four countries, one january

On the first day of January, we woke up and loaded in the car for a drive from the Netherlands through Belgium, to the ferry dock in Calais, France, where we took a ride across The Channel to Dover, England. I was hoping for a glimpse of the White Cliffs, but as you can see from the photo, we rode into some thick clouds and icy fog on the English side of the waterway.


The ultimate destination was London. The Andringas took me there for the weekend so I could see another city and travel to another few countries. Four nations on the first day of a new year is quite an achievement! I am thankful that they included me on this little trip!


We arrived in the afternoon, checked in to the hotel and I still had some time to head out and explore a bit of the town and watch the lights start bringing a different view to the buildings.


We just missed the New Years' Day parade, but many of the roads were still cordoned off which made it easy to roam around the sights.


I was really surprised at how much in London is easy to walk around. In a couple hours I walked by Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Big Ben and the Parliament buildings, and Westminster Abbey.


By the time I returned to the hotel, I was tired and cold. Carrie and I went down for happy hour and chatted by the fire for awhile before crashing into bed. I could not imagine a better start to 2010!