Rule, Brittania!

London calling, yes, I was there, too

An' you know they said?

Well, some of it was true!

London calling at the top of the dial

And after all this, won't you give me a smile

- The Clash, London Calling

The River Thames in Chelsea. Photo RGH

London was not initially in our plans. It's a big city with lots to do and see, we have friends here we would want to visit, and we knew that we would want to spend several days there. It was, however, a necessary transfer point when getting from Paris to Edinburgh. When I mentioned our travel plans to a friend from my days growing up in Canada, he told me he was living in London while working in Paris and Amsterdam. We hoped to catch up with him in one of those cities during our tour, and it so happened that he would be at home the day we were passing through London. We ended up staying with him and his family; unfortunately, our stay would be brief ... a half day and overnight. We dropped our bags, stopped for a short visit, and headed out to explore.

We had a Sandemans tour scheduled, but missed it by 10 minutes. We re-grouped, ate lunch, and decided to improvise. Kari had friends visiting London, so we made plans to meet up with them. They gave us an abbreviated tour of the area surrounding Parliament and Westminster Abbey, then treated us to a Thames River cruise. We disembarked from the boat at the Tower of London. I've tried before to get on a tour of the tower, but never seem to have enough time. This visit marked the 3rd time I have stood outside the gates without going inside. I guess I will have to try for a 4th time.

  

  

  

Scenes from London. Photos RGH

We spent a great night telling stories, laughing, and making fun of siblings who were not there (Here's looking at you, David). On this trip, Kari has met a number of friends I have known for 20+ years and says that she has had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs meeting and hanging out with everybody. Little H even conceded that I have some cool friends (though she still won't admit that I am pretty cool, too).

It is through the kindness and generosity of friends that our lives are enriched. This has been true for us at home in the US, during our year in NZ, and especially true on our journey home. We started out visiting friends in Japan (Link: Konnichiwa!), then spent two weeks on our own. The last week of our trip will be a string of visits with friends in London, Edinburgh/Stirling, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and Delaware. We will be back in the US in 3 days and sleeping in our own beds in less than 2 weeks. It's been a heck of a ride.

It's lit, mate ...