London 1

Maphew making a call

The trip has finally begun. After over seven years of planning and talking about it has finally come to be a reality. The days leading up our departure are now a blur as there were so many things to do to get the house ready and to get all the tasks done to ensure all the travel plans were in order. But most difficult of all over the last few weeks and all so most surprising was the process of saying goodbye to friends and family. From the all the farewells and well wishes from all my co-workers and friends at work, to the heartfelt support from our friends to the love and encouragement we got from our family, this process of goodbye, all though only for a temporary period definitely brought on unexpected emotions. But most of all we both left our home feeling loved, supported and with a strong sense of love for our home life in Calgary. And without a doubt what will be missed is all the people and what they all mean to us. And we both look forward to returning to our life in Calgary, for we are both very fortunate to have all of you in our lives.

So after a very difficult goodbye at the airport to family and of course Maphew, Laurence and I were finally enroute to Europe. Everything about the flight went as per schedule and we arrived in London on time with no incident at all and we easily found our way to the hotel in Kensington. Out hotel is only a few blocks from Princess Diana's Kensington Palace, a very posh neighbourhood to say the least.

These first two days we played typical London tourist and visited Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The National Museum, Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey and the Tate Modern Museum. We have completely now figured out the tube and can get around the city just fine, until they shut down our line for repairs over the weekend. And we have already seen one west end show Avenue Q and have tickets for Billy Elliot tonight and Wicked on Saturday night. And we have tried lots of English ale and good pub food with peas with everything here. Besides the incredibly cold weather it has been a wonderful visit, London is great and a fun city.

And as for Maphew, Laurence talks of him daily, but to fill that void he brought along a stuffy of Maphew and this toy is now seeing London first class. He getting his picture taken on the tube, at the palace and every tourist site Laurence can find. I see the making of a book called Maphew’s Big Adventure.

And our quote of the day is "Besides taxes and debt everything else in life is for the NOW" from the characters of Avenue Q.

Hope the Queen can see me for a cup of tea