Hello little blog. It's been a while. I was pretty sure I was going to leave you in neglect for good.  But then I decided I needed a way to document my trip to London.  Huzzah. Resurected from the dust!

 

Why have I never traveled to London before? My god. This place rocks.  The energy, vitality, multiculturalism, alone will keep me chattering for days. I'm only here for a week and I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed by all the things I want to do.  We got in yesterday afternoon and are already immersed in the city life.  Our hotel is in a prime location, walking distance to most things I will want to see in a week's time.  Of course, traveling with a small child is different than past international trips.  We are really on Lincoln time, and plan our excursions around his schedule, but this kid is one international champ.  He slept about 90% of the flight over.  You know the flight was sucessful when the people sitting around us were cooing at him as we waited to de-plane.  Our boy is a conversation starter.  Between the flirting, waving, and high fiving (two newly acquired skills) we make friends wherever we go.

 

After getting settled in the hotel yesterday evening, we chatted up the concierge and asked for a recommendation for Chinese food (when in doubt, I always want Chinese food).  He recommended a place in SoHo called Cha Cha Moon. It was a noodle bar kind of place where you sit at long tables next to random people. We wander over there (amidst people spilling out of every bar and pub-it was happy hour afterall) and we see an enormous line outside the door and we both are thinking why the fuck did the concierge recommend this place with us and a baby? From the exterior it looked hip and trendy and certainly not the kind of place you take a 10 month old.  We got a pint from the place across the street and after hemming and hawing just decided to go for it. We were hungry, the kid was asleep in the ergo carrier, and we really didn't have any other place in mind to eat.  In the end, it was an excellent recommendation. The food was tasty, it was appropriately noisy in there so that once the kid did wake up his squeals and noises didn't make a dent in the hum of the restaurant noise.  Loved it.  Tasty and relatively cheap.  Who would have thought that we would arrive in London and take our kid to a bustling SoHo restaurant on our first day?  Our kid is so cosmopolitan :)

 

We all slept like logs last night.  Over 11 hours straight.  Rested and ready to go we mostly did the tourist thing today.  We saw a wing of the National Gallery, watched Olympics in Trafalgar Square (both in the morning and at the end of the day), walked past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, crossed the Thames, wandered around some more, and then met up with an old Terran, Lars, for pints and dinner.  I have to say I love that about being a Terran. No matter where you go, if you know a Terran is nearby you gotta try and hook up.  Lars was accomodating with the kid and even came back to Trafalgar Square with us to watch more Olympics at the end of the night.  The kid could crawl around in the grass and expend energy before going to bed while we socialized and watched GB win golds in rowing and cycling.  It is pretty awesome that they are showing the Olympics in the square.  Hundreds of people lounge around watching the games.  It is really amazing.

 

I think what I love most about traveling internationally is experiencing the differences in everyday life.  Things like traffic signs, posted signs, how people dress, grocery items, etc. Stuff you take for granted every day but are slightly different than the norm.   It helps that I can read the signs and packaging and don't have to sit there trying to decipher what I am about to purchase or experience.  We have another day together and then Roger is off to work while I explore with the kid.  We've had so much fun so far and we've barely been here 30 hours.  I think I'll be able to pack a lot in over the course of one week. Any recommendations on what to do?  Lemme know!