Day 17: London to Texas

The hotel location was so nice and easy to walk across to the terminal this morning. Of course, I was early but I was up and ready to get the process started.  This is my first time flying internationally with British Airways.  I picked it because I could fly business class with points (57,500 + tax) and the flight was direct from LHR to Austin . . . which is a 90 minute drive to my house.  

Another day of sitting and doing a lot of nothing but at least I will be in a big comfortable seat.

From the minute I boarded the plane it was a delightful experience!  The crew was so nice and smiling.  I must say that the safety video was hilarious and in the old world British theme with modern day flight crew. It was golden and caught my self laughing.  

Let's go home!

Here’s to 10 hours! I’m not going to lie but I’m excited after seeing the menu! I’m staying awake for it all. 

Cranberry Blush was strong!

Butternut Squash soup

Traditional short rib beef pie

Artisan Cheese with port wine

It is not very American to have a cheese plate for dessert but what sold me was they had Graham's Six Grapes Reserve Ruby Port as a drink option.  I sort of felt fancy; thankfully I told her I wanted a light pour.  I toured Graham's last year on my trip to Portugal and loved it.  At that point I was feeling a bit buzzed and  it was no more drinky drinks because I do have to drive home when I arrive in Austin.
 
And then it was time to start my Elsbeth season 2 marathon with a bit of napping. That is when I noticed my seat would not lay flat. Ugh! The foot rest would go up and down but the back would not. Thankfully the crew was able to do it manually. Even though it wasn’t completely flat it was comfortable enough to relax. So I shut my door and went to the land of dreamers.

 
The broken seat was a bummer but was still more comfortable than a seat in coach. I grew restless around hours 7-8 and then it was tea time . . . almost home.

And just like that we landed in Austin.  I grabbed my rental car to drive home and of course it was just in time for rush hour traffic even on the toll road!

Day 16: Athens to London

A lot of sitting and laying around until I had to leave the hotel.  When I went to pick my Uber to the airport there was an option of having a female driver for same price.  So I took it mainly thinking the car would be smoke free since it was about a 50 minute ride to airport.  It was so nice!  It was very clean and smelled so fresh too.  After arriving at the airport, I did something I never do; I checked my carry on bag. I really did not want to hassle with it. I will pick it up in London and keep it with me since I have an overnight layover.

And then I had a bit of a mishap as I went through immigration at the Athens airport. When I disembarked the cruise Sunday morning, we were just herded right outside. I thought it was odd no immigration check, but I followed the instructions and exited the building. Well today they questioned my entry as I passed through immigration at the airport. They didn’t seem to believe me and asked for documentation showing I entered on a cruise ship. Of course I had a small moment of panic, but remembered I saved my cruise documents on my phone. The girl finally stamped my passport, and I was on to security.

Just lots of sitting, walking around, playing solitaire, yawning . . . repeat for hours! I don’t know why I get to airports so early but it is a habit.  

We finally board my flight from Athens to London.  I’m seated in my least favorite row, bulkhead seat 1A!  I’m probably the only weirdo (Colin isn’t a fan of bulkhead either) that doesn’t like the extra leg room.  I really like to have a seat in front of me and space to store my bag by my feet.  I settled in and before I know I was given a menu to order dinner.  I picked the roast beef salad.  The meal service was really good!

One thing I have noticed is these British Airways flight attendants seem happy. They are eager to get what you request and with a smile.  And just like that my first leg is over. I grabbed my bag and walked across to the Sofitel London Heathrow Hotel where I will hang out some more.

Post Note: I had some fun flavored chips that I bought for Colin. When I got home they were gone! Someone took them at the Athens airport out of my checked bag. I’m bitter!

good-bye London

All good trips must come to an end so this one is no different.  The best part about heading home was that I splurged and used miles to fly back in Business Class . . . WOW doesn't even begin to say how wonderful an experience it was!  Of course the flight back was about 10 hours 30 minutes and knew we would be awake most/all of it so thought why not?  The seats were amazing and with the touch of a button were flat!  Colin giving me a cheers while the back of the plane boards . . .

. . . the service was beyond amazing too!  I swear they were feeding us every 45 minutes something even if it was just warm nuts or Cherry Garcia ice cream.  Colin was most impressed with the steak . . . a real piece of beef steak and not some hamburger patty.  It was worth the miles, but I have a feeling it will be hard to go back to the normal crappy seats in the back of the plane next time!  It was the perfect ending to another perfect trip!

