I cant believe I am finally back in England. I was beginning to wonder if this trip was ever going to happen. But here I am back in London sightseeing in the rain and eating fish and chips.

We had a little hiccup on our flight. They had to change planes and the one we got was smaller. So basically everyone got shuffled down to worse seats. We had payed for premium economy but got extra leg room instead. It made for a long flight but wasn’t near the adjustment as those from first/business that got moved to premium economy. I got $500, I wonder what they got.

We arrived and that was the important point. Our hotel is just down the street from the V&A museum and the Natural History. The line for the Natural History was crazy long so V&A was our first stop. surprisingly it is free except for special exhibits of which we did two. One a very kid friendly exhibit on Beatrice Potter the other a quite out there exhibit on men’s fashion. We only did the special exhibits and didn’t spend much time in the museum since it was free and very close to the hotel and we were hungry. I figure we can pop in anytime to see more when we return to London at the end of the trip.

Ever hopeful that we would stumble across something easy for a quick bite but no such luck. Ended up at Harrods’s in their food court. I knew from past experience that ham and cheese in a pastry really means ham and some thick creamy slightly cheesey soup. Not my favorite but my own fault because I knew better. However, I ate all of it so I can’t say that I was as bothered by this as I was last time.

From Harrods, which is still fun to shop through, we walked through St James park to the Churchill War Room. Again our first day in London was cloudy with some sprinkles. For me a light rain coat and sweater were too much so I spent the day switching between the two Most people seemed to think it was January and had dressed like they were in Antarctica. Oh well I guess they like being warm. The walk was long with a few detours to accommodate a 10k that was still going on at 2:30, which would never happen in Austin.

We finally made it and the War Room and it is a great museum. You learn a lot about Churchill but also just how they managed in general working through the bomb raids. Some of the rooms are basically how they were in 1945. It is said that some staff closed down on VJ day but expected to be back so just left there stuff out. It is a nice museum if you get a chance i highly recommend it. We figured out the tube and made it back to check in and rest a bit before dinner. We found a nice pub with fish and chips and it as delicious.

Overall a great first day in London.