We have arrived!!!!
We got in at 12:45.  We got in the customs line.  It was about an hour and a half to get thru customs and to the train to get into london.  We got on the train.  Switched to the tube and gott off at our stop… St James Park.  We got out of the tube and started to walk to our place where we were staying.  We were all exhausted towing heavy luggage and the directions were sketchy.  After about a hour of wandering around … we finally got to the apartment .. what a relief … we have arrived.  We recovered from our travels and went out walking in the city. Our first night plan was to go to Sherlock Holmes pub. We walk by Westminster church and it happened to be tge time that they do their evening song. We went in and sat down. Rick steves recommending doing this because you get to see inside west minster abbey catedral and dont have to pay the 20 lbs per person. It was about an hour long and Scott and i alternated falling asleep. We got out and began the walk to da pub. It was about 7 pm and we walked by parliment and aling the thames. It was beautifil and lots of people. Walking along the thames reminds me alot of walking along the willamette in tom mcall park. I m thinking with all these people around we r probably not even going to get in SH pub. We finally found it and walked right in. Ee found 4 bars stools together and sat down. Time for refreshments. This was Scotts first time to ordet a beer .. legally .. drinking age is 18. So the bar keep asked him for his id. She noticed that his name was Sherlock and made a big deal about his name being Sherlock. She was a sweetie and we hit it off with her. Her name was Polona and we had a lot of fun with her. I got a puc of her and Scott but she asked us not to publish the photo on the web. We wound up getting a booth and having numerous beers and fish and chips. What else do u order in london. We waljed out with a t-shirt and a hat 90lbs later… Back to the flat for the evening.

Ali King gave us a ride to the airport.  Picked us up at 10 and were in plenty of time before our flight.  We went thru the electronic check in and then got in line for security check.  It was about a half hour and we were thru the line with no problems.  No strip search either .. darn it …
We had plenty of time so we had a coffee right by the srcurity check. 
We got to the gate and began the ‘waiting for our flight’ process. 
We boarded at 12:30 and the plane took off at12:45 right on time.  I sat next to a guy who was a lot bigger than me.  I know he was uncomfortable the whole flight and so was I.  We got into Minneapolis at 5:45 pm and the connecting flight was 9:45 pm.  So ben looked at the list of resturants we had to coose fr and picked Rock Bottom.  It worked out really well.  We got there and there was a short line.  But within 10 mins we had a nice booth.  A couple of refreshments and a good meal later and we were off to the gate for our 9 hour flight to london heathrow airport. 
We boarded the plane and took off right on time.  I had an aisle seat one row ahead of BBS. 
The plane ride started well …
everyone had a screen in front of
them which had various movies to choose fr and also games to play.  They served us dinner .. i had some kind of chicken and rice dish while watching MI Ghost Recon.  Then i played some hold em poker.  Then i tried to go to sleep and couldnt so i tried to watch another movie and the device froze and i couldnt watch anything or play anything.  I looked back and ben and scott had their heads on bunnys shoulders on each side ..  it was cute.  I spent the rest of the flight trying to get comfortable and couldnt.  It was miserable.  We finally got into London.  I was very hapoy to have that flight done with.