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October 27, 2009- Richmond, England- Home of David Snelling
And so it begins!We landed on time at Heathrow today around 7am.As usual I only got sporadic sleep- too distracted by the lure of movie watching and the excitement of landing in Europe!Passport check in took nearly an hour and a half due to the flight from Mumbai coming in before us, with what are thought to be slightly suspicious persons on board (those looking to become squatters in the UK).
How lucky was I that dear David Snelling waited for me in the arrival gate, despite the delay, welcoming me with open arms and an ever chipper personality.I introduced myself to David through the Pueblo Ingles volunteer program that I will going to Madrid to partipicate in just a few weeks.I emailed him to ask for London tips when I saw on his profile that he was from the UK, he kindly responded by offering to pick me up and house me for the first night or so!After dumpingoff my stuff and grabbing a quick shower we explored lovely Richmond, a suburb of London that is just lovely!He took me for a bit of a driving tour before taking us to Richmond Park- the largest park in London.There we saw herds of deer and walked along two beautiful lakes, admiring the bright sunshine, turned leaves and tranquility of the moment.We then went to the 17th century home of Dutchess Elizabeth, amongst others, called Ham House.We toured the grounds and walked through the house which was quite impressive with all the wood detail and tapestries- scenes from "Sense and Sensibility" were filmed there!The day adventures were capped off by a nice walk along the river Thames with a striking veiw of Richmond in the background!It was a wonderful transitional day into such a quaint, ideal part of London!
For dinner we met up with one of my worlds favorite people my Irish Pete- whom I studied with in australia while abroad in college!He now lives perfectly in Richmond and we chatted over wine and tapas with David at Don Fernandos, enjoying every minute of company and planning out the rest of the week!
I am so excited for the remainder of my London visit and beyond- it will only get better from here!
Cheers,
Emily
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