Europe - London

We concluded our honeymoon with a few days in London visiting family. After the flight from Munich we enjoyed a Tube ride through the heart of London to The George Hotel, just north of SoHo. The Piccadilly Line train ended at the suburb of Cockfosters, which when announced in a proper British accent, caused us to burst into laughter. We exited the tube at Russell Square and made the short walk to The George.

Flying Into London

Thames River, Big Ben, and London Eye

Buckingham Palace

Riding the Green Line Tube

To Cockfosters

Russell Square

The George Hotel was a classic London hotel, slotted in a quaint block of century old buildings overlooking Cartwright Gardens. As is convention for such venues, we shared our water closet (literally a shower and toilet in a closet) with everyone else on the floor. A particular burly gentleman would destroy our air quality daily with his morning constitutional. Soon we met up with Mom, Bill, and Andrew. After catching up we enjoyed dinner at the corner pub. I picked up some mini remote control cars at Munich Airport, which Andrew and I put to good use entertaining the after work crowd.

The George Hotel

Our Floor's Communal Bathroom

Meeting Up with Mom, Bill, and Andrew

Racing Mini RC's in Cartwright Gardens

Lord John Russell

And His Pub

In the morning Andrew, Jo, and I decided to take a tour of the city on a trifecta of City Bikes. Similar to Boulder's Bike Share, they are bikes you can rent by picking up and returning at various docking stations all over London. Riding on the streets of London required equal amounts of bravery and skill. It was safest to be aggressive and hold your line against the onslaught of taxi cabs and double decker busses. Our route took us past all the big attractions including The London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Hyde Park.

City Bikes

Navigating the Streets of London

Entering Westminster

The London Eye

Parliament Hall

Big Ben

Riding Across Westminster Bridge

The Mall

Buckingham Palace

The afternoon called for a celebration of Mom's 70th birthday with an afternoon tea at the National Gallery. Dear friends and family converged on the gallery for a reunion that spanned the globe. The farthest traveler was my Aunt Peggy who had come all the way from Western Australia. It was a high culture affair entirely fitting of the occasion. Afterwards Andrew and I had a race with the mini RC cars on the smooth concrete in front of the gallery. Due to the close proximity of street performers in nearby Trafalgar Square a crowd soon formed. Shouric wooed the onlookers into believing it was a proper street show, only thickening the crowd. Everyone that knew better laughed in hysteria as the little cars chased each other around our makeshift track.

The Tube

The National Gallery

Mom's Tea

Shouric and Abby

Melissa, Peggy, and Beatrix

Mom and Peggy

Birthday Cake

Kitty, Kerri, Tessa, and Claire

Steve and Melissa

Caitlin and Corwin

Michael and Chris

Beatrix

Andrew Sipping Tea

RC Cars Out Front

The Family

The next day we took the London-Midland train to my cousin Chris's northwest of London in Newport Pagnell. He lives in a converted school house with a large garden on the side. After a huge barbecue we took a walk through a mid-evil graveyard and along the local canal. It was good fun spent united with family that is normally oceans apart. We had to live in the moment as our reunion was much too short. At dusk we boarded the train back to London to prepare for the long travel that lay ahead.

The Train to Midland

Barbecuing at Chris's

The Garden

Stalking Goldfish in the Pond

Medieval Graveyard

The Family Together

In the morning we took the shuttle to Heathrow for the journey home. The trip over the pond in the Airbus 330 was so much nicer than the 767 going over. We had a 5 hour layover in Philadelphia. My cousin Eliza came and got us for a brief visit with the Hardy's. The tough streets of Philly were a unique welcome home.

Emirates A380 Model

Which replaced the concorde in front of Heathrow,

metaphoric on many levels

Our Ride Back Across the Pond

A Short Visit with the Hardy's

I love traveling because it allows me perspective and enlightenment I would not have otherwise. Europe and the UK have their fair share of problems, but being abroad opened my eyes to some depressing perspective of our country and culture. My most glaring and immediate impressions were our rampant obesity, completely dysfunctional politics, and righteous arrogance towards each other and the rest of the world. I am forever grateful to have won the lottery of the world by being born in developed country like America. Our greatness as a nation is defined by our people and it saddens me to see the direction we have taken. I think a healthy dose of humility, unity, compromise, and perspective would go a long way for all of us. In the months following our trip I've tried to carry those principals into my daily life so my disgust ought not be in vane.