Hello London!

As usual we didn't get much sleep on the plane...food to eat, beer to drink, games to play, hot towels to refresh with, and movies to watch.  Premium economy on British Airways is much like business class on American, but with cooler accents.

We took a taxi (Black Cab) to the hotel and had a great driver - Steve - who was full of personality and information about London.  It's Boxing Day here and Steve, told us that Boxing Day has two meanings: first, that it's the day after Christmas - time to throw out all your boxes and unwrapping trash, and, second, after spending a day with your family, you've likely taken up sides and suggested that we go outside and box to settle differences.  I love that definition!

Joe and I always like to hit the ground running.  If you go straight to the hotel and try to sleep, you begin a pattern of sleeping during the day and lying awake at night.  We did get an early check in and after a bit of freshening up (teeth brushing, reapplying deodorant, hair combing), away we went to find a pub.

We started out going down Oxford Street where there are tons of department and clothing stores...also tons of people...and each one was weighted down with bags and bags of stuff.  Didn't anyone get what they wanted for Christmas?  There were so many people trying to get into one store, there was a queue waiting to get in!  After dodging the masses - and not finding any food - we turned back and walked along Hyde Park (think Central Park in NYC).  We walked.  And walked.  And walked.  And got more tired and more hungry as we went.  We got lost and had to reroute again.  Finally we came upon a pub.  Too bad it was one of the new "chains."  The beer was okay, but the food wasn't very good...just sustenance.

After lunch, we walked a bit further and came on Buckingham Palace Road...now we're talking.  We didn't get to see the changing of the guard...oh we will before the end of the trip...but the palace is beautiful.  Here's Joe in front of the gate.

The gold gilt is amazing, but so are the reliefs:

Even though the guards weren't changing, there are still guards on duty.  And I can only imagine what they're thinking, "Bloody tourists.  I don't come down to your office and stare at you!"

We'd finally had enough adventure (and enough walking for the day) so we tried our hand at the Tube to get us back to the hotel.  God I love mass transit.

Plan for tomorrow:  if it's rainy, we'll go to the museums, if it's nice, we'll hit the Eye, Big Ben and the Abbey.

Cheers!