This is us in London, behind us is the River Thames, the London Eye and our Hotel.
I've made notes when there are corresponding pictures on our picture page. You can get to the link for our pictures from http://rxphiller3.googlepages.com/
Our flight left Atlanta at 5:30 pm bound for London [PIC]. Once we boarded we settled into our "Business Elite" seats (7 A & B) and read our menu for our dinner choices. Sometimes, when I'm at home and I have to take out the trash, I kinda get mad, because I don't like to do it. Taking out the trash is Chadd's job but I have to do it when he is traveling somewhere for work. At these times, I need to just think about the Skymiles he is accumulating so we can fly international First Class, and know it's all worth it in the end! For dinner we had Greek salad, Moroccan Crab Salad, Pesto Pearl Couscous (yummy!), and Cream of Asparagus soup to start, then for our main course we had Grilled Beef Tenderloin and Shrimp Scampi with lemon risotto and sauteed squash. You know the beef was tender because you could slice it with the barbie doll size butter knife they give you. During dinner I decided to play a game on my personal video unit, they had Zuma, man, was I in trouble! I finally had to turn it off because I gave myself a frickin' shoulder cramp playing. After dinner was dessert (ice cream sundae) and time for bed [PIC]! Chadd thought ahead and booked us in the back row so no one could kick our seat while we slept....smart thinking, considering I myself kicked the guy in front of me no less than four times while he slept...oops! Chadd got all decked out in his plane sleeping regalia [PIC], and I cuddled under a very very comfortable Delta blanket [PIC], and off to dreamland we went. When we awoke (about 4 & 1/2 hours later) it was time for breakfast, we would be arriving in London in just over an hour. I watched the sunrise over the English countryside [PIC], but coming into the airport I was quite surprised, I thought we would be flying over the city, but we flew over cow farms instead [PIC]. Once in the airport we cleared passport control (got a stamp, yay!), and retrieved our luggage. From there we had to take a train to the opposite terminal to get to the train station. We bought our train tickets from Gatwick airport to London, and we also got our "Oyster" card for the week for the " tube" (subway) as well. We took the train to Victoria station then transferred to the tube. We took the tube to Westminster, the stop closest to our hotel. When we walked up the stairs from the tube, we were right in front of Parliament and Big Ben. Chadd and I debated whether or not it was actually Big Ben, but indeed it was, I just thought it would be bigger! Our hotel was just over the bridge from the station and we walked there easily. Our hotel is in the "County Hall" building. The building was apparently the home of the London Government from 1922 to 1986, but now part of it has been renovated to a Marriott. Walking up to the door, the bellman came bounding down the steps dressed in coat tails and a bowler hat...whoa! [wish I had a PIC] Once we got inside, the decor was right out of a creepy hotel movie...very Haunted Mansion-esque. There was a lot of dark wood paneling and marble. Our room wasn't ready so we headed down to the gym facilities to take a shower, and change clothes. Once we were refreshed we asked where the nearest shopping district was. I wanted to look for a dress to wear for our anniversary dinner tomorrow night. We took the tube over to Oxford street and did some shopping. I was looking for Harrod's (not to shop there, just to lookie-look) but we never saw it. I ended up buying a little black dress in H & M. At this point, my feet were tired, my body was tired, my head was tired and my husband was tired, so we headed back to the hotel. Our hotel sits right on the river Thames, and right behind the London Eye, so we had lunch at a little cafe right next to the hotel [PIC]. When our room was finally ready and we were able to go up, the first thing I did was run to the window and check our view....sitting on the bed right now, Big Ben is framed in the center of our window with the river Thames flowing just beneath [PIC]. It was now time to take a nap and catch up on some sleep we didn't get last night on the plane. After our short rest, we got up and got dressed for dinner. Walking to the tube station I had to laugh because the taxis look just like SuperNanny's car! They are so cute. We took the tube over to Hyde Park and were going to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe (the Original HRC) since we had to go there to get Chadd a shot glass anyway. But, the wait for a table was an hour and forty minutes! So, we got our shot glass, returned to the hotel, and ordered room service so we could eat while watching the UF v. Tennessee game. You can take the boy away from college football, but you can't take college football away from the boy.
