Gord got us to Newark Liberty International Airport with hours to spare, so we bided our time at Art & Lounge where we enjoyed some light food and drink. When we took off from Newark, it was a clear night and the view of Manhattan from the sky was incredible. I was sorry that my camera was secure in the overhead compartment and I was unable to take any photos. The all-business class airline La Compagnie had decent seats that reclined almost flat, but I wish the flight attendants had provided a tutorial on how to properly adjust them. I was pretty uncomfortable in the fully reclined position and it wasn't until the morning that I figured out that there were multiple settings and buttons--for the foot rest, lumbar support, seat position--which I did not adjust and which explained why I felt my torso was higher than my head and feet! No worries, it was still a good deal better than economy class.

When we were flying over the UK, a thick blanket of clouds covered the entire area, but it broke up as we neared Luton and I was able to take some photos.

We were one of the last to clear customs and immigration--Gord has worn off his fingertips, apparently, and they couldn't confirm the fingerprints on his visa, so there was some delay while they figured out he was the one and only GT. The agents were quite friendly, however.

We had pre-booked a taxi because of our luggage and our driver was waiting for us. The route he took into London brought us down Finchley Road, from Golder's Green, past Swiss Cottage (where we lived with our daughters for five months 20 years ago). Some of it was the same, but a lot had changed.

We also drove by the site of last night's stabbing, which we had heard about just before boarding our plane yesterday. There were a lot of camera crews around the scene. It wasn't until we were listening to the news tonight that we learned that the victim was the wife of an American professor who was in London teaching for the summer, and they were scheduled to leave for home the next day. So sad.

After dropping our bags off, we went to purchase our SIM cards. Our old cell numbers have been suspended until December (although our monthly bill from Verizon will not be substantially lower--go figure!). Phone plans are considerably cheaper here--for only 10 pounds a month we get 500 minutes to the US/Canada, 500 UK minutes, unlimited texting in the UK, and 1 gig of data.

We enjoyed a quick lunch at Patisserie Valerie (for old time's sake) and then napped for a couple of hours. We wandered over to King's Cross train station where we picked up our pre-booked train tickets and purchased our SENIOR railcards (yes, I'll embrace it when I can get 1/3 off the regular price of train tickets!). We walked past our future flat that we'll move to on the 15th. It felt good to be on our feet so we walked some more and found a place to have dinner (Nenno). We surprisingly still felt pretty good, considering the jet lag, so we went over to the St. Pancras train station to have a look. You cannot walk into the station without noticing this cool, twisted aluminum piece that I later found out was just installed last month. It is suspended over the  Eurostar section of the terminal, is by Ron Arad and is called Thought of Train of Thought. Another piece is a huge bronze statue of a couple embracing. Named The Meeting Place, it was designed by Paul Day, and is 29.5 feet high and 20 tons (or tonnes, if you like).

I was determined to get this entry done today and I've just spent way too much time trying to get photos off of my phone. I've managed it here, but I need to find a more direct way. The older I get the more technologically challenged I become. Grrr. The camera shows up on my laptop but it claims there are no files on it. So much for the test run back at home.

It's 11:45 PM here and Gord is snoring next to me. To the West Country tomorrow. I hope this good weather continues (it was beautiful today).

Reading: Nicholas Nickleby (in preparation for a theater performance on Monday)