Mind the Gap

"Mind the gap" is the phrase used by the ever so polite British transit to remind you, as you step off the tube, that the space between vehicle and platform might be larger than you anticipate.

Needless to say, it has become our new favorite saying. ;).  Therefore, when we started having second thoughts about leaving England for Paris, we decided to figuratively mind the gap and extend our stay in London.

We have only been here in this grand old city for one full day (though our arrival day was certainly quite full indeed), yet we are already in love with it.  Daniel, in fact, has declared his intention to live here after graduating from LAMDA, the prestigious school for music and drama Daniel had decided was his first choice for college many months ago, long before he set foot in this country 

The trip here was relatively unevetful.  We envied the "upperclass" passengers their comfy pods, as we found it quite challenging to get much sleep in our seats.  Still, the flight was smooth, the people friendly and our arrival timely, so we sleepily walked off the plane in London and got started with our day.  The magnificent hotel/apartment where we are staying was available for us as soon as we arrived, hours before our official check-in time, so that was a lovely and unexpected surprise.  Dana had fun

Paying with the panorama feature on his iPhone, while Maddie took a short nap, and Daniel and I relaxed and read about London.  Then we ventured out, knowing that the best way to combat jet lag was to pretend as if we were already on London time.  Daniel has an app on his phone that keeps track of how many steps he takes each day, so he was able to inform us as we stumbled back into the Plaza on the River several hours later that we had walked 15,000 steps.  That wasn't hard to believe, as we walked - in a light drizzle for most of the time - over the Thames, past Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben..  supper (late lunch/early dinner?  Breakfast?  Our clock was so off who could tell) at a historic pub where the bell would ring to tell legislators it was time to vote ;) and then to Trafalgar Square for christmas carols under a christmas tree that is gifted to London each year from Norway as thanks for help in WWII.   

Our walk back to our hotel in the South End took us through a wonderful Christmas market, set up along the Thames, where we were able to see local artists selling their goods.   Thinking of Heather, and loving the work, we bought a couple of items and promised ourselves to return once more while we are here.  Since it gets dark here around 3:00, we felt as if we were returning to our room in the wee hours of the night, when it was actually a reasonable 9:00 PM.

Yesterday, we woke at 8:00 AM determined to get ourselves on London time sooner than later.  We had a wonderful day exploring the city, calling an audible to spend what was likely our only "sunny" day here outside (despite our initial plan to visit the British Museum).  We went straight to Hyde Park's Speakers Corner, listened to a lively debate on evolution, wandered through the park, to Buckingham Palace, through Diana's Memorial Garden in St. James Park, stopping for a light lunch in a restaurant right in the park, then walked past Trafalgar Square and into the West End to see Let It Be in the historic Savoy hotel and theater.  Historic, of course, means something much different here than it does back home.  The Savoy burned down in 1300 and was rebuilt in the 1800's, for instance :)

It appears that the jet lag caught up with us last night, however, as we all slept until 10:00 AM this morning.  Once I finally wrestled with the blogger app and Dana got my keyboard to work, I was able to at least get started on the blog.  However, London awaits.  We will now head out for day 3 - the British Museum plus... and I will try to catch up on some more details when I have another minute to write.  Until then...