London

Day one away from home and anything familiar… done and done! I’m sitting on the floor at London’s Heathrow airport and I can’t wait for the opportunity to sleep tonight on the flight to Kampala. I flew overnight last night, but of course there were some really great movies to choose from so I only got about 2 hours of sleep total before heading out to explore London. So, I’ve never been here before… but that kinda of thing doesn’t really intimidate me or hold me back. I hopped on the tube (subway) and just started looking at station names that sounded familiar or had some sort of attraction at them. Well before I even noticed anything else I saw a stop called King’s Cross. Um, if you know me at all you know that I really like Harry Potter, and King’s Cross station is where they catch the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9 ¾ to get to school each year. So I immediately decided getting off there was a must. Of course I would have had to buy a different ticket to get on the platforms at King’s Cross train station, but I took a picture of it from the subway stop. ☺ It pretty much made my day. After grabbing some food I hopped back on the underground and switched lines so I could go be a tourist and see Buckingham Palace. I just happened to get there right about the time to see the Changing of the Guards, which was actually pretty cool. Not to mention that the palace is beautiful… different than most pictures make it seem, but pretty nonetheless. I took about 10 pictures of the guards and all of the very official looking people.
After that I walked around the palace gardens for a while, just wandered aimlessly and took it all in. It’s a pretty cool feeling to be sitting in the palace gardens, in London, reading the Word of God.
Next I hopped onto a new line of the underground and went to the London Bridge, well the new one I guess. But it was nice to walk up and down the Thames river and see the sights that London has to offer. It’s a really strange feeling to be in a city I’ve never been in and feel completely comfortable. Of course thoughts of my friends and family have already crossed my mind. When I was walking up and down the river I was thinking of all the people who would appreciate it’s beauty. I had an absolutely peaceful day though and was just fine wandering alone… just me and my iPod. I still can’t believe I’m going to be gone so long. Don’t move on in life without, k guys?
So anyways I have gotten maybe a total of 5 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. I ended my wandering this afternoon because I explored and walked around for about 5 hours and I was exhausted. A fabulous friend of mine tipped me off to the fact that Heathrow has showers, so I made my way back here to shower away the greasy Italian that was shinning through! Life is good.
At this point I’m waiting to be able to check this bag because apparently Heathrow’s carry-on standards are different than Chicago’s are and I can’t check in til 3 hours before my flight tonight. I have about 2 hours til I’m off to Kampala/Entebbe. Once again, I’m flying through the night, so I think some sleeping medicine will help me get some rest tonight. I want to be ready to rock tomorrow when I get there. I’m being picked up by a missionary family who will already be at the airport to drop their niece off, so I’m nervous/excited about that. I’m ready to just be somewhere, you know?
Wow this is kinda long for a first entry, but let’s be real... I’ve got nothing else to do right now. I’ll put some pictures up from London soon.