Our flight left Atlanta at 5:30 pm bound for London [PIC]. Once we boarded we settled into our "Business Elite" seats (7 A & B) and read our menu for our dinner choices. Sometimes, when I'm at home and I have to take out the trash, I kinda get mad, because I don't like to do it. Taking out the trash is Chadd's job but I have to do it when he is traveling somewhere for work. At these times, I need to just think about the Skymiles he is accumulating so we can fly international First Class, and know it's all worth it in the end! For dinner we had Greek salad, Moroccan Crab Salad, Pesto Pearl Couscous (yummy!), and Cream of Asparagus soup to start, then for our main course we had Grilled Beef Tenderloin and Shrimp Scampi with lemon risotto and sauteed squash. You know the beef was tender because you could slice it with the barbie doll size butter knife they give you. During dinner I decided to play a game on my personal video unit, they had Zuma, man, was I in trouble! I finally had to turn it off because I gave myself a frickin' shoulder cramp playing. After dinner was dessert (ice cream sundae) and time for bed [PIC]! Chadd thought ahead and booked us in the back row so no one could kick our seat while we slept....smart thinking, considering I myself kicked the guy in front of me no less than four times while he slept...oops! Chadd got all decked out in his plane sleeping regalia [PIC], and I cuddled under a very very comfortable Delta blanket [PIC], and off to dreamland we went. When we awoke (about 4 & 1/2 hours later) it was time for breakfast, we would be arriving in London in just over an hour. I watched the sunrise over the English countryside [PIC], but coming into the airport I was quite surprised, I thought we would be flying over the city, but we flew over cow farms instead [PIC]. Once in the airport we cleared passport control (got a stamp, yay!), and retrieved our luggage. From there we had to take a train to the opposite terminal to get to the train station. We bought our train tickets from Gatwick airport to London, and we also got our "Oyster" card for the week for the " tube" (subway) as well. We took the train to Victoria station then transferred to the tube. We took the tube to Westminster, the stop closest to our hotel. When we walked up the stairs from the tube, we were right in front of Parliament and Big Ben. Chadd and I debated whether or not it was actually Big Ben, but indeed it was, I just thought it would be bigger! Our hotel was just over the bridge from the station and we walked there easily. Our hotel is in the "County Hall" building. The building was apparently the home of the London Government from 1922 to 1986, but now part of it has been renovated to a Marriott. Walking up to the door, the bellman came bounding down the steps dressed in coat tails and a bowler hat...whoa! [wish I had a PIC] Once we got inside, the decor was right out of a creepy hotel movie...very Haunted Mansion-esque. There was a lot of dark wood paneling and marble. Our room wasn't ready so we headed down to the gym facilities to take a shower, and change clothes. Once we were refreshed we asked where the nearest shopping district was. I wanted to look for a dress to wear for our anniversary dinner tomorrow night. We took the tube over to Oxford street and did some shopping. I was looking for Harrod's (not to shop there, just to lookie-look) but we never saw it. I ended up buying a little black dress in H & M. At this point, my feet were tired, my body was tired, my head was tired and my husband was tired, so we headed back to the hotel. Our hotel sits right on the river Thames, and right behind the London Eye, so we had lunch at a little cafe right next to the hotel [PIC]. When our room was finally ready and we were able to go up, the first thing I did was run to the window and check our view....sitting on the bed right now, Big Ben is framed in the center of our window with the river Thames flowing just beneath [PIC]. It was now time to take a nap and catch up on some sleep we didn't get last night on the plane. After our short rest, we got up and got dressed for dinner. Walking to the tube station I had to laugh because the taxis look just like SuperNanny's car! They are so cute. We took the tube over to Hyde Park and were going to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe (the Original HRC) since we had to go there to get Chadd a shot glass anyway. But, the wait for a table was an hour and forty minutes! So, we got our shot glass, returned to the hotel, and ordered room service so we could eat while watching the UF v. Tennessee game. You can take the boy away from college football, but you can't take college football away from the boy.
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