Boa Tarde from Mozambique!

We're having such a good trip.  I'm keeping a journal, which may or may not be interesting to you, but I'll try to edit it as I go:

May 12 London Heathrow Airport

Yesterday we left Magnolia in torrential rain and drove to DFW, in torrential rain! I have a picture, but I may have to wait to download those. 

When we all met up at British Airways, the computers for that terminal all crashed.  So it took a while to get checked in.  But they finally got it fixed, and we all made it through security and to our gate.  Mike and I had great seats on every plane--bulkhead, with wide open space at our feet.  We got a kick out of our flight crew's British accents.  And Lauren, one of our students, who found herself speaking with one! :)  It was a 9 hour flight, and I tried to sleep, but didn't get much.  As we were approaching Heathrow I stood up and looked out the nearest tiny window and saw Ireland!  I was so excited.  

We left the airport to do a little sight-seeing, and as we were getting our passports checked I took a picture of a sign that said, "UK Border."  But you won't be seeing that one--it's against the law, I guess, 'cause I kinda got in trouble.  Thank goodness for digital cameras--all I had to do was delete it.  

So we got on the tube and went out into the city.  (I thought it was funny that there were no exit signs...they had "way out" signs instead!  And the automated voice said, "Mind the gap between the carriage and the platform" at every station.  Mind the gap!)  We got off at Picadilly Circus, which reminded me of a mini Times Square.  One of our students back at SAU has a cousin in London, Ezra, and he met us there and took us on a walking tour through Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace (outside, of course), Parliament, Big Ben, across the River Thames, down a ways, and back across to Leicester Square.  We saw the Palace Guards on parade and playing in a concert.  They played Star Wars--I found that odd.  We also saw pelicans, swans, ducks, and lots of pigeons.  Street performers, politicians, and panhandlers.  We ate lunch and then headed back to Heathrow.  That's when our poor guide got sick.  Literally.  Bless his heart.  I loved looking at the buildings--they were fascinating to me--I kept thinking of Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, The Little Princess, and the Thoene books.  I could hardly believe I was really in London.  

May 13 Johannesburg Tamba Airport

The flight from London to Jo'burg started out rough, but got better, and I actually slept!  We had supper and breakfast on the plane, and after breakfast we watched the sun rise over Johannesburg--it was huge and hot pink--beautiful.

To be continued....