Our long-awaited trip to Norway was almost derailed again due to Rebecca taking ill and having to undergo gallbladder removal. But thanks to Alex flying up to D.C. to spend time with his sister while she recovered, we were able to leave for London as planned. We took a Lyft to the airport and checked into Terminal C for the first time. We were able to get into the small generic club in the terminal and our flight took off on time. British Airways' Club World is much less comfortable than United, Delta or American's transatlantic product, in particular because you have to climb over a stranger's feet to go to the bathroom.

We arrived at Gatwick and after claiming our luggage, we met our driver outside Boots. He was not very personable and the ride from Gatwick to our hotel was harrowing as he took side streets instead of the motorway, nearly clipped a road works vehicle and cut several people off along the way. We were able to drop off our bags at the hotel after a short wait so we could get on with touring some new parts of London.

We walked to Waterloo station to take the Underground. There was a strike going on, which meant trains were delayed and more crowded than we expected but we still arrived at the Natural History Museum right as it was opening. The museum houses more than 80 million objects spanning 4.5 billion years. With its Victorian architecture and exhibition spaces, the Museum is one of the city's most famous landmarks and best places to visit. We had not purchased advanced tickets but we did not have to queue very long before being admitted. We started off in the Fossil Marine Reptiles area before heading over to the see the Dinosaurs and Mammals. Then we went upstairs to the Treasures area to see the gemstones.

After the Natural History Museum, we walked next door to the V&A South Kensington. The V&A is the world's museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design. The original site in South Kensington covers 12.5 acres. Janie mainly wanted to see the Cast Courts so we headed straight there to see the statues and the Medieval & Renaissance galleries.

We walked north to the Royal Albert Hall, erected for the advancement of the arts and sciences and works of industry. The hall is an ellipse with the great glass and wrought-iron dome roofing a 135 ft high hall. Around the outside of the building is a 800 foot long terracotta mosaic frieze, depicting "The Triumph of Arts and Sciences". Above the frieze is an inscription in terracotta letters that combine historical fact and Biblical quotations. There were no shows going on so we could not go inside.

Our next stop was Hyde Park where we stopped at the Albert Memorial. We had planned to walk through the park but the skies were darkening and rain started coming down as we pulled out our umbrellas, so we decided to head back to the Underground station. We took the Tube back to Waterloo. We were starting to get hungry and we saw Wellington's pub and hotel across the street so we stopped in for a couple of pints and some chicken goujons.

Our room was ready when we got back to the hotel so we picked up our bags and took them to the room. We were pretty tired so we took a short nap before heading back towards Waterloo to get some dinner. After wandering for a bit and checking out the Graffiti Tunnel to Waterloo Station, we settled on Sushi & Co., a small chain sushi place that had some unique rolls. After that, it was time to go back to the hotel and get some sleep because it had been a long day (or two).