Day 11. We arrive at Gatwick airport with the group having got varying nights sleep ranging from the entire flight to only an 1 hour so (I was much closer to the latter). We take the train / underground to get into the city. At some points we are a little confused on almost get on the wrong subway. At our underground stop, we get off with all our bags and… where’s Ashley? It is crowded and people are streaming everywhere. The train starts to ring signaling doors are closing when Ashley pops out of the door. Our first real crisis averted (barely).

After getting to our flat, we take a short cat-nap and set out to explore London on foot. The weather is gorgeous. There is live music at Trafalgar Square. We see Westminster Abbey (check the box for another UNESCO world heritage site), London Bridge, House of Parliament and Big Ben (clock tower). Big Ben is being renovated and so the entire thing was encased in scaffolding causing some disappointment in the group.

We get to the River Thames and go on The London Eye which is one of the tallest Ferris wheels in the world. It moves so slow you can’t it’s moving. The cars hold about 20 people but there is plenty of room to get great pictures; especially panoramic ones.

We decide to walk back a different route to see other buildings. Before we know it, we’ve walked over 10 miles by the time we get back. We grab a quick pizza dinner (writing this, I’m realizing that pizza has become the default fall-back food fo the group) and collapse into bed.