My family arrived in London early this morning.

For background, before I turned nine my family took our first trip to Europe. It was such a resounding success that we spent 2-3 weeks in Europe every year for the next 5 years, and six in total. So, for me to be in Europe the past 3 months without them has seemed strange. Sightseeing doesn’t quite seem to count without their presence and commentary. It was very refreshing to have their enthusiasm here again.

I met them at their hotel near Gloucester Road, which is in Kensington, a very posh area of London. I gave them the presents I had picked up for them in Denmark and Dublin, and then we headed out to a patisserie for lunch. Next we took the tube over to Leicester Square and walked down through Trafalgar Square, and down around Parliament and Westminster Abbey. On the way back we hit up two different pubs, one for a drink, and the next for dinner.

The conversation as always leaned towards the artistic, and whenever my Dad and I could sneak a moment, the White Sox. A wholly satisfying evening, and we have two and a half more days in London before we fly out to Rome. Very exciting.