Reunited with Holly in London...

On April 29, Holly and Drake arrived from Sacramento to spend three nights with us, before continuing onto Wales and Scotland. I had last seen them 13 months earlier when we spent a day together exploring Amsterdam after they’d finished a cruise. Holly and I had last met up in London in 2010 during her first visit to Europe. 

After they took their mandated nap (I am a stickler that all visitors from the US must take a nap when they arrive after their overnight flight), we took a walk to Canary Wharf, which appears here like it’s across the river but actually isn’t. 

Along the way we stopped for a drink at The Grapes, a pub co-owned by Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf from Lord of the Rings), where we spotted a sculpture of a man in the river called Another Time by Antony Gormley.

Rather than walking around Canary Wharf, we jumped on the ferry that crosses the river...

…which offered a great view of Canary Wharf.

Once on the other side, we headed to The Mayflower, where we posed with this sign outside...

…and enjoyed beers and lunch on the terrace.