It's 9:30pm here and we're back in the hotel because WE ARE TIRED due to jet lag, not sleeping much on the plane, blah blah blah. So we're heading to bed soon, but first I thought I'd blog a few moments from today. Whenever I travel, I always intend to keep a travel journal but then never end up doing it. I'm hoping that this blog might motivate me to do that a bit more this time around. Or not - we'll see how it goes.

A few first impressions of London:

• The Tube is CLEAN. And bright. And smooth.
• The women here are beautiful. The men - meh.
• Everyone here wears very European sneakers. (I'm now especially glad I bought some cool sneaks for this trip..)
• My favorite thing so far is just hearing people talk. I have always loved the British accent, and to hear it everywhere is fabulous. I will admit, though, that if someone talks too fast or mumbles, I don't always catch what they say. That was a surprise to me - I mean, it's English. I think my ear will be trained soon enough, though. And kids are the absolute cutest with their little accents! One of the first things I heard today was a kid saying (pointing to a spiral staircase), "Wot's up ther', Mummy?" and I've pretty much been saying it all day. To Rob. Who's not my mummy, but same diff. I'm also loving the different vocabulary that is used here. "Way out" instead of "exit," for example.

We spent the afternoon in Kew Gardens, which ended up being the perfect activity given our slightly dazed states due to lack of sleep. It was very mellow. We walked through the gardens, sat on lots of benches, and had a lovely late lunch in a grapevine arbor. This evening we strolled about Kensington Gardens for a bit.

Some favorite moments from today:

• We were walking through the rose garden and noticed a little girl sitting very still, and very quietly, behind a clump of roses. A minute later, we saw a woman and an older girl looking around perplexed, and then they started shouting, "Ellie! Ellie!! ELLIE!!" The little girl continued to sit very still behind the clump, in full view to us but not to them. Rob caught the woman's eye, grinned, and gestured to where little Ellie was hiding. And then the woman broke into a smile and said, "Thank you" in a voice that was both slightly perturbed and very much relieved. I'm too tired to tell this well, but the whole thing was very amusing to us.




• Two adults and several children were ahead of us on the path. All of a sudden one of the boys darted off to the side, ran several steps up a grassy incline, plopped himself down, and rolled down the hill. And then he quickly stood up and hurried to catch up with the group. Rob and I burst out laughing when we saw him. Sometimes I think kids really do have it all figured out.




• A kid told his mother that he wanted ice cream, and she responded, "Now then, we've already had banana bread and pudding today, haven't we? That's quite enough, then - we mustn't have anything else." And dude, she sounded just like Supernanny!! It was AWESOME.




• And obviously, just being here. I love London already, and I've seen but the smallest of snippets.

  Oh, one more thing. Rob wants everyone to know that the double bed in this hotel? Yeah, it's two twins pushed together. They're together so it's fine. But nonetheless, he is enjoying the irony.

  Bedtime. Tomorrow is going to be a big day.

  __________
  Update: I feel like such a bitch to even tell you all this, but I just won Blingo again! I know, right? (I could pick a movie ticket or $10 iTunes gift certificate. I went with the iTunes.)

Just a quick note to say we made it safely. Even better news is that Amanda B. updated her blog - I'm not reading blogs today, but I sure as hell checked on her as soon as I turned on my laptop. I'm just so relieved to hear that they are at least safe.

Did you notice I changed my tagline? Yeah, I've never switched it midweek before, but I gotta keep things London, baby! (Refresh if you don't see it.) Thanks to LadyBug for this very important travel advice. ;)

Anna, I thought of you when we rode The Tube. Especially when they said "Mind the gap." Over and over and over again. And Nilbo, the hotel is great.

Alright, much to do! Later, tators.