Europe Trip Days One & Two

We made it though our first two days !!! Well we finally arrived in London and we are safe and , as the English say, shattered.

Day One: We started out this voyage bright and early in Boise (5:15am). After my last experience I knew I needed to do everything I could to remind these kids that to sleep on the last plane of the day because we would hit the ground running we we arrived in London. So Tuesday we had some very tired kids,and chaperons, roll into the airport. Most of the kids were still awake from the day before. Brian and myself also thought this was an excellent idea. We all were wrong, By the 4^th hour of our 6^th hour layover in O'Hare kids were dropping like flies. Sleeping on benches and even the floor in the terminals, trying to catch an extra 20 or 30 minutes of sleep. We ate some good good too (Rick Bayless' food is yummy!!!)

So when we finally boarded the last plane I figured it would be food, then lights out, but as always that was not the case. They kids were too excited and watched too many in flight movies ;)

Most of the kids slept, but not much more than an hour or two so by the time we landed in London they were already a bit sluggish.

Day Two: We arrived in Heathrow and were able to get through customs without delay. But of course this days has had it's fair share of issues, we had a student whose debit card wouldn't work, a student who arrive 30 minutes late at the airport and4 parents who didn't answer the phone so the phone-tree was delayed. but all worked out We then got onto a bus, met our tour director Daz and headed to our hotel on the other side of London. It took an hour and a half due to 8:00 rush hour traffic, but we were able to take a small city tour of London.

We got to the hotel and were unable to check in early so everyone ran into the hotel lobby bathrooms (loo) and got change and headed out to the Tower of London to meet up with my Aunt Wendy and cousin Zac who came from Pucklechurch (2 hours away) to spend the day with us.

The day was busy. We first went to Tower of London and then it was on our for lunch. I am have been encouraging students to not eat food that you can get in the states in Europe and so far we have had only a couple of cheaters (Subway eaters), but not too bad. But on a good note I did find a diet coke (yes!!!)

The Tower of London was gorgeous and full of great history, we didn't go in, but still wonderful. After that we made our way to Shakespeare's Globe theater. I died a little from pure enjoyment. I can't believe I got to see the Globe, we again not knowing our time constraints exactly, were unable to go inside but we made the most of it.

From there everyone went to the Tate Modern museum. This houses an enormous collection of modern art (which it turns out I don't really like, but I was able to see some original Dali's and Picaso which was amazing, as well as a very detailed ceramic sunflower seed interactive art exhibit.

We left Tate modern and headed to Trafalgar square and Picadilly Circus. Everyone then split into free time and were able to spend a couple hours shopping and exploring the city. Aunt Wendy, Zac,Brian and I went to a pub (no I didn't have a pint, but wish I had), bought some souvenir and walked around a bit.

After that it was dinner at Planet Hollywood. I know this breaks the “ don't eat food that you can get in the states rule” but I really had no say in the whole thing.

Then it was finally time to head back to the hotel then off to bed.

We made it through Day One and Two, but who knows about Day Three