Off to London to see the Queen......

Well, I didn't actually see her...but as you can see I was at her house. Since I didn't get to post many London pictures, I'll include a few in this post.






Here is the Portobello Road Market, which is held each Saturday.








Here I am in front of Scotland Yard.

As I said before, I am now home and safe back in Texas. I previously eluded to the fact that my trip home was a little more harrowing than I would have liked. You may remember that I changed my flight to the 10:30 nonstop. I was previously booked on the 2pm nonstop. I counted back and figured that meant I needed to be on the Underground by 6:30am.

As I walked up to Paddington Station, I saw that the gates were closed. Uh Oh! Later I learned that on Sunday mornings that tube station doesn't open until 7:30am. While I was waiting around with some other folks before we learned the truth, a red city bus pulled up and five young men got off the bus. It quickly became clear that four of them were upset with the fifth one. I didn't see any punches thrown, but one of them was restraining the fifth one and there was clearly a conflict in the group. The rest of us moved away from the conflict until the young men dissipated.

After I figured out the issue with the tube station not opening until 7:30am, I saw a young man and lady with large packs, obviously traveling. I asked if they were also headed for Victoria Station and they were. I explained the issue with the tube station and asked if they wanted to split a cab. They enthusiastically agreed.

The cab took us right to Victoria Station, I got on the Gatwick Express, went through check in at Gatwick and learned that although the volume of my carry on bags was not excessive, the fact that they weren't contained within a single bag was a problem. At Gatwick you can only carry one bag on and that includes a lady's purse! I went and purchased a cheap large bag from a luggage store downstairs and I was all set.

The flight was uneventful and I was ecstatic to see my family at the airport. I'm glad to have traveled and I'm glad to be home.

More Later.