London: day 7

We started the morning with a quick search of the Roman Bath Museum website to find that they had to be notified by email about missing or lost property.  We sent in a description of the camera with a detailed location of where we thought it was left.  Sadly, we knew more about where it was left than the actual camera details.  I will be applying a label with contact information before the next trip!  Now that the last effort to recover the camera was done, Colin and I headed out to a huge toy store called Hamleys . . .

. . . of course we spent a lot of time in the Lego section!  Oddly we bought nothing as the prices were very expensive (almost double) and much cheaper back home in the USA.  Of course I liked all the Lego statues that were all about being royal.  The toy store was at least 5 levels . . . we arrived when it opened and the employees were all so festive and happy showing off whatever they were trying to to get us to buy.  We spent about 2 hours there and by the time we left it was packed!  We headed back to the flat; I loved the doors; Colin loved being buzzed in . . .

. . . for a quick lunch before we headed to our last museum, The Wallace Collection.  While we were eating lunch we received an email that the camera had been turned in and was waiting to be picked up!  As Patti read the email I could see the relief in Colin's face.  It was a great feeling and hopefully a lesson learned too!  We headed to The Wallace Collection around 2pm.  This visit had been planned for this day because it was Takeover Day.  The students at St. Vincent's Primary School became the curators of the museum!  It was really fun, and they all did an excellent job!  It is a great program and one that I have never seen in the US.

Several times they tried to get Colin to participate since he was the only child on the tour that wasn't a part of the Takeover, he would act shy and have nothing to do with them.  FINALLY, he was willing to participate by trying on the helmet of the body or armor . . .

The kids were involved in all aspects of  'taking over' the entire museum from working the gift shop, to handing out maps, to leading tours . . . fantastic job by these young students!  We headed back to the flat to hang out and visit with our friends before we headed to the airport.  Logan wanted to recreate the photo of being Colin's first visitor after he was born . . .

. . . is that not the cutest picture!  Oh how they have both grown the last 8 years . . . and here they are today!

We headed to dinner at Gettis for some yummy Italian food . . .

Colin proclaimed it was the best pizza ever . . .

I think he really enjoyed the waiter who was teasing and playing him throughout our meal!  We collected our suitcases and headed to Paddington Station to catch the Heathrow Express train to the airport for our early departure tomorrow morning.  Once at the hotel we just hung out in the lounge and wasted time until bed time . . . the pool closed 5 minutes before we arrived so brought those swimsuits for nothing.  Oh well we had an awesome trip!

London: day 6

It was super early only because we went to bed way too late!  We had tickets for the 8:30 train to Bath which meant we needed to leave the flat at 7:30 to get to Paddington Station early to wait for the train.  In true fashion the time was posted 10 minutes before departure and a TON of people started speed walking to the train.  Thankfully we had reserved seats but we had little time to board before the train departed.  We claimed our seats and settled in for the 90 minute ride.  The southwest region of England had been experiencing heavy rains and flooding so we were a little concerned.  The weather forecast had this as the only day without showers so you know what that meant!  We arrived in Bath to cold wind and of course, rain too!  Our poor umbrellas were pointless and always blowing inside out.  We had picked this day for Bath because it was the first day of their Christmas Market and since we all loved Germany markets we thought it would bring back fond memories.  We approached the city center or shall I say we blew into the center of the city and made a quick stop at the Information Center to get the low down on what to see for our day trip.  The rain had stopped so decided to do some walking around town while it was bearable.  Our first stop was the Royal Crescent . . .

. . . it was SO massive there was no way to fit the entire building in the photo.  I tried!  No. 1 Royal Crescent was closed for renovations so just did the walk by . . . I thought I was leading us back into town but we ended up pretty far from the center!  Thanks to the fool who decided to change the direction arrow sign pointing the opposite/wrong direction!  At least with this minor detour we were able to see some of the Royal Victoria Park which was a delight.  Thankfully a nice girl turned us around towards the actual center.  Colin has become super picky with his eating so finding a place that worked for all three of us was challenging.  We finally settled on a place called Roman Baths Kitchen.  What sealed the deal for Colin was the steak while we had lighter lunch foods.  We sat at an upstairs table that overlooked the main attractions in the city center.  It was nice to sit down, warm up, and let our feet dry out a bit too!  It was time to explore some more so we headed to the Roman Bath Museum.  We entered, paid, and as I was paying noticed someone had left a nice umbrella; I turned it in to the lady and she said it happens all the time . . . this will become important later in the day!  I was expecting a small museum but was pleasantly surprised at how large and well preserved the baths are still today!

Of course I really wanted to just strip down and jump in the warm water!  I really liked this statue of Minerva inside the museum and it was on Colin's treasure hunt that he did while at the museum . . .

. . . Colin really seemed to enjoy the audio guide and was taking his time along the way.  Another view of the bath levels with the Abbey in the background.

