Down Under

After Windsor, we turned in the keys to our rental car (I say "we turned in" as if I was brave enough to do any left-side-of-the-road driving.  Let's be clear:  I was not=).  And while it was sad to say goodbye to this,

this was the happy alternative:

 

 

 

   

                 
             

 

Some of my fondest memories of spending 24 hrs. in London with Wes 9 yrs. ago are of the many minutes we spent tubing around the city.    I specifically remember hastily buying our tickets and tracking the fastest routes to as many must-sees as we could cram into our day.  The Halls of Parliament were first on the list.  We rode the short distance holding hands, excited for our crash course in London scenery.  We hopped the gap off the train and hurried through the exit tunnel.  Classical music sang from a street musician's violin as we made our way to the stairwell.  We ascended right into Big Ben's larger than life shadow.   It was magnificent.  A moment I'll always remember.

There were lots of similarly memorable moments on that tiny trip:  sharing a granola bar on the steep, narrow steps of a youth hostel before walking through Kensington Gardens at the literal crack of dawn, dashing in and out of the British Museum, laughing together at our strict allocation of five minutes (tops!) to locate the Rosetta stone before leaving to catch our flight to Norway.

Smile.  So glad for those memories.  So grateful for this second trip to fill in all the gaps.  So sad to be without Wes's hand in mine through it all.  But so glad to see him around every corner.