A London Welcome of Cold & Rain

Red-eye to Heathrow, tube to London, and a walk through the cold rain to our first temporary home: exhausted and cold is the best way to describe day 1 in London.  Nevertheless, as we turn the corner to our friend, Matt's flat, the sight of Parliament, Big Ben, and the Thames justified the cold and we realized the trip had begun.  (Side story: Lindsey mistook "No1 Albert St" for "NOT  Albert St", and narrowly kept us searching for another flat)

After dropping off our packs, and three bottles of duty-free liquor, our first objective was a traditional, and large English brekkie with a whole lotta coffee!  Eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, toast, and taters hit the spot, and gave us a much needed boost of energy... clearly the diet has yet to begin.

Three pounds heavier, we trudged up the river-walk through continuing rain past the London Eye (big ferry wheel) to the Tate Museum of modern art.  While museums were not the number one thing on our list, it was a warmer alternative to nature.  While it did house a nice collection of Pollocks, Picassos, and Kandinskys, we both felt it fell a bit short, although with free-entrance it's hard to go wrong.

From the Tate, we crossed the futuristic Millennium Bridge to the north side of the Thames and strolled up narrow streets toward St. Paul's Cathedral.  After a brief look inside, we accepted our jet-lag, but determined to save money, began the 3 mile walk back home.

A solid nap prepped us for the night's activities and we shared dinner with our hosts Matt and Isabelle in the Covent Garden neighborhood, tried out London's oldest pub (the Lamb & Flag), ate some fish & chips, and eventually joined forces with Steve's previous Iraqi-Scottish roommate, Ali (aka A-L-I).  Back to the pub--we laughed that we could drink beer in a bar that was 100s of years older than our own country.

At the end of the night we all ended up at Matt's flat, popped some champagne, and embracing Matt's Moroccan heritage, lit the hookah.  Matt, in fact, felt the evening was so special, that he graciously uncorked a bottle of his wedding champagne, Andre (MSRP $7).

The night ended around 3am, after a bit of river-dancing, too much champagne, and just enough London.  We're off to a good start.

p.s. We're still sorting out how to best upload and share all our pictures so you'll see more in a few days.