We're Here!

Yes, we did arrive in London safely yesterday morning, but not without some travel woes. Our flight from Nashville to Chicago was delayed quite a bit, pushing our take-off time back over 2 hours. David and I landed in Chicago at 4:52, 8 minutes before our flight to London was scheduled to leave. Immediately when we stepped off that plane, we called a friend on the same flight and found out that they had yet to board our plane. So, we took off on a dead sprint through O'Hare (yeah, think Home Alone style with 25lb bookbags on... I have the bruises on my back and shoulders as reminders of that jog) and some how managed to make the flight. The 7 hour flight passed quickly with a little help from the ipod, The Office re-runs, and meals and beverages every couple hours. I did not sleep much, but managed to survive a full day yesterday. Molly and Alayna did not make it to London until early this morning due to delays in Chicago that pushed there take-off back a day. Clearly, I have little to complain about when it comes to travels.



London is nothing short of incredible (70 degree weather, yeah c'mon!). At times I cannot believe my eyes that I am standing in front of such historic places. Sadly, my recollection of the History of England is poor, despite the fact that I took the class last term) so I am struggling a little to recall all the kings and their accomplishments. Today we toured Westminster Abbey which was really AMAZING. I did not want to leave. I really cannot even describe it but there is something so majestic and breath taking about that building. It is packed with history and tombs of historical figures like kings, scientists, writers, monks, and even FDR (yeah, the American president). We also went to St. Paul's Cathedral, the oldest Cathedral in London and in my opinion the most beautiful. David and I are going to try to make it back there for the worship service tomorrow morning. We walked along the Thames to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and saw the London Eye, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parlament. Yesterday we battled exhaustion but some how managed to make it to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards and Hyde Park. We ate in an English Pub, "Old London" and I ate some food that is very British and tried a beer. I cannot recall the name of my meal or my drink which is rather embarassing but truly telling of my exhaustion at this moment. The meals are expensive and not very hearty, especially breakfast at the good old Royal National ("trail mix surprise," my cereal this morning and orange juice in a glass the size of a shot were both less than satisfying).

I did not expect people to be quite so 'standoffish' here. No one will make eye contact with you, talk with you, or even smile at you (yeah, think T.S. Eliot's picture of people walking across London Bridge in "The Wasteland"). It is a little disappointing and it does make me miss Nashville.

My signal is weak and fading so I will sign off for now. Thank you all for the prayers, emails, etc.! Cheers!