Saturday and Sunday (March 31 to April 1st)

Pop and Grandma gave us a great surprise when they told us they would be treating us to a trip to Europe. They've been a few times recently visiting Cari who has been teaching in London for the past few years. Sari was in tears. Grandma said it was to make memories. Well that it did. We'll remember this forever.

Sari bought me and the boys a journal to record and illustrate our trip. In this travel log I jotted down my thoughts and added them with the pictures from our camera. NOTE: the pics are from our camera only and not from Pop, Cari, and Grandma's, as I would consider them better photographers.

First thing this morning was Sam's Rio Salado little league "opening day". He's been to Jake and Luke's but this was his. He was proud in his new uniform. Sari stayed home to clean. After ceremonies, festivities, and play, and plenty of procrastinating, it was time for me to pack. Our flight was at 7:25 pm and our neighbor Teresa was taking us at 5:15 to the airport. I was getting my usual flight anxiety.

It died down after we settled in at our gate (Flight BA288, Gate B25, Terminal 4). Britons were waiting too. Our first taste of British accent. The next taste was after boarding because the whole flight crew was British.

I've flown before with Jake and Luke and they were blissful. However, Jake is anxious this time because we're flying over the ocean. Among other things, we watched movies and cartoons on the flight to pass time. I watched bits of "The Descendant," "Tower Heist," Johnny English Reborn," and "Creature Comforts". I read some on my Kindle (Jo Nesbo), and I fidgeted.

We were served dinner about two hours after take off, and good thing because we were all famished. Poor Sam was already asleep though, then Jake fell asleep, then Sari, then Luke. I had bits of sleep but was too uncomfortable. Sam got the most sleep, then Sari, Luke, and Jake. We were served breakfast.

The flight path started north through Flagstaff then Denver, the Dakotas into Canada, over Greenland, Scotland, then London and Heathrow airport. We were all very excited to be in London. Pop met us with a driver. Wow, the English roads and countryside.

The cars were different, the buildings and homes looked different. The buildings had smears of black soot; stained from the industrial age. Jake fell asleep during the ride.We pulled up a steep hill to our Whitehall Park house. A three story red-brick structure.

Our driver unloaded the bags, Pop took care of the fee and tip, and we were greeted by Grandma and Aunt Cari. We entered from the street, through a garden gate, left then right up steps though a small front yard.

Shoes came off inside. The tiled entry passes a sitting room to a steep staircase going up. To the right of the staircase is the family room, to the left is a hall bathroom tucked back and then the kitchen entry. Before entering there is a door opening to short slippery steps to the basement. The living room has a fireplace, TV, piano, and kids toys. It connects to the kitchen on the other side. The kitchen has wood floors, wood chopping block counters, a marble-countered island, modern appliances, and fully stocked cupboards. The ceiling over the kitchen was all paned glass windows, steepled in the middle. You could look down from the second and third floor bedrooms to see who was cooking (or making coffee).

Going upstairs to the second floor landing three bedrooms are beautifully made for us with a central shower and bathroom. One more floor up there are two more bedrooms and a bathroom. After settling in and marveling at the place we would be living at for the next 10 days we prepared to go out.

We walked down to the Archway station, which would be our Underground (AKA the Tube) hub for travels from our London home, Cari gave a quick tutorial on etiquette for riding on the Tube. At the ticket window to buy passes, I could scarcely understand the guy. It was though he wasn't speaking English. It must have been a combination of flying all night and his thick accent.

We rode the tube to Waterloo Station. We walked through the station and out to the busy streets and were led by Cari to our first view, magnificently framed under the near bridge.

We were fortunate to walk into a chocolate fair and had to order something.

We stopped for biscuits and coffee and made our way to the Thames river bank and had these views.





We crossed the bridge and walked. In London! Grandma told us that artists sculpted 200 eggs and placed them throughout London.







We saw lots of red telephone booths.





Trafalgar Square





View from Trafalgar Square

We made our way through the theater district on our way to Trafalgar Square. It would be fun to take in a show in one of these theaters (when Sam is old enough). Pop and I were trying to guess how many seats these old places held - between 400 to 1200?

The Olympic count-down.

When we made it back to Whitehall (home) Grandma and Pop made a comforting spaghetti with meat sauce and salad. I'm proud of the boys for the journal and sketching they did today. It seems like a week ago when we were at Sam's opening day.