Tusen Tak Norway! Watch Out London!

This is our new friend Patsy from Chicago, who gave us some great tips on touring London.


This is the birthday greeting that was sent to Sally because of the great letter I wrote to the hotel about her birthday; our room was upgraded too!

Sally's Beefeater....

This is where Henry VIII had two of his wives beheaded.

Big Ben

London Bridge from a different point of view....

The Parliament Building.....

We are uploading this post from an internet cafe across from the Victoria Train Station. The hotel has internet access in the business center for 7 pounds for 30 minutes; once agin we're cheap and are using this place for 1 pound for a thirty minutes.

Wednesday. May 3
A cold, rainy Bergen morning. We hit the harbour one more time, hoping we could take one more look at some of the stands. There were hardly any out and. it is hard to believe that they would be gone because of the rain, as it apparently ALWAYS rains in Bergen. It is supposed to hit 75 for the next week. Oh well, we had a great day touring on Tuesday. We caught the Flybussen from the SAS Radisson hotel. Ken ran ahead to make sure the bus wouldn’t leave without us and I could catch up. As I approached the bus, the doors close and the bus starts to move with ken on the inside and me on the street. I trust Ken, but later found out there was a pretty blonde on the bus and he did have a second thought about stopping the bus for me L

The Bergen airport we ran into our friends who assured us that Emma and Claire would get us into London from Gatwick airport. After 2 hours we arrive at Gatwick outside of London. Our friends run by us saying they need to get their parents to another train, but would meet us in baggage claim. Well, by the time we got through customs and baggage claim, they were nowhere to be seen. Someone may have squealed about our Norway incidents, we’re not sure. Having had researched this trip to death, I knew we needed to take theGatwick Express to Victoria Station and then a cab to our hotel, The St. James Crowne Plaza. We have to hurry to board the train, because, as always we are just about to miss it. Ken wouldn’t let me stop for the 2 for 1 coupons to many London sights that I had read about. I knew he was right but…..we board the train; Ken with all the packs on…well, I had one. As he turned to take them off before sitting, he whacked a seated man in the head with the big pack. Ken kept apologizing over and over, but the man just kept leaning over and grabbing his head. Great, our 1st England ‘incident’.

God Save the Queen, we made it to London! We take a cab (very cool little cars) to our hotel that I got on Priceline for $117 per night. Even our friends who dumped us were impressed with this great price, as hotels and everything else is horribly expensive here. The hotel is close to Buckingham Palace and a 4 star that when we walked into the lobby, we felt like the Beverly Hillbillies go to London. We are in jeans and tired and just feel a mess. I had sent am email to the hotel (from Ken) saying it was his wonderful wife’s birthday. Well, it IS birthday month. Joel kept saying ‘they’re going to ask you for proof !! ’. As we registered, the gal said to Ken ‘Oh, it is your birthday?’ I explain, that it is mine. She says that she will upgrade us to a very nice room for free. She had my passport with my birthday, but she didn’t seem to care! We enter the most luxurious room we have ever been in. As we are running around checking it out, there is a knock on the door. ‘We hear it is someone’s birthday!’ and in comes the champagne with a card with birthday wishes on it. Okay, I feel a little silly…..After I burn my hand on the towel rack (hey, never had one!), there was another knock on the door. A gentleman wanted to know if everything was to our liking. We had to admit we couldn’t figure out how to flush the toilet. Hey, I’m sorry, but things are different here! Then off we went to dinner to Young’s Pub. Ken has a lager and fish and chips and I have a chicken sandwich. It was good smoky fun and we knew we were definitely in England. It was around 9pm and we head back to the hotel. It helps that there is ‘look right’ and ‘look left’ on the street since traffic comes at you from a different direction. It was a long day, Changing countries is hard. We are loving London. The people have been great and the City has a great energy. And yes, children still have beautiful faces and teenagers are still noisy! And although I am the only one who cares, I DID get my 2 for 1 coupons when we got to the train station in London.
Kelli: I was hoping you’d be at your Mom’s and I could talk to you! Love to all, Sally

Thursday, May 4
We are still fighting some jet lag, and ended up sleeping in until 7:30. We showered and took off for some breakfast. Although Sally got us a great deal on the hotel, the breakfast meals are not dicounted here. An omlette starts at 21 pounds which converts to about $39.; not in our budget. So we went down the street and 'lovely' breakfast at an Italian bistro called Bon Gusto. It turned our to be a real find.

Next, we got on The Big Bus Tour, one of the hop-on-hop off buses and toured London from about 10am until about 2:30. Both the tour and the weather were great. We began the trip at about 65 degrees and finished this afternoon at about 75-80 degrees. What a change form last weekend when we were on the NIN when it was at one point in the 20's.

The highpoint of the tour for us today was the Tower of London. Sally was enamored with our Beefeater tour guide. He had a great sense of humor, great outfit, and gave us over a thousand years of history in about 90 minutes. The tour guide would have made a great history teacher; although he really has some great props to work with. The English were really into public executions way back when. One of the pictures that we uploaded was where Henry VIII had a couple of his wives beheaded. We also saw the crowne jewels......Ken