Dad Lands in London!

On March 26th, Dad landed in London!!! I got the phone call telling me he was waiting for his bag & then he'd get on the Heathrow Connect! How exciting! I met him at Baker Street, gave him a big hug & lead him to his hotel. The man at the front desk thought I was also staying at the hotel & proceeded to explain most of the details to me. Dad & I got a kick out of it when we got in the tiny elevator to the 2nd floor - he was the one who needed to know which way the hotel key faced when swiped to open the door, not me. :)
We surveyed his rather tiny room & then headed out on our first adventure: lunch! Tammy met us at our favorite sandwich place - actually we've only taken our visitors there, but still, it's a pretty good place to eat. :) Dad was happy for food & the chance to sit for a bit. After we all finished, & Dad enjoyed sitting for a little longer, we set off to the Tube! We took the Jubilee Line South to Green Park. Buckingham Palace was our first stop on Dad's trip. The really cool part of this visit to Buckingham was the flag flying above the palace: it was the Queen's Standard! That meant that the Queen was there! How exciting! Dad had packed Michael's camera for the trip, but left it at the hotel. So I made sure I got some pictures for him & Tammy was playing "mom" & took pictures of Dad & me in front of the palace. :)
We wandered around to Westminster Cathedral, walked inside - I've been in there four times now & it's absolutely beautiful! Tammy & I also light candles for our grandmothers - a little something special for the two of us.
After the Cathedral, we walked back toward Buckingham & the Queen had left! In the span of about 20 minutes she left!! Crazy! So we kept walking toward Big Ben & Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately the sun that had been shining decided to hide & let the clouds pour buckets of rain! To prove how tricky the weather was, by the time we got to Big Ben it had stopped raining - it was only a five or ten minute walk from Buckingham. Thankfully the rain stopped - at least for a little while. We showed Dad the River Thames & the London Eye then got back on the Tube. We got back to Baker Street & Dad had a hankering for a cup o' tea. So we walked down Baker Street to Starbucks & got some tea & a brownie. Then Dad needed a nap. So we reconvened at Baker Street a little later to get some grub at Belgo Centraal!!!! Yes! Dad's first dinner in London was Belgo!! How exciting!!! & delicious!! :) Dad loved it - unfortunately they did not have Heineken, but the bangers & mash made up for that. :) It was definitely strange ordering beer & drinking legally with Dad!! :) After dinner we walked back through Piccadilly & got milkshakes at Ed's Easy Diner. Ed's is Dad's kinda place - oldies & milkshakes. :)
We got back to Baker Street at 10PM. Go Dad! :)
Friday morning, the 27th, we had a bit of a late start. Dad fell back to sleep - twice. When we finally met up with Dad, we walked down to Barclay's to get some funds outta the hole-in-the-wall. Only problem was the message on the screen: "Cash services are unavailable." Ugh! Four ATMs & NO money!! Oh well...so we went to the Post Office so Dad could get a stamp for his postcard to Father Charles & Tammy was sending her Dad's birthday cards.
We dug into a fabulous [I use the term "fabulous" lightly] lunch in the school refectory. Then Dad & I went out to see Trafalgar Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church & the National Gallery [for about ten minutes]. After that we met Tammy at The Sherlock Holmes Museum on Baker Street. It was pretty cool - a new stop on the Schaaffe-Kelly London Tour! :) We all got our pictures taken with Dr. Watson - it was Sherlock's day off, unfortunately.
We left the museum & Dad wanted some hot chocolate...off to Costa! :) That was the motivation Dad needed to take a nap. :) So we met up after his nap for dinner at Pizza Express - after all, it was a Friday in Lent & we couldn't eat meat...so pizza! :) It was so delicious - as usual. Dad really liked it. Or maybe he liked that it was his first day off from cooking pizza. It was his turn to sit & enjoy eating without cooking at all. :) I knew how much Dad wanted to find some Heineken, so after pizza, Tammy & I took him to Belgo Kingsway. Not only do they have Heineken, but they have it on tap! :) Dad was in Beer-Heaven! :)
We got back to Baker Street at 10:30PM, a good time for us all to get some sleep! :)
Saturday the 28th dawned itchy. Yes, itchy. I woke up with another horrible allergic reaction. Actually, I knew before I woke up. I knew around 4AM when I rolled over rubbing at my eye & nose. I was awake for a while & could feel the hives on my arm get itchier. It was tons of fun! :( At least I seem to have discovered the culprit...small victory.