Before we exited we could even taste the healing water . . .

. . . he wasn't that impressed  LOL  I had tasted water before in the Czech Republic and knew I wasn't missing anything!  Before we left the museum we made a bathroom stop, Colin insisted on using the men's; while I was not happy with him giving me a hard time about not coming with me.  He finally went in on his own while I went to the women's.  This will also become a key event later in the day!  We made a quick stop at the gift shop and headed outside to a very windy day but at least it wasn't raining.  We stopped in the Bath Abbey for a look . . .

. . . no pictures inside but the ceiling was amazing!  Notice Colin is checking out the poppy display from the Remembrance Day a few weeks before . . . speaking of poppies . . . these wreaths were all over the place and I just loved them!  I never saw any for sale and wanted to buy two to put out here in the US on Veteran's and/or Memorial Day.

I just loved them . . . the poppies were so bright.  After we exited the Abbey we explored the Christmas Market.  All the booths were very high quality items with no junk booths!  We didn't buy anything but enjoyed walking around.  I am now wondering why we didn't have any hot wine?  It was super windy and cold so we headed to Marks and Spencer to look for some chocolate coin candy!  Jackpot . . . buy 3 for the price of 2!  Our return train wasn't until 5:30pm but we decided to take our chance on an earlier train since it was cold and rainy. 

Boy, was it packed!  We did not have seat reservations and were at the mercy of finding seats . . . it was difficult but we did find three!  Colin and I were getting settled into our seats when I noticed his camera was not around his neck.  He started to panic, and I could feel steam building in my head.  I took everything out of the backpack, searched all our pockets, again rechecked the backpack.  I was livid!  Of course the train had already left the station and there was no way we were going back.  Did I mention I was livid?  I lectured at least 10 minutes about his lack of being responsible and how I was disappointed that he refused to go with me to the restroom . . . if he would have only listened we might not be having this talk.  I tried to let it go but just could not.  He wanted to play his Game Boy but told him that he could spend the next 90 minutes reflecting on the lost camera.  He finally remembered that he took it off when he went to the restroom and hung it on the hook behind the door.  Seriously, why did he even need to take it off.  I continued to remind him that it isn't so much the lost camera but the photos he spent so much time taking this week and that we would never ever be able to see or share with our family/friends.  I could see the despair in his eyes.  He was very upset with himself, and we spoke very little the next hour and a half.  I was fine with the lost camera and thought it was a great teaching moment.  Tomorrow we will attempt to call the museum and see if someone turned it in.  I am not letting it ruin my trip.  We arrived back home and John and Logan had prepared a traditional Thanksgiving meal for us . . . no turkey but a nice roasted chicken with sweet potatoes and dressing.  It was yummy!

Colin was proud of the 'turkey'.  Tomorrow is our last full day in London . . . I am so sad!

London: day 5

Another great day in London!  There are so many museums and places to visit in London.  We could spend two weeks here and not see it all.  Sadly we only have one week to explore!  Today we decided to visit two small museums that were sure to keep Colin interested!  We had a nice walk through Greens Park and walked by Buckingham Palace.  We had to stop and watch the guards for a minute.

. . . as we were walking away a nice Bentley with very tinted windows pulled up to the gates. Wonder who was inside?  Patti took a nice photo of Buckingham Palace as we walked away.

We walked a couple more block to our first museum:  The Guards Museum.  He was so excited as we entered the courtyard and saw this . . .

It was a very nice 'small' museum but no photos allowed inside.  They did let Colin take this one as we left!

I think he enjoyed the inside and was happy to point out other visitors who were not following the rules and taking photos inside the museum!  Our second museum:  National Army Museum

I think he is in his element!  He sure does like all the vehicles.  It was a great museum but not exactly what he was looking for since it was a lot of reading!  He really enjoyed watching all the videos especially the WWII area . . .

. . . and think he would have stayed for a long time if I would not have hurried him along!  He also enjoyed all the displays especially the tanks!

 We all enjoyed ourselves and ended with a nice snack at the cafeteria.  As we left we saw this . . .

How could he not give it a ride!  How cool.  We headed back to the flat to relax a bit before the adults went out for the night.  It would be the first time Colin stayed with a 'babysitter' other than a family member, but I knew him and Logan would have fun.  I was just hoping he would listen to her and not drive her competely crazy!

It was an event our friends had organized for the school he attends and was to have an Americana feel  The adults headed out to dinner at The Diner . . . my burger was raw in the middle!  I like rare steaks but not so much a hamburger.  I picked around and found enough to fill my belly so I would be ready to sing along when we went to see Rock of Ages . . .

