Mind the Gap

I broke one of the most important travel rules yesterday. In all of my previous travels, I would make sure to stay up as late as possible when I arrived in a new country to avoid the jet-lag-zombie-brain and adjust quite easily to the new time zone. This usually meant staying up until at least 10P.M. and getting 7-8 hours of sleep, putting me on track with the new time zone.

But after a long, sleepless flight from San Francisco to London; hours of navigating city train, bus and tube schedules; a hot shower; and a cold Peroni (My favorite Italian beer. Don't judge me), I passed out as soon as we got to our hotel at the ripe hour of 7P.M. I awoke hours later, ready to explore and excited to get outside. I reached for my phone and clicked the home button to ignite the day. "1A.M.! Shut your mouth" I protested. The iPhone had no response. It just glared back at me, mocking me and my rookie move as a traveler.

I tried to will myself back to sleep for a few more hours, but failed miserably. Patrick failed along with me, so the upside was that we've both been awake since 1A.M. and have been in a haze for most of our adventures today. The two cups of coffee luckily powered me through most of it. I will try my best to recount our amazing day in London, but please mind the gaps in my brain :)

Patrick and I started our day off at 5:30am with a 3 mile run around Twickenham.  The morning greeted us with the perfect running conditions: 60 degrees and a cloudless sky. We shared a quiet sigh of relief when the cool air hit us as we stepped out of our hotel and onto the cobblestone streets. I've always found running helps me settle into a new city. I'm glad Patrick and I share this passion.

We cleaned up for the day and then headed out by train and tube to tour around the River Thames. We hit the House of Parliament, St. Paul's Cathedral, Covent Garden, and Tower of London. The highlight was the view from the top of St. Paul's. We lucked out with incredible weather for the whole day. We had beautiful blue skies and didn't feel a single rain drop all day. I know; I also questioned if we were really in London. The view from the top of the Cathedral was stunning. We had a 360 degree veiw of the city and could point out Tower Bridge, The Globe Theater, The Millennium Bridge, The London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Wembley Arch and Olympic Stadium. AH-MAZING. The 528 stairs to get their were definitely worth it. So was the chocolate pastry I devoured later in the day, completely negating the calories I burned off from the climb.
Here's the view:

I have to give Patrick credit for mapping out the day and being the one to ask for directions and help when we got lost. Yes, I did type that correctly. Patrick, a man, asks for directions. Well, I take that back. The part about him being a man. He's a man-boy. He still orders hot cocoa with breakfast. Let's just put that out there. Sorry Patrick, I have to balance my praises with burns.

All in all, it was a great kick off to our European vacation. Thank you for reading my first blog post ever! I am excited to share more throughout our time overseas.

Patrick is eagerly awaiting his chance to blog about the complexities and varietals of hot chocolate.