Anyway, we finally got money! Woohoo!!! ATMs were up & running! :) I took Dad to the Tower of London & Tower Bridge. We even did the Tower Bridge exhibit! :) It was just as much fun as the first time! :) Unfortunately the weather still couldn't decide whether it wanted to be sunny or rainy, so we got both. Yuck. The cool thing, as Dad & I walked along the River Thames in Southwark, was the rainbow over the River Thames!!! It was beautiful! :) It would appear that Dad brought lots of luck to London! :) After the rainbow, we met up with Tammy & got dinner in Leicester Square at a steakhouse. It was kinda crowded, but good food. We had another early night because we wanted to get to St. Paul's for morning mass.
Sunday, the 29th, we woke up, changed our clocks [now we're five hours ahead of home, again, & I am not happy about it] & headed out to church. We got to St. Paul's early & walked around a bit before mass. We got inside around 10AM & mass was scheduled to start at 10:15. 10:15 came & went. At 10:30 Dad went over to ask someone about mass & they said "Oh, come back at 6:30. This one is cancelled because the 6:30 service will be a lot bigger." ...Whatever that means...
So we left, crossed the Millenium Bridge [better known as the "Wobbly Bridge"] & Dad pointed out Tower Bridge. I looked & saw it was OPEN! I started jumping up & down on the bridge, freaking out! It's good luck to see Tower Bridge open! I was so excited!!! :) After we all took pictures with the open bridge, we crossed to see the Globe & then got back on the Tube toward a supposed "American" diner for brunch. It was the WORST place! The staff were all hoity-toity Italians! The food wasn't exactly like home - it was alright. Dad made a crack that we were in Mayfair, but he wanted to be in the Mayfair Diner at home! :) After that we came back to Regent's to print Dad's paperwork to fly to Huddersfield on Monday. Plus we had to map out his Tube routes. He took that stuff back to his hotel & wandered the area for a bit while I tried to get some homework done. Then we met up for dinner at the Globe. It was pretty good food. Unfortunately for Dad, no Heineken. But he made do with a similar beer. We came back to school for my regularly scheduled Skype date with home & chit-chatted with Mom & Michael. Before they got on the computer, however, I was showing Dad all of his nieces & nephews that are on Facebook. He got a real kick otta that. So much so that he got on the computer & sent a message to my cousin Dave! Hilarious! :) Dad's one & only encounter with Facebook! :)
After our Skype date, Dad left to get some sleep before his early morning to Huddersfield.
Monday I was in classes all day, as was Tammy, while Dad was in Huddersfield. He did call me not too long after he got there to let me know he had eaten lunch & was getting ready to go to the church where his father was baptized. I wish I could have gone with him. Anyway, Tammy & I met him when he got back that night & got a late dinner at Pizza Express. He showed us the pictures he took of the area & the photocopies of the church records. He found the records of my grandfather's birth, my great-aunt's birth, & the birth records of a great-aunt & uncle who each died within 10 days of birth. I had no idea! Dad even found the marriage record of my great-grandparents! It was so cool to see! :) Then Dad told me to close my eyes & hold out my hands! Ooooo, presents!! Haha - it was a roll of digestives!!! YUMM!!! :) After dinner, Dad walked Tammy & me back to the park entrance where we said our goodbyes. I was sad to say goodbye to Dad. I only got a few days with him! But they were really fun days with Dad! I haven't had quality Dad-daughter time for a long time.
Tuesday morning Dad called me to tell me he was at the airport & made it there in one piece. Then he flew on home - back to the States - without me. The night before I had dreamed that I packed up, met him at the Tube on Tuesday morning & got on the plane at Heathrow with him. Needless to say I was pretty emotional on Tuesday. Tammy & I had to hang up our London Tour Guide uniforms!
We are now retired & enjoying our retirement by going to Edinburgh, Venice & seeing as much of London as we can before we leave in 26 days!