Day 1 ... highlights arrival & pick-pocket scam

... arrived in London, England at 07h05 and offered up we should adventurously embark upon public transit to get to our hotel. Initially, of course, on the GPS it appeared "not too far" but after travelling the night flight to London and attempting to wheel luggage through back alley-ways for 20 minutes [and not a lot of progress] realized it was a bit much ... so as we tromped out of an alley-way I spied a "black taxi" and flagged him down ... 5 British Pounds later we were at the front door of the Thistle Hyde Park Hotel (staying for 5 nights).

While awaiting our check-in time of 14h00 we decided to store our luggage, seek out food and then take a stroll through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. After an English breakfast (of sorts ... I had the vegetarian and Sabine had French toast ), we all set-out for our walk. It was so sweet - as we approached the 3 hour point and rounded the home stretch toward the hotel, Sabine was literally walking with her eyes closed ... completely exhausted .

A cat-nap being in high order we checked in and promptly laid down and slept for a couple of hours. Awakening refreshed, as much as you can be after travelling for 12 hours and being in a time zone 7 hours outside our norm, we embarked upon the attractions of Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye. Making our way via MetroLine to Westminster Bridge we were going to ride the London Eye by dusk.

This is where the story gets interesting ... in my naive way of talking to everyone and needing to be a part of everything I, and Sabine, became intrigued with a nut & shell game:

• ... both of us marvelling at how terrible the controller was and wondering how this fellow could be making $$$
• ... and this sucker of a young lady who was literally throwing down 10 and 20 British Pound notes and consistently being so obviously wrong
• ... suddenly a crew of people (including the Bulgarian operator) picked up the game and they all started running - looking behind them. Of course I, too, look behind me and see nothing ... and then it dawns on me ... oh crap
• ... I check my purse and iPhone gone ... after naively placing it in the outside flap pocket of my purse I check and tada!!! iPhone more than gone ... I quickly check my purse further and phew! wallet still in place and all other valuables in tact safely housed in the zippered compartments. Lesson learned ... the hard way! Even in my 4th decade I'm still learning ... the hard way
• ... although a tough lesson definitely a great story ... BUT for my readers wait until you hear my reaction when I encountered the Bulgarian scammers 90 minutes later ... ... ... those that know me well can only guess at my "pirate" reaction ...

Today's Photo: a quick pic taken from our table at breakfast and using the painting mode of my new camera this quickly has beccme one of my most coveted photos ... ever!

Cheerio - RGR