If only this being in the future thing could work out financially
Wanna know something crazy? I’ve got TWO things for you:
- I’m still awake and coherent. (Fine – you can be the judge of my coherence.)
- It’s still the middle of the afternoon for you guys.
Insane. Yes, my mind is easily boggled by time zones. Get your giggling out of the way, please.
Our flight left at 10pm last night, and since neither of us slept well the night before and we both struggled through a full workday, we weren’t too concerned about not sleeping on the plane. I mean, we both knew we’d be exhausted and jet-lagged once we arrived regardless of how well-rested we were on the way over. Since we flew economy (naturally – we drooled over the business and first class seats on our way to the back with the rest of the cattle), our seats were uncomfortable and they didn’t recline far enough. As expected. So, even though we both slept some, it wasn’t enough and it wasn’t good sleep. Actually, I guess it was enough, because we have managed to power through the entire day. We checked in to our hotel around noon or 12:30, dropped off our stuff, and went right back out for lunch (our first meal back in the UK was fish and chips, of course). Then we walked all over central London, mostly drinking in the atmosphere and taking pictures. We didn’t really do anything or see anything – we had vague ideas of visiting the National Gallery, but we kind of looped around Trafalgar Square instead of actually going.
Our wandering was pretty awesome, actually. We haven’t been to London since our honeymoon 11 and a half years ago, but I remember that we didn’t make it to Covent Garden (for no particular reason – there are a lot of places we didn’t make it to). Our wandering today took us straight there (somewhat accidentally), so we did a little shopping, watched a few street performers (including an opera singer – she made my whole day), and didn’t dive head first into the biggest fry-up of paella I have ever seen.
From there, we walked to Leicester Square, through Piccadilly Circus, and on to St. James’s Park. It was too late in the day to go into Westminster Abbey, so we walked around it, took a couple of pictures of Big Ben and the Parliament buildings, and hopped on the tube to come back to the hotel and eat nearby. We’ve been fighting exhausted for a couple of hours now, and I think it’s time to give in. It’s been almost 36 hours since I got out of my own bed Thursday morning, and I think we’ve put in enough effort to beat the jet-lag problem. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.
Some pictures:
Check out the guy in the bottom right corner for perspective. You could go swimming in this paella.
Mallards swimming in St. James's...pond? I don't know if it has a name, but it's in the middle of the park.
A tree-lined lanes (I love tree-line lanes) down one side of St. James's Park.
Big Ben! Hey, it's Big Ben! Look! Now wave hello!
Some pictures:
Check out the guy in the bottom right corner for perspective. You could go swimming in this paella.