Today We Go To London

Tues 2 April 2012

We had been in Iceland long enough that 5:00 am did not feel like 1:00 AM, but it still was plenty early to be getting up, thank you very much. It was disappointing to not see any more of Keflavik, but we had 7:30 plane tickets to London with our names on them, so it was time to say goodbye to this wonderfully unique and uniquely wonderful country. Actually not "good-bye" but more likely "see you later" because this is definitely a place worth revisiting. Also they had Appelsin on the plane.

Before you knew it,  we were at Heathrow. England was now officially the first European country that I had been to more than once (not counting France). My first visit was with the Brocks way back in the year 2000. On that trip we only spent a couple days in London, so I was excited to get reacquainted with the city and to get to know it better.

The trip from the airport to our flat was more of an adventure than it should have been. Besides having more trouble getting our tube tickets that we should have, Ella nearly got ran over twice, and we got rained on. Perhaps London was upset with us for being away for so long. It was with relief that we finally made it to our flat near the Kensington section of town.

The rain had stopped by the time we'd gotten settled, so it was off in search of some food. Great Britain is not known for great cuisine, unless you really like British pub fare, which we do, and that will become clear if you keep reading. Pub #1 of this trip was Gloucester Arms where I had a meat pie (and a pint of some bitter), Alex got the roast of the day, Ella got fish and also chips, and Shelley probably got some kind of salad (and a pint or two). And the people say "Ahhh!"

Exploring the area was next. Right nearby was Kensington Gardens in which we saw a dog that looked almost exactly like our Kenzie (who we sometimes call Kensington at more formal dog occasions).  This park is also home to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground. I've since learned that is used to be the Peter Pan Playground, which explains the pirate ship. Anyway, the kids were able to collect some white sand while we relaxed on one of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Benches.

One of my favorite things to do in new places is to visit the local grocery store to see what is familiar and what is not. We went to Waitrose to stock on as much of the unfamiliar foods and beverages that we would need to avoid eating every meal in a pub. We also stopped by a local sandwich shop as it was closing and got a super deal on some tasty British baguette sandwiches.