We arrived at Gatwick this morning, right on time. It was a pleasant flight with lots of kids, but they behaved. So did the adults. Eight hours is a long time, but with a movie and some sleeping, it was ok.

We took the Gatwick Express train into London's Victoria Station. It was a bit expensive but 30 mins and clean. We had to queue up for a taxi. Our taxi driver has a son who has trained at IMG Academies in Bradenton for golf - go figure. We continue to marvel what a small world we live in.

Our apartment is perfect - small but centrally located. Three minute walk to the Thames River and cafes. The walk along the river is called the Queen's Walk. We are in Southwark, south of the river. It used to be the bad part of town, meaning brothels and other things, but today is trendy, young, and hip. I'm not sure we fit in.

We stopped by the apartment and dropped our bags and went exploring. An hour or so later we met Frank and Lynda Adamson who we are sharing the apartment and ate lunch at the riverside. The pizza cafe located at the riverside served excellent salads. Our waitress was from Croatia, but has lived in London for 20 years. She gave us a mini-history lesson on the region and shared how disgusted she was with the politics of it all. After a well-needed nap, we walked over to Nero's cafe for some wake-up juice - coffee and wandered around a little. Back to the garden at the apartment for a drink before dinner.

For dinner we walked down Blackfriar's Road to the Laughing Gravy restaurant. It was rustic but upscale. Frank and I wore jackets but didn't need to. We ate vension, lamb, and scallops. All of them were prepared expertly and tasted really good. Afterwards, we walked along the river and took pictures of a sand sculpture on the Thames "beach".