So! Yesterday Tigger was very disappointed that the plane departed before we had a chance to post his enjoyment of racing down the conveyor belt...
... or his resignation at the dull indignity of being stowed away on the plane.
On the plane, Badger sensibly slept as best she could. Mouse, unable to sleep in airplane seats, less-sensibly watched Taken 2. For research. Because it is an entirely reasonable and realistic scenario for protecting one's personal safety abroad. Unfortunately, the airlines prevented Badger from stocking up on Liam Neeson's hand grenades. Perhaps we can find the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch while we're here.
We arrived at Heathrow safe and sound around eight AM and had an astonishingly swift trip through customs (only checked our passports!). Tigger reminded us that no matter how photogenic Tiggers are, it was illegal to photograph him in that area. Before we knew it, we were on the Picadilly Line of the London Underground. Please mind the gap!
Tigger carefully inspected the map to make sure we were on track to disembark at Russell Square.
Mouse was slightly horrified to realize that the Russell Square stop involves cramming into an elevator like sardines for an extended period of time. Badger had to remind her that it would be impractical to climb fifteen stories with that much luggage. Tigger reassured her that cramming in elevators is what Tiggers do best, and offered to carry Mouse's Oyster card (London transit card) if it was too much for her.
We checked into the hostel easily enough, but it remains to be seen how much grief we will face - the booking company has us in a different room three out of our four nights here, so we may be checking out and back in again frequently. (Fun!) We settled in to our bunks, locked our valuables away, and hit the streets.
Mouse went to college near here for a semester, so our first planned trip was to an old favorite sandwich shop near the old school. Tigger appreciated both the bacon sandwich and the school.
Our next route... may have been inadvisable. After terrible sleep and quite a lot of jet lag, we chose to walk the mile or so between the British Museum vicinity and St. Paul's Cathedral. With detours for Mouse nostalgia and for construction. We were pretty exhausted when we got to St. Paul's.
It was worth it.
We have been informed that bouncing over fences into cathedrals is what Tiggers do best.
After we circled the cathedral, we walked down to the Thames to take a bit of a walk across the Millennium Bridge. We were pretty exhausted at this point, but we were determined to get a good look at London Bridge and Tower Bridge beyond it.
Tigger was unsure why Badger was leaning so hard on the bridge, but he decided to imitate her posture.
We rested in the foyer area of the cathedral (NO PHOTOGRAPHS! I'm not sure why we respected that rule, given the fact that no one else was - and when did iPads become such popular cameras, anyway? - but we did). We intended to join a London Walks tour at 2:00, but when we encountered some confusion about how the tour was run, we decided we were far too tired to think and went back to the hostel to collapse.
Tigger decided to take the key card's advice and Nap Europe.
Unfortunately, Mouse's phone is yet again being uncooperative with the various modems and softwares necessary to get things uploaded here, so the photographic evidence will have to wait for a day when her allotted time on the hostel computer is not running out. Still, we did pretty well today. No big updates tomorrow night - we're going to see Wicked! - but perhaps Friday morning. Or maybe something quick tomorrow afternoon. Now Mouse intends to join Badger in slumberland.
Hey, it's almost 9:00 PM here!
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