First Stop: London

We landed safely at Heathrow Airport after a long flight "red eye" flight. We took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station which was also the location of our hotel, the Hilton Paddington London. We only had an hour to get washed up and ready for dinner and theater.

Our intention was to walk to the restaurant but opted for a taxi. This turned out to be a good call because the restaurant was a lot further than walking distance! The driver took us through the West End which was filled with high end, designer stores. It was unfortunate that we were on such a tight time table that we did not have time to shop or tour the major sights of London.

We had reservations for "pre-theater" dinner at the Criterion Restaurant near the Theater District. The restaurant was gorgeous, the food delicious and the service impeccable.

As we walked out of the the restaurant, we noticed a throng of people on the street in Leicester Square. There was an electricity in the air from all of the people. The people watching was fascinating.

We headed towards the Queen's Theater where we had tickets for Les Miserables. We had terrific seats, however, London was experiencing unusually warm weather for Fall and the theater was extremely hot and stuffy! We were wilting like flowers by the end of the first act! At the intermission, we stood near the closest air conditioner and revived ourselves for the second act. Les Miserables is celebrating its 25th year in the West End, London. This theatrical production is still profound and moving. The visuals from the unique staging will remain theater memories for a long time.

We decided to take the "Tube" back to the hotel and that was a unique experience. Bucket list: Checked.

After a long day of travel, dinner and theater, we were both ready for a good night's sleep.

Four years ago, Cynthia hosted several students from the University of Edinburgh. These same students hosted us for breakfast on Saturday morning at the Patisserie Valerie. Harriet Greene, Katherine Pentecost, Urv Urmani and her fiance, Billy Scanlon (who skipped watching the rugby game to join us) enjoyed a lovely, British breakfast before heading back to the airport for a flight to Madrid. The girls were university students who sold books in Chula Vista for summer employment. They are now young women who are getting married and starting their careers. It was a joyful reunion and seemed like yesterday that these young folk were in our midst. Did we mention that the cafe had the largest Chocolate Croissant and Pan au Chocolate we have ever seen?

After we checked out of the hotel, we jumped back on the Heathrow Express for our next flight.

Next stop: Madrid!