Week in London
My time in London began with the luggage carousel grinding to a halt...without my bag coming out. It's such a sinking feeling, standing there without your bag. Almost alone in a wide hall, tired with your brain not quite fully functioning, trying to decide what your next step should be. My mind flashed to several conversations I had had a week earlier when I mentioned that in all my travels I had never lost my bag. Well, I guess that record had changed.
I walked around the conveyor belt one more time just to check, the one remaining purple bag on the belt glaring at me - it was similar to mine but not exactly. Maybe someone had grabbed mine accidentally instead of theirs? I'm not sure if that is a worse or better scenario!
I finally decided it was not there and headed over to the lost baggage area. There was already a queue there - several people from my flight had also been left without bags and had beaten me to the desk. As I waited in line to be seen, my eyes wandered around the vast luggage hall...and stopped on a pile of luggage three carousels away from my flight's carousel. Maybe, just maybe? I had nothing to lose, so I headed over. My bag was sitting there, in the middle of the floor, just waiting for me! Praise God!
With my record for not losing baggage still intact, I headed through customs and into the airport. I was back!
I was met at the airport by a friend and she took me back to her place where I would be staying for the rest of the week. I was so tired, but I tried to avoid sleeping hoping that would help my body adjust quickly. Hahaha. It didn't work. I had two one-hour naps which got me trhough until the night when I joined my friend for her Bible study meeting. I got to catch up with some other people I knew at this meeting which was great despite probably looking like I'd dragged myself around the world to get there...
The rest of the week was a mixture of catching up with people, going for long walks in the park, a bit of sightseeing and just generally relaxing. After a hectic past 4 months, it was so good to have no real schedule to follow and to just chill. Lots of chilling actually...London is cold this time of the year!
Sunday was really special as I went back to my old Church. It was fantastic seeing people again and hearing what had been happening there over the past two years. In one way, not a lot had changed, but in many ways, it was very different. The church was launching an evening service in their manin venue, so I joined them for that, enjoying the fellowship and service.
On my last day in London I decided to be a tourist. I traveled into London and first went to the Natural History Museum. I wanted to see the Wildlife Photography Exhibition. I had heard many good things about it, and I wasn't disappointed. The photography was amazing! It had also been recommended to try a cafe in Belegravia. I found the place in amongst rows and rows of rich three story houses and had an amazingly delicious apple, vanilla and maple cake. Mmmmm! Taste buds satisfied, I walked towards the Thames, visiting Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Big Ben still remains my favourite London icon.
The next day, early in the morning, I hopped on a bus and headed to the airport...the next stage of my adventure was about to begin!
