Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from the Jubilee Bridge
C.J. and I were pretty sure that we would not be able to do a big trip this year but when Bob Hannah called to tell us that airline fares were reasonable and the weather was warm and sunny in Israel, we decided to go for it. And we're glad we did because Israel was another place we would never have thought to visit on our own. With a small group (made even smaller by Mike Daniel's accident before we arrived) of folks who knew something about the country and the flying sites, we felt fairly comfortable about exploring some new experiences.
20 Mar, Sun - Unlike almost all of our trips to far distant destinations, this one started late in the
day as we drove to meet Bob for a 1630 departure from his house. What with one thing and another we didn't head off in Michael's van till much later, and then we still had to pick up Mark Heckler at his home in Issaquah. So we didn't reach SeaTac until after 1735 when the "bag drop" for British Airways was supposed to close. It was no problem and our bags were checked in with no additional charge for the third bag (even though Bob and Mark had to pay for their second checked bags online). The seats on the 747 were pretty cramped with not much knee room but we got a drink and a bottle of wine and a decent dinner of either lasagna or beef in gravy. C.J. and I attempted to sleep as much as possible.21 Mar, Mon - There were a couple of holes in the cloud cover as we came in over Scotland, and
then there were good views as we approached London. Our path took us over the Thames and we could see the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and the Mall before heading back W to Heathrow airport. Since we were going to leave the airport, we had to go through Passport Control, then we found the "left baggage" counter and paid 8.50 pounds for each bag. I had already used an ATM to get 40 pounds (about $68) from our USAA account and Bob and Heckler had changed US dollars when we arrived. After Bob arranged to meet Andy, the local who was buying Bob's old tandem wing and reserve, we got one-day travelcards for the London Underground from a ticket machine and took the Tube to Picadilly Circus, 
about a 45-50 min ride some of it above ground. Picadilly Circus (photo, left) reminded me of Times Square but the center of the "circus" was a column with a statue of Eros on the top. Andy led us away from Picadilly along Coventry, then along a pedestrian street lined with bookshops to St. Martins where we found a pub for a late lunch. We shared a pint of draft ale and had fish-and-chips with "mushy peas" for me and a lamb and mint pie for C.J. Later we walked down St. Martins (passing St. Martins in-the-Field church) to Trafalgar Square with its 
statues and Nelson's Column overlooked by the National Gallery. We passed through the Admiralty Arch and walked along the Mall leading to Buckingham Palace for a ways before turning into St. James Park and walking around the north end of the Duck Pond.We had good views of the
upper parts of the Whitehall government buildings and we headed that way walking between the buildings on King Charles Street (photo, left) to Whitehall/Parliament Street. From here we had a view of Westminster Abbey (photo, left, below) and as we came around the corner onto Bridge Street, we were right next to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. When we reached the middle of the Thames on Westminster Bridge, Andy had to leave us. Rather than going directly to the London Eye which Mark wanted to ride, 
we turned back to see if we could visit Westminster but it was after 1700 and closed (besides, a sign said something about an entry fee of 16 pounds). We all returned to Trafalgar Square passing the well-guarded entrance to 10 Downing Street and checked out the Horse Guards in their traditional uniforms on the way.
We got a photo of us up with one of the lions at the base of Nelson's Column thanks to Mark and Bob. C.J. and I spent about 45 min (open until 1800) in the National Gallery which has an incredible collection of famous paintings. From there we cut across and around and found the Jubilee pedestrian bridges across the Thames. Mark and Bob paid the 15-18 pound fee for a ride on the Eye while C.J. and I returned to St. James Park, walked along the water and across a bridge. We went up Marlborough, past St. James Square and Palace a little uncertainly since I had dropped the copy of the city map we had brought. But, we finally came 
out on Picadilly Street, turned left past the Ritz Hotel and found the Green Point Tube station which brought us back to Heathrow in plenty of time to get our bags back and get to the Terminal B gate for our 2235 flight. C.J. had her bag searched at Security because she had taken the unopened wine from lunch with her and had forgotten all about it. The Boeing 767-400 had more legroom than the 747, and 2-3-2 seating. We got a hot dinner shortly after takeoff and then tried to get some sleep on the 4 1/2 hour flight to Tel Aviv.
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