Shinkou

July 03, 2011
London,England

I woke up to a door slamming. As I opened my eyes, I realized the sun was pouring in on my face. If this was Kenya, it would be 8am. I looked at my phone and saw it was 5:45am. Well, now I am up. I packed up my stuff while Melissa slept. I went downstairs and spoke with the concierge about a tour. He said at 6:15 I could catch a 2 hour cab drive. I could not get out of the cab but I could be driven around London for $125. Deal - sold!

My driver was from India but recently moved to England from Germany. He wants to return to Germany after his three sons finished school in England. He drove me around some of the sites I had walked past a few hours earlier. The timing was great - it was Sunday and early so sometimes we were the only ones on the street. He was able to stop in front of sites and I could roll down the window and take photos. We went past Buckingham Palace, 10 Downey Street, Scotland Yard, Westminster Abbey to name a few sites. We even drove over the Tower Bridge. It was sad how quickly two hour past.

I arrived back at the Sheraton by 9:30 to meet John and Dave in the foyer. We were supposed to meet at 9:30-9:45 for breakfast as a team before departing for Heathrow at 11am. They were amazed that I was functional on 2 hours of sleep. Everyone just assumed I would be unconscious on the flight back home. What a magnificent 18 hours in London!!