Breezing into London

My greatest fear about flying into London was averted today.

After all the reports of long lines (sometimes 3 hours long) at the passport desks at Heathrow airport, I was a bit nervous. I was preparing myself for a long wait.

Was it necessary?

No.

I got through the line in 5 minutes.

Heathrow looked like ghost town, which was kind of like the flight over here -- it was half full. There was hardly anyone there, but I guess that will change tomorrow.

I got to have a very lovely little chat with a nice passport officer who joked that the safest place in London to keep my Olympic tickets was in his pocket.

However, there is a downside to being able to breeze in to town that easily. My hotel room isn't ready yet, so I left my luggage in the hotel's luggage room, and walked a few blocks down to Hyde Park, which is where I am typing this post.

It's a nice, sunny 80 degree day here in London and a lot of people have come to the park to sunbathe and stroll across the greens. Pigeons are everywhere which is no surprise since there are so many people here. Mothers are playing with their children. Some kids are racing each other on scooters. There is a nice breeze blowing across the Serpentine so it doesn't feel like it's 80 degrees. I just got a single scoop mint chocolate ice cream cone and a cup of "farm fresh" apple juice ( which tasted like lemonade) at a refreshment stand in the park.
I imagine I'll probably relax in my hotel for a bit when I can today. I'm not exhausted, but I did get only 2.5 hours of sleep.
It's hard to sleep for a long time on a plane when the sun is coming up at what is normally 3am for you.
I couldn't get to sleep after that, so I watched War Horse on the personal entertainment center for my seat. It was an OK movie.
So for now, I'm going to keep enjoying the tranquility of Hyde Park.
Later!