Monday, October 02, 2006
And in the beginning...

So let's start there. The beginning. Getting to the airport was a blur, so was the "Paris Incident" in security. Fugly boots aside, she looked non-plussed.

So, airports are a case of "hurry up and wait", but at least the flight was on time. And we got to London early. Little did I know, this was the first and last time on this trip that this would happen.

After waiting for ages to get wheeled through Heathrow, I gave up and decided to hoof it. Heathrow is a long walk, but at least it wasn't crazy busy. I got through security and through immigration/customs in a brief time, after the immigration guy looked at the many UK stamps in my passport and asked to see my tickets home, as if one year of torrential rains wasn't enough for me. No thank you, sir. I will be going home to Southern California eventually.

Cursing the heaviness of my luggage, which despite initial appearances decided to show up at some point, I made my way to Paul's house. The cab ride through London took me past all of the touristy and scenic sites. The weather? Beautiful. It was interesting, even though I was tired. I managed to catch Paul just before he left for rehearsal, so was able to dump my stuff in his hallway and then catch a nice, long nap.

I woke up soon after 5 p.m., and my wonderful host made us dinner, then we went for drinks at a bar on the river. It was lovely, and summer-like. There were buskers and random drunken lady, who was dancing to aforementioned busker music and had her sandals in her back pockets. Oooooookay. Interesting and a little surreal when you are so jet-lagged. The Thames is beautiful at night. I wish I had been awake enough to take more pictures.