London 2013: Day 1

... And what a long day it was!

Our flight arrived early, around 6:30am. We were able to take showers at the Arrival Lounge before taking the Heathrow Express Train to Paddington Station, which was a quick, 15 minute ride. I did a quick search around Paddington Station, but did not see any small bears wearing a blue coat in need of adoption. :)

We took a cab to our hotel in Kensington. Either I've never taken a cab in London before, or I had forgotten that there is no trunk (or "boot", as it were) to put your luggage in. Instead, the cab size is extra large in the seating area to accommodate luggage there.

Our room would not be ready until mid-afternoon, but we were able to store our luggage at the hotel, and enjoy some coffee and hot chocolate in the lobby before heading out.

We bought a week-pass for the Underground and headed out to the West End for an afternoon walk.

We walked around Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Old Compton Street, Charing Cross Road, Denmark Street, and Soho Square.

Clearly, I must have been pretty tired, as I hardly took any pictures! (And you all know how unusual that is!)

We checked into our room a little early at 1:30pm. Once we got situated, we both tool naps for a couple of hours and felt much better after.

We met our friend Amy (a former work colleague of Dick) for dinner at a great pub within walking distance of our hotel.

We got back to our hotel by 8:30 or so, and both fell asleep immediately.