July 9/10 (Thursday/Friday) – In Route

Long, long flight with nothing unusual.  The economy plus section was pretty empty so Mary claimed a row of three seats and stretched out for much of the flight and managed a few short naps.  On our landing she also managed to get a few pictures out the airplane window.







We were rather excited when we later figured out that the picture below was of the Royal Naval Academy (the set of four large buildings situated along the Thames River (brown and muddy looking at the bottom of the picture) and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich (buried in the trees at the top of the "triangle) in the upper right quadrant of the picture), just outside of London.  Can you see the line of the Prime Meridian going through the picture?  (Just kidding.  It's an imaginary line.)

Royal Naval Academy and the Royal Observatory

Once on the ground we cleared customs and headed to the Heathrow Express for the 15 minute train ride to Paddington station and then a cab ride that wound through the city to our hotel in the Earl’s Court area.

We were given an upgraded room with a four-poster bed.  Unfortunately the bed takes up most of the room so it is pretty crowded.  And the wood floors squeak like crazy when we walk on them.  And the Earl’s Court Underground station is right outside our window so we can hear the trains.  However, we don’t intend to spend much time in the room so it isn’t a big deal.

We had dinner around the corner at an Italian restaurant, Zizzi, (which turned out to be a chain, but was good) and then hit the bed early.