Another thing we noticed in all the towns were the florist shops. Every town had one, even tiny Honningsvaag, and they were gorgeous. And there were flowers and plants for sale everywhere, even outside where it seemed too cold. guess they need flowers since their world is so dark. Here are some pics.
When we got back on the ship, it was time to pack and enjoy our last dinner onboard, which was a seafood buffet. It was hard to believe the cruise was over. We got up Tuesday, ate breakfast and boarded a bus for the airport. The airport was tiny and appeared to be snow covered but it was full of people. We had a 2 hour flight to Oslo and then more than 2 hours to get to London. I had thought it was closer but Norway is much further north than I had envisioned. We all sat together on the plane and said our goodbyes in the terminal. Most people were leaving from there but Anne and I were staying in London for a couple of days so took the Gatwick Express to London and a taxi to the hotel. It had been a long day to end a wonderful tour.
Anne didn't have an agenda for London so we did my favorite London day and walked more than 25,000 steps. We started walking through Kensington Garden and then into Hyde Park, leaving near the Albert Memorial on the way to the V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum), which I'd never been to. After strolling through the exhibits all morning, we headed towards Harrod's (Anne's only must do) and bought a couple of pastries. We went back into Hyde Park and ate then on a bench before heading towards Buckingham Palace via Green Park. By the time we hit St. James Park, we were exhausted. Unfortunately it wasn't warm enough to sit on a bench (we tried) but a man gave us some "monkey nuts" (peanuts) to feed the squirrels. One climbed right up my leg while I was sitting down, which freaked me out but then I decided to let one climb my leg and two did. Here's a pic of one taking the nut out of my hand. Cool!
We were tired and cold with sore feet at this point and still had a couple of hours to kill before we were meeting our friend Chris from the Shetland trip. We found a wonderful cafe in St. James Park so ordered tea and a pastry and waited there happily until it was time to head towards Liberty, where we were meeting Chris. We had some time to shop but Liberty wouldn't let us use our credit cards because we didn't have our passports so we had to limit ourselves to the cash we had, which wasn't much. Then they taped our bags shut, like they were worried about shoplifting. It didn't leave us feeling warm and fuzzy about Liberty. There was a Wagamama nearby so we went there for noodles and a long catch up with Chris, which was lovely. It was raining when we left so Anne and I grabbed a taxi and headed back to the hotel. It had been a fun day and we were ready to sit.
Unfortunately we turned on the TV to see that Gatwick was closed due to drone activity. I didn't worry about it much until we woke up the next morning and saw that flights were cancelled and they said there was no clue when it would open. Now Anne and I were both scheduled to fly out on Friday so the worry began. We didn't really have a plan for the day beyond hitting Loop, the must do yarn shop in London. We took the tube there and had fun buying yarn. Had I known how low the pound was, I might have bought more but then my luggage was already darn near full so maybe it was a good thing I didn't know. Anyway, from there we took a taxi to the British Museum but not even mummies could improve my mood. We had fish and chips for a late lunch and then just headed back to the hotel. I was in an absolute funk worrying about getting out of town and Anne was a trooper putting up with my mood.
I was meeting my friend Maria and her husband for dinner. I had met Maria in France when we were both doing our junior year abroad and I'd visited her many times in London until I moved to Nebraska and we lost touch for a few years before finding each other via LinkedIn and Facebook a couple of years ago. Anne decided not to join us (she probably needed a break from my cranky ass) and so I had a lovely dinner and several drinks, which I needed desperately, with Maria checking the news on Gatwick all night. When we were in the 2nd pub of the night, she saw that Anne's flight was cancelled so I said goodbye and went back to the hotel. Anne had already rebooked for Sunday (Norwegian only flies every other day) but my flight, which was 4 hours later, hadn't been cancelled when we went to bed.
We woke up Friday to news that Gatwick was open again and my flight was on time. There was no thought that I wouldn't go so I packed and got a taxi to Victoria Station. The taxi dropped me right at the door for the Gatwick Express and when I walked in the door, a door opened in front of me and in I walked. Well, I found myself in an abandoned section of the station and the door had shut behind me and wouldn't open. I stood there banging on the door and yelling to get out. Someone said they'd be back but after waiting a few minutes, I tried the emergency button again, breaking it in the process but the door opened. Talk about stressed! But I was on my way.
Gatwick was full of people and I got there so early that I had to wait to check in. So I sat and knitted, of course, casting on a new pair of simple socks for the ride home. We boarded on time and pulled away from the gate only to sit there. After almost an hour, the captain came on to say they'd closed the runway again. OMG! Knitting kept me sane and after 1.5 hours of sitting, he announced we were going to be able to take off. Cheers rang out and again a few minutes later when we were wheels up. Home was calling.
I was flying into Boston and Deanne was picking me up. We arrived late and then there were only 3 windows open at Customs so I was 1.5 hours in that line (I didn't know about the shutdown at that point) so I was super relieved when I made it to the curb. We got to Dee's at midnight, which was 5 a.m. London time. I took a shower and went to bed.
I was wide awake at 5:00 and since Dee had said she wanted to sleep in, I got busy streaming and knitting. I did stumble to the kitchen to find some yogurt but has some quality alone time before I woke Dee at 9:00. We ate breakfast and chatted until Cornelia picked me up at 11:00. We went to downtown Providence and shopped a bit while catching up. She dropped me at Carolyn's mid-afternoon and Christmas was full on.
Our open house was Sunday night and I'd consulted with Carolyn from my trip on our menu. We were doing it later so were doing a meal instead of just appetizers so Carolyn had already made the chicken marsala but had more shopping and cooking to do. Sunday was an absolute blur of getting ready for our guests. As usual, it was a fun time. We had ~15 people and there was animated conversation and laughter over the delicious food. Lucia came, which was a lot of fun too. We cleaned up that night so we could start with a clean slate the next day, which was Christmas Eve.
What a week! 3 countries, airport drama and jet lag but it ended with me surrounded by loved ones and in my happy place - Carolyn's kitchen. With Christmas festivities to look forward to and finally being home, I was looking forward to the next week.
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