(Susi) When we arrived in Gatwick it was close to 8:00 am (midnight BC) and we were travel weary from the long journey, as well as stiff and cramped, but not nearly ready to sleep. Oh, and did I mention very very excited? :-)

The plan was to see a fair bit the first day already - all the advice we had been given was "better to stay awake as long as possible to beat the jet lag." Ok, we thought. Let's visit things near the hotel, have lunch, etc. and aim to crash & sleep around 6pm. Although our rooms wouldn't be ready until 2pm we were able to drop our luggage off at 10am when got into London (King's Cross/Bloomsbury for those who have been here)

Lori had worked out an ambitious plan for the first day: Start with a trip to the British Library 3 blocks away, which was totally awesome by the way.] My most memorable exhibits: original music scores by Handel, Mozart, Ravel & Beethoven. Drawings & writing by Leonardo da Vinci. Handcopied Bibles, beautifully illustrated by Monks, from around 1100AD, the Codex (!), bits of parchment from the 3rd century, and the Magna Charta (!!) Wow.

By now it was 1pm, and a lot to do still on Lori's plan:

1. Lunch.....
2. Trip to the hotel to change/freshen up
3. Dickens' House
4. Sir Johnn Soane's house (architect who designed #10 Downing & many other famous Brit landmarks)
5. "quick" zip to Trafalgar Square for tea & people watching. Also visit the tourist info for guides & transit info
6. skip dinner
7. back at hotel by 6pm to fall exhausted into our beds..... at least that was the plan....

Lori will describe things we did accomplish, but I will pick it up at #6... by around 4pm we were so tired we didn't care what we saw anymore and just wanted to get to the hotel. We had been trying to find an internet cafe so we could send off a few "we arrived" emails so stopped at a Starbucks. Couldn't use the wifi, and Lori was falling asleep at the table, so we scooted back to the hotel so she could get to bed. I tend to need less sleep, so the plan was that I would go to bed an hour or two after her and we could both wake up around the same time....

Discovered we did have wifi at the hotel, once they gave us the code. Lori started to perk up.

"Mmmm... " she said, "I will just write one or two quick emails, and then sleep."

I decided to read a bit while waiting for my turn on the internet.

"Mmmm..." she said, "I should post something on our blog, so everyone will know what we are up to. I'll just do a short entry."

Sure, I thought, sounds like a good idea. I can wait a bit longer.

"Mmmm...." she said, "This is so exciting - and there is so much to tell. Now how do I get the map feature to work?"

"Mmmm....." she said, "This turned out longer than I thought, but there are some really funny bits. I just need to figure out how to load up a picture so I can post it."

[that is when we realized that the computer battery was almost dead - I had the power cord along, and an adapter, but it wasn't the right one for the 3 prong cord. Neither was Lori's adapter. ]

"Mmmm...." she said, "I'll just quickly finish this bit and then stop and sleep...."

[Oh oh. Too late. Computer powered down].

"Mmmm...." she said, "I think I will just quickly pop out to the store on the corner and get the right plug so I don't lose all the work I've done."

[Ok, I thought that was a good idea. But by now it was about 5:30 and I was too tired to go with her, but intent on her purpose to fulfill her creative mission she pressed on alone. Returning 15 min later with the correct plug she was relieved to see she hadn't lost all her work, except a large chunk with all the funny bits disappeared while she was loading up the photo. ]

"Mmmmm....." she said, " I just need to figure out the map function....then I will sleep."

[By now I was falling asleep. Got ready for bed and turned off the light at around 7pm... with Lori still working on the blog. Couldn't sleep because of all the typing and exasperated sighs and groans... ]

Finally she gave up and got ready for bed as well, creating a symphony of sounds in the process. Shake & rattle some pills. Trip over the suitcase (it's a very small room!) Crinkle some papers. Bump some other things. Ping, bang, bong..... in a steady but ecclectic rhythmn. Sadly, I didn't appreciate the performance enough to ask for an encore... Finally it was quiet, and we both slept.

[Oh, and I got revenge this morning when I woke up first, and although I tried to be very quiet it seems I gave the same melodic early morning performance: Shake & rattle looking for something to eat. Crinkle some papers. Bump into a wall. Ping, bang, bong..... ]

Strange! She didn't request an encore either!!

Picture is a funny sign I saw outside the British Library. I would like a bell like that some days!