The time to hesitate is through...

In the spirit of seizing the moment, only a couple of days after getting back to Rouen from Barcelona, I was off to London, England, in the company of Anthony, Jordan and Amela. We left Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on Friday evening on a REAL flight! That's right, no RyanAir discount bullcrap! We flew British Airways (being given a complimentary sandwhich and drink on the way might I add) into Heathrow Airport, and immediately got on the Tube to go to our HOTEL (that's right, not a hostel) which was a Best Western outside of Central London.

Now I should explain that me finally getting on the London Underground is a big thing. Last time I was in London, I arrived at the airport on the morning of July 7th, 2005. This was exactly when the terrorist bombings of the Underground occured, and so when I tried to make my way to the tube on that day, I found it sealed off with armed security guards in the way. So finally, nearly 2 years later, I arrived in London, England, and got on their metro.


We arrived at our hotel and were tired, so we just chilled that night, watched some TELEVISION (something else we'd been missing while in Rouen), and ordered some chicken strips and garlic bread from DOMINO'S PIZZA (again, something missing in Rouen).

Saturday started our touring of London, and we began by heading up to the Thames River, specifically to get a view of Tower Bridge. We also stopped for lunch and had a BAGEL (yes, again, something not found in France) with cream cheese, before getting back on the tube and going to the Imperial War Museum.



The Imperial War Museum was huge,and featured some incredible WWI and II exhibits, as well as a floor entirely for a Hollocaust exhibit. We spent about 3 and a half hours in the museum, but couldn't see everything. Unfortunately, that's when the museum was closing, so, tired, we returned to our hotel for a nap. By the end of the nap, though, we decided we didn't really feel like going out, so we ordered actual Domino's Pizza this time, and again spent a night talking and watching TV.




Sunday was a big day, as we got up and chose to take a bus tour of London. But it's not really a bus tour. Basically you buy a pass and then can get on and off the tour busses at stops around the city, kinda like taking a city bus. We got off at such stops as Picadilly Circus, Big Ben, the London Eye, Trafalgar Square, and of course, Buckingham Palace. While a little pricey, it was a great way to cover a ton of ground in a single day. For lunch, we went to Sherlock Holmes's pub, and then after the tour, we went to a nice little restaurant called Red's for dinner. Sunday night we decided to head into central London, and spent a couple of hours walking around the SoHo and Picadilly area, taking in all the lights in the bar/club/restaurant/shop/theatre-filled district.




While on the topic of money, let me say how ridiculous the British Pound is. Geez. Stuff there is priced normally....... until you realize you're paying in pounds. Or over double the Canadian dollar. My God, England. Control your currency.

Ok so Monday was our last half-day in London, and we opted to spend it by visiting the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club, where the Wimbledon Championship is played every year. We went on a full tour of the grounds, seeing the museum, and then the courts and many areas normally accessible only to players, club members, and/or members of the media.

After Wimbledon, we caught the Tube back to Heathrow, and then eventually... after a super long journey marred by delays of transport... arrived back in Rouen after midnight.

So that was London. Next up... umm... haircut tomorrow! But seriously, possibly Juno Beach Friday, possibly Giverny Saturday, and then definitely Disneyland Paris on Sunday! Should be awesome. Oh and next weekend we go to Brussels, Belgium.

Oh ya and the week after that is actually our spring break. All this travelling is right in the middle of classes. Unfortunately, I don't have plans for the break yet, but I'm working on it. I'm also working on hopefully going to Sweden the first weekend in May, and Poland the second weekend. But we'll see, so more on that later.

GO HABS GO! My boys are actually pleasantly surprising me. Would love to be home for the playoff push, but they'll have to settle for my support from abroad.

Before signing off for now, just thought I'd give a shout out to a loyal reader, one Anne Marie Sime. I appreciate your interest in our adventures out here.

Laters y'all.

Dan