London 2024 - Day One 9/15/24

We arrived in London around 9:30 this morning London time a little tired and jet lagged but ready to start our first full day in England. Our tour director for the week, Janet Sayers, met us just as we made our way through customs and led us to our tour bus where we met Tony, our bus driver for the first two full days.

We took a scenic bus tour through the city of London Our first stop turned out to be quite an eventful one. We hopped off of the bus to visit Westminster Abbey to find that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. The Battle took place on September 15, 1940 in southeast England between Britain and Germany. A special remembrance ceremony was held in the Abbey and we were able to see the dignitaries and military personnel leaving the ceremony, including (rumor has it) the Prime Minister.

Before heading back to the bus, we were treated to the remarkable sound of a WWII engine overhead when to a Lancaster bomber flew over the Abbey to mark the end of the ceremony.

After boarding the bus to continue our tour, we drove by the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, as we made our way to Trafalgar Square, where we disembarked for some lunch in the Square before making our way to the Holiday Inn London Kensington High Street, our home-away-from-home for the next nine days.

The hotel is located in Kensington, within walking distance to public transportation as well as many great restaurants and pubs, including the Hux Bar, which features a full array of taxidermy animals on display. We ended the day with a welcome dinner at the hotel and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, featuring Pamela Beggan '66 on the kazoo, for Kathy Pietrasik '76, who celebrated a special birthday today!

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