Lond On (London)

It was time to say goodbye to Athens. Like I said, we had to get up early so we could take the Metro to the airport. I was surprised how crowded the Metro was at 5:45 in the morning. It was dark most of the way, as it was during our arrival, so I still didn't get a good look at the country side near the airport, which is located pretty far from Athens. It took no time at all to check in and get through security. We had time to shop and I bought a last minute souvenir - a magnet, to keep the tradition alive. I now have three magnets from my three Thanksgiving international vacations.

The flight to London went by quick. We traveled on British Airways between London and Athens, and I must say, their service is way better than any American airline. The employees are courteous, helpful and seem to enjoy their job, unlike the ones that work for American Airlines, who seem to resent the fact that they have to talk or assist a customer.

We arrived in London early, even after circling the airport for ten minutes. Once we got our luggage and cleared customs, we had a long trip to our hotel, even though it was located at the airport. As we walked to the hotel, it became apparent that the weather was colder than we had expected.

Since the sun sets early in London this time of the year, we headed out as soon as possible after checking into our rooms. We decided to take the Heathrow Express into London, since it took 15 minutes, verses 45 minutes for the tube. However, during the time that we were trying to decide what to do, we missed the train and the next one wasn't until 15 minutes later. So much for saving time. Eventually we boarded the train which took us to Paddington Station. From there we hopped on the "circle" line of the tube which took us to the center of town.

Finally I was in London. In fact, England is the first English speaking country I've visited, as Greece was the first non-Spanish country for me to see.

Even though it was cold and windy, the sun, sitting low in the winter sky, was shining brightly. So out came my camera and I took pictures of the standard sites such as Big Ben, Parliament and the London Eye.

After walking around and seeing all there was to see in this area, we re-boarded the tube and headed to a stop where there were more famous landmarks, such as the Tower Bridge. This bridge is near the London Bridge, but the modern London Bridge is not picture-worthy. We walked across the Tower Bridge, and from there we ended up walking lots more. Once we made it to St. Paul's Cathedral, which we didn't spend much time at, we stopped for a quick snack. The sun was setting fast, and since we were very tired from walking, we hit the tube once again to the British Museum.

It was still long walk to the museum, but it gave me a chance to observe some of the London culture as we walked down the streets. The museum is free, and unlike most, they allow photography, including flash photos. The first picture I took was of the Rosetta Stone. It was just sitting there, right near the entrance, as if its importance wasn't significant. In fact, I plan to examine the photo I took and check the accuracy of their interpretation of the hieroglyphics. Just kidding.

What was most interesting about the museum was how many artifacts thay had (stolen) from Greece. I think I saw more Greek statues here than I did in Greece! There were also many exhibits from Egypt, including actually mummies, which I had never before seen.

As the evening progressed, we agreed our last stop would be Piccadilly Circus. Once we found the closest subway station (by accident since we were lost and didn't realize it), we zipped to the Piccadilly Circus stop. It was dark now, and the bright lights were almost overwhelming. There were big advertisements like you would see in Time Square, and there were these globs of colorful glowing balls hanging above the street. I took a movie of this scene which I'll post later.

By now we were starving for food. You would think that there would be plenty of places to eat here, and there were, but none of them were what we were looking for. I wanted a place where I could have fish and chips and drink an English beer. There were plenty of taverns, but they were very crowded on this Friday night and didn't have many tables for eating. We even tried to get a table at Planet Hollywood (I thought this chain had gone out of business) but there was a 40 minute wait. So, we ended up eating fish and chips at a small Lebanese cafe. I wanted a beer, but they didn't serve beer, most likely because the owners were Muslim. However, there was Christmas tree inside, so that didn't make much since. The food was nothing special, but we were so hungry anything would have tasted good.

The ride back to the airport did take 45 minutes, and even at 8PM, the train was standing room only until a few stops before the airport. Back at the hotel, we headed to our rooms for a good nights sleep on a nice, soft bed.

Our flight didn't depart until 11 AM the next morning, so there was no need to wake up too early. It took a little longer to check in at Heathrow, but we still had plenty of time before boarding our long flight back to Chicago, where we had a five hour layover before the last leg home. We got lucky in San Diego, as we found our baggage had arrive before we did. So a walk back to the car, where the air still smelled like smoke from the recent fires, and soon I was home again. Now it is one week later and I'm almost over my jet lag.

Another fun Thanksgiving vacation is over, and we are already planning next year's trip to Rome and other cities in Italy.