Days 1 and 2!

Chilly high above the Atlantic at 2 in the morning!

G'morin' from London, everybody! It's 7:10 here in Great Britian, midnight for most of you, so by the time you see this, I'll  be well into Day 3 of my United Kingdom adventure.

The flights went well, over all. I made it through security just fine, waited around forever at DIA for my 1st flight, and then (after repeated warning for everybody to turn off all their electronic devices, apparently someone didn't want to cooperate) rode in a plane for the first time ever. I loved it. The rush as the plane increases speed, then climbs into the sky, higher, ever higher, leaving the world behind. There were clouds around DIA. First we were below them. Then they got closer, they were so beautiful. And then we went right through them. I just sat there, staring out the window, grinning, as we soared high above the clouds. ABOVE the clouds! And then the midwest stretched out below us, a giant patchwork quilt. Full of perfect circles in Kansas. What's with those, anyway? Huge circles in the middle of boxes. Sometimes they overlapped, but both were still perfect circles. Weird.

I landed in Terminal C in DFW. I then got to ride the Skyway all the way around the airport to almost the end of Terminal D. I thought the Denver tram was fun, but it was even funnier to be ABOVE GROUND, above the landed planes, even, on the Skyway.

My trans-Atlantic flight was fairly smooth. A few spots of turbulence, but nothing terrible. We got beverages, dinner, and breakfast. The back of the seats had monitors with movies, tv shows, audio, games, and the flight path, which gave up-to-date information on altitude, speed, temp. outside, where we were, what time it was where we were, and how much futher distance and time-wise we had until London, which was all very cool.

However, I don't sleep well on planes. Horribly uncomfortable seats for sleeping in, or to sit in that long at all, actually. I got my back and shoulder all knotted up, but after some advil and stretching last night and an excellent night's rest at the hotel, I'm doing much better.

For the first day in London, we went to Hampton Court Palace, where we ate in one of the king's kitchens, then went on a tour. It was beautiful! I took lots of pictures before the previously-used batteries in my camera died. Good thing I brought a pack!

One of the coolest things about Hampton Court was that, among many other kings (and their queens) who have lived there, King James I lived there. We stood in the very room where he commissioned the King James Bible, (pictured right)  and saw a copy of it in the Chapel Royal. (Sorry, no pictures allowed in the Chapel).

Then we came to the hotel, which, although smaller than our American hotels (as I knew it would be--still, a little surprising), is quite nice. At first I thought the bed a little overly-firm, but I sleep wonderfully. I'm hoping that wasn't pure exhaustion and I'll sleep as well tonight.

The weather's a bit rainy off and on and chilly, but not horrible. Traffic in London, however--they're all insane. ;) I know this cuz I was riding in the front with Rowena (tour guide and roommate) and Colin, our driver. Which means I also got to listen to her East London slightly Americanized accent, and his north England accent, which isn't too far removed from Scottish.

Anyway, I'm off to breakfast. We leave at 8:30 for another day in London-town! :D