Passing time in London

I arrived in London...Finally. After a long 10 hour flight I got off the plane to an overcast, cool London day. To much surprise, I made it around Heathrow airport smoothly, finding a place to store my carry on luggage, finding the train and figuring out what line would take me into the city. After taking the express train to the Peddington station, I switched to the underground line and got off at Piccadilly circus. I walked around through the cobblestone streets and remembered how much I love Europe! As I was waiting for my friend Chef, who Whit, Barb and I met last summer In Prauge, I sat on a park bench in a square and read my book. Nervous that I wouldn't recognize him, I looked up and he was suddenly there all dressed up straight from teaching. We grabbed a beer at a local pub, and as much as he wanted me to get a Guiness since I was in London, I refused! Then we walked around and grabbed a bite to each at a little Italian restaurant and had a good bottle of wine, caught up on life and realized how much fun it is too meet people during traveling. He is planning on getting married sometime soon and all three of us from last summer already have the invite!

More later, have to get on my flight to Athens!!

a little background info

For those who do not know, Thessaloniki is on the north east coast of Greece. It is a city of 1 million people but is still described as having a small town feel. All I know coming into this experience is:

-I leave from SFO on Sep 3, 2009 and my return ticket is May 31, 2010 (who knows if my team will last that long as the last month or so is playoffs..hopefully we do!)

-I have an 8 hour lay over in London (of course the cheapest flight and most inconvenient flight was booked by my agent, but am still very happy it was paid for!)

-I then land in Athens and hopefully I will be able to recognize my Greek agent, Yiannis. The plan is so stay with him and his wife for a night and fly the next day to Thessaloniki with him.

-I have been told I have a spacious and very nice apartment in the center of the city and 300 meters away from one of the pools we practice in.

-Our first tournament is October 8th-11th which my team is hosting.

-At some point we will travel as a team to Belgrade, Serbia to train with their national team.

These are all the details I have received so far! Let the journey begin!!!