London at last!

Departed MSP just about on-time and had a smooth and peaceful hop across the pond. The plane was just about totally full, but as we had the first seats in the ordinary class section, that didn't bother us much. Neither Pete nor I watched the movies, Pete fell asleep almost before we took off, woke up to drink a beer and eat his spicy asian vegetarian dinner, and then fell asleep again, not to wake up until we were nearly landing in Amsterdam. I had more trouble sleeping, I knitted a bit, ate my spicy asian vegetarian dinner (it was yummy, Chris, it included sag paneer, which I think you would have loved), read a book on my new Kindle, dozed, twitched, drank water, got up and went to the loo, read, dozed....

We flew over Greenland during the night, and it was clear, with a bright crescent moon, and I could see the moonshine glinting off the icefields, and every once in a while, a small group of city lights shining into the darkness. About 3 hours before we got to Amsterdam I watched an amazing sunrise over the European continent - the sky was cloudy by then, but the color that spread across the entire curve of the earth to the east of us was glorious - deep rosy red at the bottom, rosy orange in the middle, and brilliant yellow orange reaching into the inkblue sky. It was breathtaking.

We flew over the northern edge of Scotland and were surprised to see the fields and hills covered with snow. Surprised, even though we had read in the paper that it had been cold and snowy in northern England, Scotland, and Wales. There was even snow in Holland - as we descended into Schipol, we saw farm fields, houses, and trees that were covered in snow. No problem landing at Schipol, but leaving was something else.

We were supposed to have a bit more than 2 hour layover there, but because of a snowstorm in England our departure was delayed about 90 minutes. It wasn't exactly reassuring when the lead flight attendant said as we taxied out to take off, "...We hope to be landing at London's Heathrow Airport in about 45 minutes." I wasn't sure if she was saying we might have to turn around and return to Amsterdam, or what!! The flight was fine, but we descended forever - it's one of those supershort flights in which you just get up to cruising altitude and you start to descend again. And the descent was totally in clouds. I fell asleep at some point and nearly jumped out of my skin when we first touched down.

Our plane was met by a bunch of security guards, who checked our passports cursorily and let us get off the plane. I haven't any idea who they might have been looking for. We got our tickets for the Heathrow Express, but when we got to the corridor near the platform we joined a big group of people being held in the tunnel while they checked something on the train - that something included blowing the horn a couple of times!!

The train ride into London was uneventful - it was really interesting looking out into the heavily falling snow and the snow all over everything. Fortunately for Peter I was along, so we took a bus from Paddington Station to the British Museum. Our hotel is just a couple of blocks from the BM, and, boy were the sidewalks slippery! It was great to get here and be warmly greeted by Ryan, the new day manager with whom Peter had made our reservation. Nick, we're in the room that you and Dad shared on the side of the hotel away from the street - it has a double bed and a twin bed, and a HUGE mirror over the fireplace. It's very nice - not fancy, but clean and comfortable, and, for Peter it's really his little piece of home in London.

After freshening up a bit, we walked over to Wagamama's for supper and then to the Tesco's just past Covent Garden to buy some supplies (mainly a bottle of wine and some beer). Now we're back. I fixed Peter's computer so he can access the internet through the Thanet's WIFI connection, and now I'm going to wash and turn in.

No pictures yet. I'm annoyed that I didn't have my camera available to catch the sunrise or the snowy landing at Heathrow, but I'll get some good photos tomorrow!