Day 1 in London

8:00 AM - Suitcases are packed and ready to load in the van for the trip to Minneapolis November 30th. Plane leaves at 7:35 PM that night.

Light snow falling as we left home. Not much accumulation was expected for our area. We had more rain than snow.

A smooth uneventful non-stop flight from Minneapolis to Heathrow airport. Also nice was the 1/3 less passengers on the plane, giving us leg room and empty seats between us. (68 empty seats!) The food was not of the highest chef quality. None of us slept, although we did try! Arrived about 9:30 AM December 1st.

Luggage is loaded and we are riding the Tube to our hotel Tube/subway stop. Hubby thinks we walked about 4 miles with that luggage today. Uff Dah! Hubby and OFD & tour guide riding the rails.

We checked into our hotel room and happily left all that luggage before exploring the neighborhood. Christmas decorations at this Tube stop and shopping center.

Prince of Wales Pub, also in our neighborhood. OFD (our favorite daughter) has hear of it, but not been in it. Maybe this trip?

Love the architecture of the churches. This is just the entrance to the church grounds.

The sunlight was reflecting off the steeple of the said church. The deciduous trees are just loosing their leaves.

The church also had a school. I like the school signs!

Surprising to see an outdoor flower shop with LOTS of fresh cut flowers. Temp about 37º today. This was the largest of the outdoor flower shops we saw on a corner.

I was busy taking the photos and did not see or hear this vehicle pull up behind me! Six uniformed men with big weapons got out and headed into the road by the school sign. Hubby and OFD were once again embarrassed by my photo shoot, but the policemen weren't bothered that I was blocking their path. The one just smiled at me and continued down the alley/narrow street.

Hubby says the traffic is like walking in New York City.  Side streets are narrow and delivery trucks and vans drive over the curbs and sidewalks to get around other side street traffic and parked cars. Some vehicles stop for pedestrians and others do not. We definitely look BOTH ways before crossing the street.

This was a pretty sight on the other side of the street.

The tree trucks were painted or wrapped in blue. I wonder if this it just for Christmas or all year long?

 The architecture is so different, but very interesting.

This photo is for the office people where OFD works. This is what 29 hours with no sleep looks like.

Love these Red Phone Booths. Someone was inside one making a phone call, so they do work. The area near our hotel has quite a few Red Phone Booths. I didn't notice as many in some of the other areas.

We are all ready for a good night's sleep and more adventures tomorrow.