I had the chance to go to London in July to visit an old friend (Hi, Rob!) and do a little research for an upcoming book I’m working on for Brava. I’ve always longed to go to the United Kingdom and enjoyed my visit. Even if it was a bit soggy. Here are some pictures of my trip along with my comments about it.

First of all let me say that it’s odd not to have trash cans on the street. I understand why there aren’t any (terrorist used to plant bombs in the trash cans) but carrying around empty water bottles in my purse was cumbersome! At Waterloo Station you had to pay to go to the bathroom. This probably makes me sound very much the gauche-American but hey, I am one! Paying to go to toilet seemed funny to me. Here’s a photo of me in front of the London Eye. My 15 year-old daughter kindly pointed out that my hair looks crazy–in my defense it was windy that day!

They had record rains while I was in the UK, but I still managed to see quite a few sites…including this one which Harry Potter fans will recognize. My 15 year-old, you remember her–the hair police, is a huge Harry Potter fan and since she couldn’t come with me on this trip I went to King’s Cross Station for her.

London was a fascinating and busy city. What I enjoyed most about it were the areas away from the touristy locations. There was this wonderful path in St. James Park that reminded me a bit of the mall area in D.C. and Central Park. Of course much cleaner than Central Park. I liked strolling down the path and just feeling the cool breeze ruffling my hair. Here is a photo I took that I think captures the peaceful feeling I had at that moment. What’s amazing to me is that I was in the middle of London!

I also got out and saw a bit of the English countryside.

And took in Stonehenge which to be honest was a bit of a disappointment. I wanted a mystical feeling from the place and instead felt really touristy. But here’s a photo of me there!

The trip was a lot of fun and after 15 years of friendship Rob and I have discovered we have a bit more between us. I’ll write more about that in another post.

So have any of you waited for an adventure? And if so, what was the result of finally going on it? Was it what you expected or more??

Kathy