London Arrival

I arrived in London a day, or so, ago (totally effed up on what day it is at the moment). The flight was good, watched Avatar (didn't like it) and slept. Smooth sailing through the clouds. Arrived in London around 8, waited in the passport processing line for an hour and a half, spent 10 minutes defending my life, then headed to baggage claim, picked up my bag and met my taxi driver, Guy. He drove me across London to my friends house in Pengen. He pointed out some landmarks, but mostly talked at length about his trip to North Carolina and how he thinks Americans think the English are charming because of their accents. He then proceeded to rip me off on the cab fare to the tune of 80 pounds. Sigh... Needless to say, I was very happy to see some familiar faces when I was greeted at Kirsten and Javiers place. It was a lovely sunny day, and I hung out in the back yard with Isabelle and Andrea (Kirsten and Javiers bubbly, giggly, 2-ish something twin girls), soaking up some sun before hitting the train station and heading into London proper. I met Javier for a quick lunch at the Borough Market, then walked along the Thames (lovely) until he got off work that afternoon. We met for a beer, (did you know you can drink in the streets outside the pub?!) then went back to the house to meet up with Kirsten and the girls. We hung out for a bit, put the girls to bed, had a wonderful dinner, and chatted into the night. After a really good nights sleep in a very comfortable bed, I was awakened the next morning by the sound of tiny girly voices saying Hallo Lauwy! (I can only think of one other way I would rather be woken up in the morning and I'm not about to tell you what that is.) We had breakfast, packed up the car and headed to Kew Gardens. On day 2 of jet lagged dazziness - it was the perfect place to be. Acres and acres of beauty...

one of the many Green Houses

some of what was inside that Green House

the Orchid wing was amazing

we sat by the pond and pondered. hehehe..

water lily

It was a lovely and relaxing day. And while I loved the flora and fauna of Kew Gardens (tons of winged wild life in this park, by the way), just sharing space and time with my peeps was my most favorite part.

Andrea, Isabelle, and Kirsten