, not to mention her escapade during the night (for which she’s thankful we have no photos) so I’ll probably just edit her post some and insert some pictures. Hope you’ve enjoyed this first installment of many, be sure to send encouragement by way of comments, it helps keep me motivated!