Yet Another Piechnik Invades England

Dad arrived this morning! Our travelling trio is now complete!

This morning mom and I were driven to the airport by a friend from my church (thanks again, Ian!) and then we headed into London with dad. I asked him if he'd rather go to a museum (he loves museums) or do a walking tour and he opted for the latter. We started at Trafalgar Square and wandered through the National Portrait Gallery for a little while before having naps on the grass at St. James' Park outside Buckingham Palace. After letting dad sleep for forty-five minutes we bought ice cream cones and then made our way past the palace and back toward Westminster Abbey and the Parliament Buildings. After dinner we headed to Stansted Airport for our flight to Belfast, Ireland. A very long day for all of us, but especially for dad, who was more preoccupied with watching movies on his flights from Canada instead of focusing on trying to sleep.

We sat on a bench at the train station to eat our lunch and got a good laugh over this man waiting in line at the cash machine. I'd pay a lot to know the story behind that outfit.

Dad napping in St. James' Park.

Dad napping on the lawn at Westminster Abbey.

I tried to get a shot of mom and dad with a red phone booth but mom couldn't stop gagging over the smell.

Just throwing in a little side comment here, I just want to say that Hugh Laurie definitely improves with age. I asked mom to shoot the pic below for a couple of friends I used to work with - Lindsay joined me in swooning over the damaged-yet-dreamy Dr. House, but John just thought we had major issues for adoring a messed up, fictional man who's old enough to be our father.

Me with a swoon-worthy advertisement at a tube station.

The couple who run the B&B where we stayed outside Belfast were incredibly welcoming and helpful as we arrived on a Sunday evening after almost every restaurant had closed. The husband, Steve, gave my dad a ride to a local pizza place that was still open, giving us a chance to have some dinner before crawling into our cozy beds for some much-needed sleep.