Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Travel Day, London to Los Angeles


Monday, November 27, 2019

I had some good news to greet me in the morning, IT'S OFFICIAL . . .

YOUR Varese Skorpions have officially
committed to be in Italy's DII again
this coming season

With our declaration, we now have 14 teams planning on playing in DII in 2020. In 2019 we had 19 teams in DII and there is still plenty of time to make your team's intentions known for the fast approaching campaign.

After the game in Vienna yesterday, I boarded a late flight to London in anticipation of my flight home to California from the UK's capital city this afternoon.

I opted to get up early to take a walking tour of the Kensington Gardens area of the city. To do this, I first wanted to enter the Tube for the underground ride on the Red Line to Noting Hill Gate Station and then transfer to the Green Line bound for the High Street Kensington stop.

Notting Hill Gate station

Exiting the High Street Kensington
Station it was Christmas time

 A nice flower stand on an
overcast day

Remembering . . .

 A random church behind the
flower wreaths

 I liked the look of
that brick building . . .

. . . and this one, too

Bricks everywhere

Our son Mike loves goats

Entering Kensington Gardens

Kensington Palace
the Birthplace of Queen Victoria

The Round Pond

In front of Kensington Palace's
Queen Victoria statue

 Love the leaves changing colors

 Leaves, no leaves

 Another London memorial

A gold cross and a spire

Colorful plants in one of
London's upscale neighborhoods

 Just around the corner
from my hotel

Pub signs in London are
always of interest to me 

After checking out of my hotel, I started the ten minute walk to Paddington Station to catch the Heathrow Express back to the Heathrow Airport but first . . .

. . . I stopped at this pub for
some last minute sustenance

It looked pub-ish to me

A pint of Beavertown Neck Oil IPA
and . . .

. . . an order of Fish and Chips
was the perfect way to end this
visit to London don't you agree?

 Fully sated, it was on to the airport

Christmas at Heathrow Airport
was in full swing

Why is he at Heathrow?

My plane home had Laurie's maiden
name initials above the pilot's windshields

A good omen if you ask me.

The ten hour and 2o minute flight to Los Angeles was relatively painless as I again had my preferred aisle seat and had no one sitting next to me.

Laurie met me at LAX and we were off to the traditional dinner at . . .

. . . Cronies Sports Grille in Camarillo upon returning from a trip to the Continent

While I was flying and Laurie and I were driving, our son Mike and grandson Jacob were at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to watch the Rams take on the Baltimore Ravens in a Monday Night Football game that the Ravens won easily 45-6.

But for Jacob and Mike, that was definitely not the storyline of their evening.

They arrived to the game early
enough to enjoy theRams' Fun Zone

Because Mike drives a Honda and because Jacob charmed the Honda people at the Fun Zone, they were chosen to come on the field before the game. Jacob would get the opportunity to run onto the field when the opening kickoff was over and retrieve the kickoff tee for the Rams . . . AWESOME!

Jacob with Rampage
the Rams mascot

With Hall of Fame RB
Eric Dickerson

He was Mike's favorite Ram as a child.

With actor Danny Trejo

 Getting his final instructions
from the Ref

Bringing home the
kickoff tee

He had an incredible time from what I could tell.

It's good to be home.

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