Arrived In London

Hello my loves,

Please first forgive my spelling and grammar, I'm so tired that I accidentally referred to myself in the third person earlier. oy vey. It was a fly by the seat of my pants beginning to the fly by the seat of my pants trip. I made it in plenty of time to the airport, but lovely Delta was so late leaving LAX that I had to run through the Minneapolis airport to get to my flight...and then had an asthma attack, which was fine, but I kept having to explain the the girl sitting next to me that I didn't have the plague...that combined with my albuterol jitters, and she probably thought I was a crack-head with the plague. Anyway, the flight wasn't bad, and was made wonderful by a certain Indian flight attendant who scrounged all this salad for me, and even gave me the parts of his meal that I could eat (the fancy meal on the china, oh my). As usual my peeps are always on the sidelines to help me out of my little situations. Thanks! This act of kindness also was a good start to my trip making me a little less nervous about the potential evil intentions of "strangers."

Landing was easy as usual. Got my stuff, bought my oyster card, and then took the tube to green park. I got out, walked, found something that looked familiar and then went to get some fruit which I ate at pickadilly square. Then off to some other square with a huge fountain, and then to the Thames. Let me tell you, today was a perfect day in london. Warm, sunny, breezy...perfect. (I need to figure out my luggage situation, cause the hauling got old pretty fast). Then I walked South down the side of the river and stopped at the Queen's walk where there was this little "beach" where kids were playing. I of course took pictures of their cuteness. Then I found this cute little gallery area that had a huge seating area made of carved wooden animal chairs. I was happy to take a rest, and all the kids that came by really enjoyed the car, duck, and horse, among other carved chairs.

Then off to walk by Tate and the Globe, and then to the market which was closed by the time I got there (I'll update with names at some point, when I look them up). Then the tube to my friends house (Ida and Adam) who I'm staying with. I kept nodding off in the tube and startling my fellow passengers when my hand would fall off my bag. After getting off at my stop (West Hampstead), I promptly hit up starbucks and found a small organic market (indian owned, of course) where I found quinoa! YAY. No one was home when I got to Ida's house so I went grocery shopping and got the most divine aparagus (and blueberries, turnips, cabbage, zuchinni, onions, and awesome goat cheese).

Adam grilled salmon and asparagus for us for dinner, Ida made salad and ham (which there's a leg of, including hoof, in the kitchen that slices come off of), and cheese and rye bread, and almonds, and fresh dates, and of course I made the quinoa. The asparagus was the best I've ever had, and apparently it is famous from England at this time of year. mmmm mmm mmmmm.

I'm off for a shower, and then some sleep! (yay!) Tomorrow I plan to do some museums...specifically Victoria and Albert...then who knows what. I figure I'll leave it to the people who live here to show me what's good. So far it's been a lot of fun, and of course it's been nice to be back after a short while. It was suggested over dinner that perhaps we should all have an annual bbq dinner in London, and I think that's a fantastic idea...

Stay happy and healthy!
xox
L