Arriving in London

The Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, once said that “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”  That largely sums up our first day in London.  We were fortunate to leave Chattanooga and Atlanta with minimum drama (completely different from our wacky trip to China last year!)  The flight to London seemed very fast – of course flying without a broken leg will make most flights seem much shorter.  Our guide, Reg (short for Reginald) met us at Heathrow Airport.  Tony and I were initially concerned about Reg because he seemed to be a bit too hyper (in spite of his advanced age), and he absolutely delighted in us about the wide availability of free toilets in all the various museums and art galleries.  Nevertheless, he and his driver, Gary, somehow managed to get our coach through all sorts of security and traffic to Buckingham Palace just in time to see Prince Charles, Camilla and Queen Elizabeth as they rode in procession for the Queen’s Annual Address to Parliament.  What is so amazing about this (beyond the fact that we were even there!) is that this was the FIRST time in 17 years that Prince Charles has accompanied Queen Elizabeth to this annual address. 

There were many people who came out for this event.  Two ladies let me squeeze into the front of the crowd to get some pictures.  One lady, from Manchester, England, told me how lucky I was to just walk off the plane and be there for this.  She had apparently been planning to be there for weeks.  Another lady there, from Sweden, had also been planning to be there for some time.  An older fellow came over and asked where I was from.  He was an adorable old gent from London.  He told me stories about that “horrid Wallis Simpson,” and told me how much everyone in London loves “Katie.”  So cute.  I wished I could have visited with him longer, but Reg was shouting at me to re-join the group. 

We moved on to the Tower of London.  Granted, it’s a bit of a tourist trap, but as someone who loves the Tudor period, I was excited to visit the place where some of King Henry VIII’s wives lost their heads.  Lots of history there!  In addition to the Tower of London itself, we saw the Tower Bridge, the place where Sir Thomas More and many others were publicly executed and the Crown Jewels.  We finished our tour a bit early and enjoyed our first meal of fish and chips followed by an ice cream cone.  Yummy.

 After all of this, we FINALLY arrived at our hotel where Tony and I crashed.  It has been exhausting traveling all this way.  We are looking forward to exploring London and seeing the culture and history and culinary delights it has to offer.  We have posted pictures on Facebook, and we will do our best to keep the blog updates. 

Cheers! 

Joanie (and Tony)