36 hours later...

...we're still in process of heading home...yes, volcanic ash DOES make a difference.  We had our shuttle scheduled to pick us up at 3:45am yesterday morning (Tuesday May 11) in Cambridge to come back home....all was well until midnight the night before, when they changed our flight FOR THE NEXT MORNING due to the ash.  That 's when the fun began.  Our flight had been cancelled and completely rerouted through a DIFFERENT airport in London, and for several hours later.  The shuttle service was closed by that time, and they were supposed to be at our doorstep within 4 hours.  To make an unbelievable saga bearable, let me just hit the highlights at this point:

1.  Six and 1/2 hour flight delay
2.  Two hours sitting on plane on tarmac before taking off
3. Two extra hours in flight.  Because of the volcanic ash, we had to fly over GREENLAND (!!) --an extra 1000 miles--over a safe zone...well, our plane and every other plane from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, etc. who wanted to head this way had to travel the same narrow "safe pass" (hence the two hour wait on the tarmac, waiting for our turn in line.)
4.  Three hours in the airport after landing because we were targeted as an "Agricultural Alert", and we thus were sent where they send the likes of live farm animals entering the country and contaminated soil samples.  Oh dear.
5.  Redirected (WITH OUR 23 PIECES OF LUGGAGE!!) incorrectly to the line of folks who wanted to keep their luggage with them overnight.  Tried to check it in and were told they were closed for the night (it was then close to midnight).
6.  4 hours sleeping at hotel.
7.  Item left inadvertantly on shuttle.  Di and boys on retrieval committee.  All Di's ID with Brad and Tori --(OOPS)....CHAOS ensues with plane leaving at 7:30am.  Now 7:12am.
8.  3 fervent prayers and buckets of swet later, Di and boys run like crazy people thru airport and jump onto plane as it is leaving the ground...
9.  Person to pick us up in Nashville cannot pick us up at new time.  Brad calling everyone we know--and some people we don't--to find lucky winner.
10.  Wait...I think Joey Jenkins may have just won...

We are now in Nashville (almost home!), and over 36 hours--and counting-- from when our journey home began...WHEW!! We should be home soon!

London Memories...

Daniel, quite the budding photographer, snagged this shot of Big Ben...

Here it is again with the Parliament Building to the right, along with two dashing young men...

The London Eye...takes just under an hour to go around one time.  Do you see the way the pods are perched on the OUTSIDE/TOP of the wheel?!?!?!  GUARANTEE only 4 Greens will be headin' up...

River Thames...

So, for the record, just how long ARE the buses over here?

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre...hard to tell, but it does have a thatched roof.  This one, still used today, is an exact replica and in the original location as the one in Shakespeare's day.  Cool.

This one gives a little better view of the stage.  There was a trap door both above and below the stage, which the kids found immensely intriguing, and then where the people are standing was actually (in Shakespeare's day) where hundreds of people would stand throughout the entire performance.  If the people didn't like the play or the performing of it, they would throw fish and rotten vegetables at the actors.  The one benefit the boys said for standing thruout an entire play would have been for better aim with the veggies!  :)

Mmmmmmmm....

So, we went to the Museum of Natural Sciences, where we had heard that they had the last remaining dodo (bird), in stuffed form, of course.  So, ladies and gentlemen, may Victoria present...the dodo!

Also in this museum is an extensive dinosaur museum (note tail over our heads).  Note of interest here.  We went to this museum on a school holiday (BIG mistake)...any guesses how many people had been thru that day?  500?  1000?  Are you ready?  We were told (by the lady up front with the people-counter) that by 1pm, more that 20,000 people had been thru, and we decided that they were ALL still in there when we were there! 

The kids loved this silhouette of Sherlock Holmes.  The mystery of this photo is getting it to face the right direction on the blog.  Oh dear. :)

This ranks as one of the best things of our ENTIRE trip...

Winston Churchill's wartime bunker underground.

Group hug before the Vintzels headed home...