Arrive London, Monty Python and Le Tour on very sleep!!!!! YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU GET HOME!!!!

Arrive London lots to do little sleep.

After a few delays in Houston, weather etc etc etc we took off. Had a rather uneventful flight. Good seats in Economy Plus. 

While I know airline food is usually lacking, the pot roast was not to bad. Sadly it was barely warm and the veg and potatoes were rather cold. Oh well. I slept well. Gathered our bags and headed to the Underground. Picadilly Line to District Line to Aldgate East.

Underground station is nice and close to our hotel - the Ibis London City. 

As our room was not ready we strolled the area and found a pub across the way called The Culpepper’s. They offer a nice continental breakfast or a bacon sandwich for 5 pounds. I love the bacon here in the UK.

We spent this time planning our various journeys for the next couple of days.  Upon returning to our hotel we found our room was ready. The Ibis Hotels are nice hotels with simple rooms and perfect for us. All we really need is a room to sleep in and a location from which to base. This location is excellent as the underground station is about 25 meters or less away. 

As we are somewhat located on the fringes of the Whitechapple area, the Ten Bells Pub is only about 100 meters down Commercial Street, so will need to visit there, sometime during our stay. 

After unpacking and organizing our paperwork for the next couple of days, we decided we would head out a bit early to get our rail tickets for Sunday. This will save some time on Sunday morn as we travel to meet friends and visit the Brooklands Museum. 

Tonight we will be attending the Monty Python Live (mostly) performance at the 02. 

Monty Python Live (mostly) was brilliant. Simply Amazing beyond words. Brought back many enjoyable moments. At times I was simply in tears of laughter. Classics such as SPAM, Lumber Jack, and a Dead Parrot. Probably the most enjoyable to me “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. They were funny as they at times would go off script and crack each other up. All was good and most memorable. We did attend a meet and greet with The Pythons afterwards. Basically a Q&A.  

It made for a late evening and we were back at our hotel by 1200 and had a 0500 wake up, another very short night. 

We were up early and we were out the door to catch a 0530 Underground line to Kings Cross. A bacon sandwich was in order. Yes with brown sauce. 

This was not our Platform.

A 2.5 hour train journey placed us in Leeds. Here we met Cruise friends, Neil and  Liz, some of you may know them. Great people we have known since 2005. We hustled from the train station and navigated our way to the race route. Being a bit late to the party we did not get next to the route. But the excitement was wonderful all the same. After the start and the Peloton passed we were able to get next to the barrier to see many of the team vehicles pass. 

We made our way to a pub for lunch and further watch Le Tour on the television. After lunch, we wandered the street and found

a local Yorkshire Tour Merchandise Shop. Thus far I have bought more shirts on this trip than I have in the past two or more years.

Soon it was time for us to leave and we made our way back to London by rail. 

It has been a rather busy couple of days with little sleep. I know I am being somewhat short on detail, but we have been running these last 48 hours on about 6 hours sleep. I know “YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU ARE HOME.” 

Tomorrow we are off to Brooklands Museum  for some aviation and motorbike action. Meeting Albert and Anne. Will be great to see them. 

Time for some sleep. It has all been a great trip thus far and much more to come.