Greetings from England!

We’re here! The flights were fine (now that I’m OFF the plane), just LLLOOONNNGGG! Our hopes of sleeping on the plane did not happen, even with dramamine that may cause “marked drowsiness”. (“May” was obviously the key word there -- I guess I need something stronger.) We arrived yesterday morning, and while driving the 2 hours to our hotel, we decided that if we were going to see London, that it had to be that day.

So, we showered in a hurry, and jumped back in the car for the 3 hour drive to London. We saw more than I ever thought possible in 4 hours time, and walked more miles than I ever thought possible after missing an entire night of sleep. We were so thankful for my husband’s UK collegue and his wife who took us to every sight possible in our short time frame. There is no way we would have found our way to London on our own, let alone found anything inside the city. And just as a side note, I have lost count how many times I thought a car was coming straight at me simply because everyone is driving on the wrong side of the road!!

Here are a few of the gazillion pictures we took yesterday.

Flying into England:

The London Eye:

St. Paul's Cathedral:

Buckingham Palace:
I’ve learned something new about myself in the two days that I’ve been here. Just last week I was talking to some friends about embarrassment. One friend said she hated being embarrassed and looking stupid in situations. I saying that it didn’t bother me if I was around people that I would never see again. I was WRONG. Being in another culture has opened my eyes to that. I don’t know many things about this country – from England slang, to dining etiquette, to street signs…and much more. And guess what?? It’s embarrassing! In London, it was no big deal, there was a melting pot of people and more cameras than I’ve seen in one place in my entire life. But, here in the Midlands, I haven’t heard another American accent yet (yes, I am smart enough to realize that I’M the one with accent here).

Last night we finally got some sleep and I sent my husband off to work this morning. It was rainy and chilly this morning, so I started reading a book. I know, you're thinking, "she's in England and she is wasting time reading a book?" Yep, that is exactly what I did. It has been ages since I could selfishly take the the time to read and read and read. Plus, it was raining and I didn't have a car! Tomorrow I'm heading out to do some shopping. This may be my one and only internet time while I'm here - we are paying $16.00 for one hour of connection. Ouch. Maybe our next hotel will be different.

I hope you are all having a great week!