Larsen's European Vacation - Day 2 - London

With a help of 3 Tylenol PMs and a relaxing 6-hour red-eye flight from JFK to London, England, I didn't sleep a wink. What is wrong with me? Don't answer that! Well, we got to the Heathrow Airport where my old friend Aki (famous shoe designer in Europe) was going to come and meet us there. After a phone call to him, he told us that he was jumping in the car and would come and pick us up. His partner, Geordie actually drove us to the Marriott County Hall hotel while Aki took the tube because we couldn't all fit into their car....with all the luggage (yes, we traveled again with only carry-ons) and stuff.


Aki and I at the Marriott Hotel. It was so good to see and hug Aki again after 5 years.


"The idiot twins" as Aki called themselves. We had such a great time with these two. We miss them already.


The view to the London Eye capsules from our hotel window. I don't think we could have picked a better view.

Big Ben from our hotel (broken) window.

Because we were so exhausted after a few sleepless nights, we decided to take a short nap in our hotel room. Rod was also getting sick because he had been traveling to India and Japan back to back and different timezones, so he needed his rest.

5 HOURS LATER we woke up. In my book this was 5 hours of wasted time, but I so needed the nap.

Luckily we stayed at the heart of the city so we could just walk out the hotel front door and we were right in the middle of all the attractions. Jake, Rod and Alex are ready to see the city.

Our family and Big Ben in the background. It is about 8pm at night. We had so much ground to cover in such short amount of time.

Our hotel from the Westminster Bridge.

We heard this guy play the bagpipes from our hotel room and wanted to come and listen to him play. As you remember, Rod LOVES the bagpipes. But this particular guy was so drunk that he started harassing Rod for not paying him. Whatever. Just play, man! We walked off.

Alex, Rod and Jake and Big Ben

Our family, finally seeing London.

"It smelled like pee", said Alex when he came out of the telephone booth.

Alex holding Big Ben

Alex and the London Eye around his head.

Alex and Jake having Italian at Prezzo at Trafalgar Square.

Rod and I with the London Eye and the Parliament in the background.

Tomorrow, Day 2 in London. Let's hope we don't sleep in. We have much to see. Because we slept 5 hours and Rod was getting sick, we decided to scrap Paris. We will stay in London.