[NOTE: Photographs will be added as soon as I have time to optimize them for the web.]
Saturday, July 23, 2005
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This is the day. It's 7:30 AM, and I'm waiting for my ride to the parking lot where we'll board the motor coaches for the first leg of the trip. Suitcase is packed, backpack is loaded with everything I'll need on the bus to Toronto and the plane to London. Cat and plant care is arranged, and I've done a final walk-through of the house to make sure nothing is left running that could burn the house down before Andy gets back from his teachers' conference in Seattle.
I'm finally beginning to believe the trip is real.
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Saturday, July 23, 2005, 8:45 AM
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Loaded my suitcase on the "green bus". Suitcase with the appropriate color luggage tag is loaded, and my name has been checked off the list. Our bus driver is both competent and friendly, and the rest of the crowd is slowly settling into their seats.
I've take a few photographs of the group as we prepare for the journey.
o Tour members and luggage filled the Third Church parking lot.
[photo:people in parking lot]
o We were given individual bus assignments. Half of the group will travel on a bus labelled 'Red'. I was assigned to the bus labelled 'Green'. We will use the same groupings each time we travel on a motor coach. Each bus has a Luggage Captain and a Bus captain who check off suitcases and people as they come aboard, to make sure nobody and nothing is left behind.
[photo:bus captains]
o Lila Ford, a Third Church congregation member and an experienced travel agent, has prepared us well for the trip. She guided us through all the requirements for international travel, nagged us to meet deadlines for reservations and passports, and helped many of us arrange for day trips and event tickets for things we especially wanted to see.
[photo:Lila Ford]
Don't want to run down the battery, so I'll sign off now.
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Saturday, July 23, 2005, 1:30 PM
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We pulled out of the Third Church parking lot at 9:16, just a few minutes behind schedule. Not bad, considering the size of the group. Except for a brief input/output stop just across the Canadian border, the bus trip to Toronto was uneventful.
We hung out on the buses while our tour coordinators tried to convince the Air Canada staff to check us in as a group right away. The need to keep track of 80 people milling around for separate check-in and security inspections amid thousands of others added a hint of desperation to their efforts, which resulted in partial success: we could check in as a group, but not right away. We had to wait until half an hour before the normal check-in --- a rather generous offer from them, since they ordinarily wouldn't have check-in staff available for our flight until 3:00. We spent the time browsing in the airport shops, talking about our plans for London, and consuming delicious fruit smoothies -- very refreshing.
Check-in and security inspections were civilized and painless, almost pleasant by comparison with recent experiences in US airports. We then took a shuttle bus to our terminal and found a restaurant for a decent lunch. Again, a pleasant change from my normal experiences of airport food. The salads and sandwiches were fresh, tasty, and reasonably priced.
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Saturday, July 23, 2005, a little before 7 PM (still Rochester time)
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We boarded our plane, an Airbus 330 with slightly wider seats than we had for our 2001 choir tour. As a result, the long flight was a bit more comfortable for us, although not quite comfortable enough for most of us to get a good night's sleep.
A few highlights of the flight:
o Some of us spent our waiting time reading and chatting.
[photo:waiting room]
o Others toasted the beginning of the trip.
[photo:ladies in the airport restaurant]
o Boarding the plane: Is this my seat?
[photo:boarding the plane]
o Cognitive dissonance: watching the images of a rock video on the movie screen while a piano concerto sounded through the earphones.
[photo:Switch video]
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Sunday, July 24, 2005, 7:30 AM London time
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We arrived in London, collected our luggage, and were met by two guides who gave us directions to the restrooms and then escorted us to exchange our London transit vouchers for the 7-day travel cards we will use for sightseeing this week.
o Arrival in London. Most of us haven't gotten any sleep since yesterday morning.
[photo:sitting on suitcases]
Because check-in time for our London hotel wasn't until 2:00 PM, we spent the morning in Windsor, touring the castle, exploring the town, and lunching at one or another of the shops in Windsor Royal Station before boarding the coaches again for the ride into London.
o Windsor Castle
[photo:Windsor in the rain]
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Sunday evening
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Our London hotel, the Crowne Plaza - City Centre, is wonderful. The rooms are pleasant, the beds comfortable, the staff is courteous and extremely helpful, and the breakfast buffet is available from 6:30 until 10:30 AM. Bliss!
After unpacking our suitcases and resting for a little while, the singers piled back onto the coach with our arms loaded with choir robes and music for the short trip to St. Paul's. We rehearsed for a bit more than an hour, and then were on our own for dinner and evening activities. Some people walked around the neighborhood or travelled by bus or tube to find restaurants that were open on a Sunday night. Others of us picked up sandwiches, salads and cheese at Marks & Spencer and ate quick meals in our rooms before surrendering to exhaustion. Almost everyone made it an early night, to prepare for singing our first St. Paul's Evensong tomorrow.
Night, all!
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