day eighteen: london / home

Well, this was it. The end. Our flight out of Heathrow is at 1:30pm, so we didn't have to get up so dreadfully early as some of our other travel days.

• As planned, we hit the Zetter's restaurant for breakfast. Just like in Paris, we are the only ones there right after they open. Robin has been dying to try the featured ricotta pancakes since we arrived. They live up to expectations.
• Today is bank holiday in England, so the city is still very quiet. This also means that the Underground stations and trains are not crowded at all, which is great since we are lugging our bags around.
• The train ride to Heathrow is quiet and takes about 45 minutes.
• After checking in, we roam some airport shops and settle down for one more pre-packaged sandwich from a coffee shop. It is about this time that we start noticing small groups of young, obnoxiously loud, American girls milling about. It turns out that we will be sharing the flight with a bunch of the cheerleaders from one of the groups performing in yesterday's parade. I overhear one genius tell her giggling friends "GAWD, it is so AWESOME! They don't charge tax here. We are saving SO much money!" I just wish I was a fly on the wall when she (or her parents) see her credit card bill and she learns that a pound is not quite equal to a dollar.
• The flight is loooooong. No sleep for me. The only decent, working movie to watch is Just Like Heaven and Robin and I play "Guess the Ending" throughout. I think Robin peeked in on Pride and Prejudice a bit later as well.
  
• We eat twice on the place, including a really tasty spinach and tomato risotto with red wine. Sadly, no oreo cheesecake on this flight.
  
• Lys and Carl meet us after we get through customs and give us a ride home.
• Once in the house and the kitties have been given the appropriate amount of lovin', I head out to run some pre-Robin's-birthday errands, and pick up Q-Doba. We have been missing the queso dip somethin fierce.

We are now home safe and sound. Our own bed feels wonderful, especially with the added warmth of the two cats.