We’re here! We arrived at 8:45am this morning at London, England. I met Rosie right at the baggage claim and everything went smoothly. We took the “tube” (London’s subway system) to our hotel off the Victoria exit.

The tube system’s trains are about the size of D.C.’s metro, but they are older and dingier. As we were traveling through the countryside places didn’t look much different. Houses are a bit older, but if you glance real quick you can almost believe you’re on the Q train traveling toward Manhattan.

After arriving at the Victoria station we dragged our bags the 10 block walk to the bed and breakfast (give or take 5 blocks of getting lost distance). We were unable to check in so we left our bags and went trekking for food around the hotel.

The parts of the city we saw were rather similar looking. All the houses (which seem to be called “mansions” here, regardless of their diminutive size) are built generally the same from the same type of white stone material. The main avenues have lots of places to shop—mostly for women’s shoes and clothing—but few places to eat and even fewer places to eat that are air-conditioned. After walking for about 45 minutes, we turned back and ate in a fish and chips restaurant near the hotel.

The weather here is hot, without the reprieve of AC in most places including our hotel room. The shower felt good, however, and Rosie and I are getting ready to take a walking tour of some sites.

I am still unreasonably happy and optimistic and only a bit jet-lagged and hot. The 2 hour nap we just took has taken the sting out of our prior miserable existence, and I am looking forward to walking a bit. Platypus still needs to be lightened, but I’ll worry about that when we leave the hotel.