DAY ONE: Everything is LOVELY

Observation of the day: Londoners like to say "lovely" a lot and we think that's just lovely.

Ready for take off with our welcoming crew.

We made it! Sir Richard Branson's airline did not disappoint us. From the moment we stepped on the Virgin Atlantic plane to the moment we stepped off, the British crew was attentive, but not overbearing and just incredibly polite. While this shouldn't be such a big deal, anyone who has flown lately knows this is not the way it always is! We appreciated such a pleasant start to our journey.

Our Sloane Square home away from home.

Godfrey Street (our street) is lovely, just lovely.

The pleasantness continued as London greeted us with South Florida weather. They have had a warm snap this weekend & it is bright, sunny and Saturday, the temperature during the day rose to just shy of 70 degrees. This makes for seeing A LOT of very white legs as Londoners quickly break out the shorts and sundresses. Actually, the Londoners are some beautifully fashionable people so it was fun to see how they adapted quickly to the rising temps. Sunday promises to be another glorious day with the temperatures going back down on Monday.

The Brits know how to use the space -- our
washing machine is below our cooktop.

We arrived to our AWESOME apartment located near Sloane Square (shout out to Nana Donny for the locale recommendation), at around 9:30am. For those of you who know London, we are in the Kensington/Chelsea area. We have a charming, Bohemian 3-bdrm flat which is an incredible home away from home (in case you're considering a visit, here is the
company we used-https://londonconnection.com). And as a family about to embark in kitchen & bath renovations at home, we're struck by how the English know how to maximize space. Every inch of this flat is used wisely, especially in the kitchen, with cool cabinetry disguising daily necessities like a washing machine. We absolutely love it.

After unpacking, we all decided our stomachs needed attention. Knowing this family, we decided to seek out a local spot but with familiar food. HONEST, a local burger joint just a 10-minute walk from our flat, did not disappoint. The burgers were delicious, with local twists like red onion relish and pickled cucumbers (which of course, the girls did not sample) but our first London chips (fries) infused with fresh rosemary were to die for! And what was even better was the lovely London waitresses which greeted and welcomed us to their city. Really friendly and joyous. Perfect start to our trip.

HONEST had honestly good burgers and delicious chips.

Our first London feline made us feel right at home
with his accented, demanding meows
wondering where his food was! 

We meandered back as we love getting to know "our" neighborhoods & then set out to find our local supermarket for the essentials. A wrong turn resulted in us running into a wonderful Saturday, international food outdoor market in addition to finding many fun retail stores near us (guess who was really happy about this -- yep, HM!)

Neighborhood sites.

We made it home and everyone was starting to crash. But as this isn't JM or my first rodeo as far as international travel & adjusting to new time zones, we took showers, refreshed & had everyone push through. This resulted in some minor grumbling but we knew the end game was worth it.

WOW!

Not sure if the queen is home at
Buckingham Palace.

We set out to just explore, walking towards Buckingham Palace. Due to the beautiful weather and school holidays, the city is bustling. Spring is in full bloom in London. Literally. The flowers are simply breathtaking at St. James Park (with another shout-out to Nana Donny as we circled the park we thought of you feeding the ducks here so many years ago, we figured we were seeing their great-grandchildren!)

Flowers among the flowers.

John and his girls: St. James Park edition.

We kept walking and made it to Westminster Abbey, Parliament & Big Ben.

Big Ben is about to go through some restoration, but it still looked great to us!
Photo creds: HM.

HM: Big Ben edition.

The McCartys: Big Ben selfie-stick edition.

We had a very sobering moment as we saw many memorials to those just killed weeks ago by another fanatic. To me, the irony of these attacks is they produce the opposite effect to what I imagine the attacker was seeking -- these attacks UNITE people of all walks of life, making them more resolute to maintain their freedoms and their ways of life. And the messages left by visitors seem to reflect the same sentiment. God bless the victims, their families and all of us as we pray for this evil to cease.

And almost as if we needed an experiment in unification, as the day was so beautiful and clear, we decided to use our "Fast Track" London Eye (https://www.londoneye.com) tickets purchased beforehand to take to the skies. For those considering a visit, the added convenience of already having your tickets in hand, skipping the cue & visiting the London Eye whenever you want, is worth the minimal extra expense per ticket.

Our London Eye "pod" was a bit like experiencing the United Nations -- we had a large Pakistani family, an Indian group of young adult friends, a Spanish family and us! While I would be lying to

Spectacular view from our United Nations pod in the sky.
Photo creds: HM.

say we were all up in the skies singing, "I'd like to buy the world a Coke," it was still a reminder that we all come from different walks of life with different cultures & norms, but we're all human -- most of all, we're all fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and friends.

It was now late in the day and after a failed attempt to go to a local tapas place in Convent Gardens which had a 2-hour wait, we decided to pack it in & go back to our neighborhood for dinner. An incredibly nice London cabbie brought us back & we headed to one of the most delicious Thai dinners we've had. Perfect end to a lovely first day.

And one specific note to Paris (EM's trainer) from EM: "No band today, but I think 22,000+ steps should count!"

And, of course, as I write this, everyone is still sleeping. So their thoughts will need to come later...

EM's FitBit was sending lots of fireworks!