We have arrived, although not after some frustrations. Imagine that after 3 cab and one shuttle bus ride, and one sleep in a hotel, we still would be in Vancouver...?

After a cab ride back to the airport at 3:30 AM after a few hours sleep at our home we were told that the flight was delayed yet again from a 7:30 departure to now a 10:00 departure (always check the departures on the internet!) We weren't about to spend the next several hours in the airport with 2 kids and no sleep so Nancy was able to secure us a voucher for a hotel which we could get some more sleep at.

Rather than wait for for the hotel shuttle, we chose to take a cab and on the advise of the airline counter person asked the driver to go to the Holiday Inn on Bridgeport only to learn that the voucher was for the other Holiday Inn on Cambie. So we had to take another cab ride, got a few hours sleep and left on schedule at 10:00 AM (Yeah!)

The flight was 9'ish hours and the boys didn't sleep well and we were wanting them to have some nap time as we would be arriving at 6:30 AM local time and wanted to make the most of our day rather than just sleep it away. There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth; in the end Jonas did get some shut eye but not so much for Gideon.


We were met at Gatwick by Sarah Lee, Nancy's good friend from bible school (20 years ago they met!) and driven to her parent's home in Bromley, a borough in the south east of London. Sarah's parent graciously offered up their home for us and have vacated to let us have the run of the place. A beautiful home with a lovely garden. What a blessing!

After a 2-3 hour nap nap and showers, we hit the rails with Sarah and her daughter Harley, took the train into London Victoria Station, caught a double decker, got off near the Eye of London ferris wheel and spent the next 5 or 6 hours walking around. We were joined by Sarah's husband Chris, who knocked off work early, who was a wealth of inforamtion about the buildings and their history. We walked along the Thames, past the Globe Theatre and over the Millenium Bridge to St Paul's Cathedral. Caught another bus to the Tower of London, took the Tube to Trafalgar Square, walked to Buckingham Palace and then back Victoria Station for the train ride back to Bromley. A whirlwind tour of the downtown, and a delightful day with our own personal tour guides!

The photo is of the boys and Harley at Trafalgar Square below the statue of Lord Horatio Nelson. An interesting historical note is the the lions and the figure of Lord Nelson were cast from the brass of the captured French cannons after Lord Nelson beat the French in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.