We did arrive in London

        After Sarah drove us to O'Hare Airport and after a two and a half hour wait spent visiting with our friends Jim and Cheryl Carlton (just arrived from Atlanta, GA), we finally boarded our United plane and left at 6:30 PM Tuesday.  When we arrived at Heathrow, we picked up a small Peugeot van at Alamo and headed towards Benny's B & B.  The first ten minutes of driving an unfamiliar stick shift from the right seat on the left side of the road in heavy traffic creates sheer terror for the first ten minutes.  With the aid of Carlton's GPS, however, we made it to Benny's  with minimal problems.
 




 I had arranged this B & B on line; reviews on Trip Advisor were mostly very favorable.  The online pictures do not show the exterior however.  It is on a very busy (and noisy) road and is actually up very narrow stairs to the second floor over commercial stores.  No air conditioning on Britain's warmest day of the year................. 88 degrees!  Feels like 108 degrees!  The beds are OK and sheets and towels are clean, and each room has a tiny bathroom, so we'll survive one night.

  We immediately parked the van and headed for the nearby underground "Tube" station.  We road the train to Westminster station and then crossed over the Thames River to the London Eye Ferris wheel.  As you can see, it is several stories high and has pods which are the size of minibuses.

There were 24 people in our pod as we very slowly rotated around the circle.  It was a clear day and the view was terrific in every direction.

     Part of a large school group filled this next pod.  There were many groups of teenagers and younger traveling together.  There were large crowds everywhere.

        Of course, we saw the clock Big Ben and its famous tower next to Parliament.  The Carltons took a tour of Westminster Abbey while we waited in the shade  in the nearby park.

We engaged some teenage girls from Germany (part of a large group) in conversation.  They were delighted to learn we had visited  their hometown of Fusen in Bavaria - site of Neushwanstein Castle.   When Sharon began to take a picture of three of the girls, several others squeezed into the picture.




      A long day is nearly over.  Our dinner was had at one of London's fine McDonald's Restaurants.  Now it's almost bedtime after cold showers!  Good night all!