Welome to London

St Paul's Cathedral

A big HELLO to you from London!  We arrived in one piece, including all our luggage.  Amazing!  The flight was long, but good- because for the first time in about 8 months we all had more than 2 minutes to sit together and enjoy some free time, albeit restricted free time.  Tyler actually had to sit separately for the flight from Salt Lake to New York City, but we all survived.  We supposedly had a 50 minute layover in the JFK airport, however the second we stepped off the first plane, we heard the final boarding call for our next flight.  We ran "Grapes of Wrath" style to our gate clear across the airport with our 5 carry on bags, the huge ace luxury car seat of Ady's, a stroller, & a little girl all in our arms, but made it just in time.  PhEw!  The flight from New York to London took about 7 hours.  The airplane was huge and they served us dinner and breakfast- and each person had their own TV in front of them, which made the time pass much quicker.  We landed in London at 7am Greenwich Mean Time, midnight Mountain Time, fresh and ready to start our new life.  Or, I mean, completely exhausted and trying so hard to stay awake on our drive so we could get a glimpse at this new place.  A driver was waiting for us at the airport with a sign that had our name on it, which was quite thrilling, surprisingly.  I mean, how often does that happen?  It is like stuff you see in movies, right?  Because of heavy traffic, it took about 1 hour to get to our apartment.  Ady was gone to the birds in the first 2 minutes and I kept finding myself nodding off and waking up with my mouth wide open.  I'm quite sure it was one of my finer looks.  In between naps, I tried really hard to soak in the scenery and try to imagine what the next 2 years would hold for us.  The weather was drizzly and gray as is to be expected here.  The architecture of the old buildings was beautiful.  Each building has its own character and ghostly feeling.  It is instantly evident that most everything here is old and has a story.  As we drove, we saw places like Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the River Thames, & St. Paul's Cathedral, to name a few.  It is mind boggling how much history we are surrounded by here.  It is clear to me that there is no shortage of things to do and see here.  We wonder if 2 years will even be enough time to see it all.

We arrived at our flat, which is only a 5 minute walk from St. Paul's Cathedral.  It is very comfortable and nice.  It has a big living room with all the comforts of home, a tiny kitchen with a teeny little fridge and a teeny little washer/dryer combo ( who knew you could have both in 1?), 2 bedrooms (Ady has the same size bed that we do), & 2 full bathrooms.  There are big windows throughout the flat to look out and see the city. The front windows overlook a little park and beyond it, building after building (all old and beautiful).  Old churches are everywhere and it is not infrequent that we stumble upon them every few minutes as we venture out into the city.

Much to our surprise, the food here has been nothing short of AMAZING!!  Despite our extremely low expectations, we have been blown away by how delicious and authentic the food is here.  The strawberries are small, ruby red & full of flavor, like ones you would pick from your own home garden. The cheese is strong and real, not full of powder and wax.  The chocolate is to die for.  We ate out at a restaurant the second night we were here, and hands down, it was the most delicious pizza Tyler or I have ever had in our lives!!!  We literally found ourselves holding the food on our tongue to savor the flavor and enjoy it just a little longer before it went into the big dark pits of our stomachs.  The grocery stores may look like gas stations, but every food we have tried here has completely exceeded our expectations.

The time adjustment has been difficult for all of us.  After 5 days, we finally feel like we are about there.  The public transportation is extremely easy to use.  With an Oyster pass, we have full access to the underground system, light rail, buses, trains, river ferries & even bikes.  It is amazing.  The shopping is limitless.  Stores are everywhere around us.  The people are diverse & VERY fashionable here.  We probably look like hobos to the people here.  I am not kidding.  But it seems that as long as you own your look, you can pretty much pull off anything, even a big coffee stain running right down the front of your white t-shirt.  Everyone here is polite & very formal.  People are more than willing to help you find your way.

Unfortunately, I completely spaced putting my camera to computer usb cable into our luggage- which means I can't post pictures until our air shipment arrives in 3-4 weeks.  Not too happy about that, but I will still post my thoughts over the next month & fill in the picture gaps later.

...and this was only the 1st day!  More to come soon.

It appears we may have a fourth member of our party.  Drowsy is yet to be seen, but is suspected to be with us.  A reward may be offered to anyone who provides us with information on his whereabouts.  A trail of photos has been followed and each one is undergoing an in-depth analysis to extract clues on his current location.    

Ady did really great through both long flights

Our 10 seconds of fame

To Sell, or To Rent. That is the Question???

After an intense summer of OCD house cleanings, a roller coaster ride of emotions and a near complete dissolution of the Baron family as we know it; alas, we have survived... and decided to RENT our house instead of sell it! Phew. Here is a tribute to our little house that we love in Stansbury. We have many great memories of this house, although, we are looking forward to trying something new in our life.  (I'm going to try to kid myself that renters will NOT trash our house while we are gone)  Oh well.  For better, or for worse, we are on to other things for now.  We will cross that bridge if (not when, you pessimists) we get there.  :)