. . . it was fun!  It was full of crude humor but also knew every single song they sang; I did grow up in the 80s after all!  Some would probably be offended by the clothes or shall I say lack of clothes some of the dancers wore but it was a fun show.

. . . noting but a good time!  It was a late night and tomorrow morning will be tough since we have an 8:30 train to catch . . . that means we must get up way too early!

Londan: day 4

It finally happened . . . a full night sleep without waking up . . . so nice . . . wait that doesn't happen at home!  Today we headed to St. Paul's Cathedral.  Colin enjoyed visiting with the local pigeons while we waited outside!

And since he literally took dozens hundreds of photos of these new friends let me share those now . . .

 . . . I must say they were some fat pigeons!  And while it amazes me how much time he will sit and watch them and take photo after photo of them, it does keep him entertained!  Back to the tour . . . we were going on a tour with our friend Patti's local group of friends.  Confused?  Patti signed us up to tag along with her on a special tour at St. Paul's. Let me say it was a nice tour just not what we thought we were going to be doing or seeing.  The itinerary said we would be climbing to the Whispering Gallery 257 steps and then on to the Stone Gallery another 119 steps . . . and all those steps back down too.  We were both a little hesitant and scared about the number of steps but thought it would be a must see tour.  Of course Colin was the only kid with all the ladies but he was very, very well behaved.  So our group gathers and we were given a sticker that said Triforium Tour . . . I had no idea what that meant but thought tri- means three so must be seeing three galleries.  We enter a spiral staircase so I begin to pace myself for the long climb . . . we wore appropriate shoes while many of the others had on heeled shoes or boots.  So we climbed what seemed like maybe 70-80 stairs and entered an area that was stockroom looking.  The guide told us we were so lucky to see this area as it is not open very often and such a special place.  I fell for it and started to become excited.  She really gave some great information about the area and then we saw some relics and other stones/carving that were sort of just stuck on shelves or laying around as if they didn't know where they went.  I joke about it being a stock room but basically pulpits and other furnishings that were not used were sort of just stuck here.  We also go a great view of where the plumbers and electricians worked too.  Can you tell I am not that impressed yet?  I hesitate to say it, but well it wasn't all that I thought it would be.  Then comes time for the two smaller groups to switch areas, and we head into the library.  Oh my this is where I totally feel sorry for Colin . . . it was a really cool library with books that are amazingly old.  It was neat to visit this area (not my photo as photos are allowed inside St. Paul's) . . .

. . . BUT people continued to ask the head library guy (can't remember his official title) ridiculous questions that were not necessary.  Poor Colin was so patient and good because I did not know if I was going to make it.  So after we departed the library the tour guide showed us to the crypt so we could have lunch and that was the end of the tour.  We were dumbfounded as the tour was nothing like it said it was going to be.  We never really even walked around the main area.  I was fine as we had visited two years ago . . . so many amazing areas in the cathedral and they did not show us one single area on what I considered the must sees.  I remember visiting The American Memorial Chapel and how surprised and touched I was to stand there and look at the book with the names of all those included in the Roll of Honour.  Oh well, it is what it is.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out to explore more.  We decided to head to Tate Modern.  We walked and I just had to stop and snap a photo of this . . .

. . . I told Colin to stand inside and when the door opened it was an overpowering unpleasant smell.  Apparently someone thought it was a loo!  Colin pointed out that it was wet on the floor and I told him to not enter so this will have to do.  I had envisioned us both inside peeking out so we could use it on the Christmas Card . . . didn't make the cut!  So we arrive at Tate Modern and enter the first gallery.   Hmmmmmm, this is way modern but we give it another look at another gallery . . . hmmmm, this is so not my taste so we both had that look and decided to leave.  I had not missed any thing two years ago!  The reproduction of Shakespeare's Globe was next door so did a walk by to snap a photo . . .

We walked across the River Thames via the Millennium Bridge . . .

. . . it is really a cool bridge but had issues when it opened back in 2000.

It had been a busy day so we decided to head back to the flat.  We walked back by St. Paul's on the way to the tube. 

Disclaimer . . . now that we are home, I went to St. Paul's website to get the details of what this tour was to see . . . . The Triforium Tour includes a glimpse of the library and the Geometric Staircase, as well as a view from the West End down the Nave. The visit culminates in the Trophy Room, where Wren's Great Model, based on an early plan for the Cathedral as a Greek cross, is on display. You can admire this intricate feat of craftsmanship which reflects the design Wren most desired for St Paul's.  . . . and that is exactly what we saw. I guess the tour organizer just gave us bad information.  At least it was an area we had never visited!