We Have Arrived!

The adventure officially began yesterday noontime at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport when the gang gathered. Despite some misgivings about the reliability of air service, all went very well. The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam left on time, and arrived early thanks to a tail wind of over 100 mph at times. The short flight from Amsterdam to Newcastle was smooth and quick. The coach was waiting at the Newcastle airport, so we piled on our bodies and lots of luggage. Our coach driver was kind enough to drive us into Alnwick the "back way" so we could see our home for the next 2.5 weeks from the most scenic vantage point. After check in and key assignment, the most difficult task was keeping awake. Merton and I had suggested that 9:00 pm was the first time anyone should consider sleeping, but we suspect there may have been a wee bit of napping going on behind the scenes, despite out best efforts to keep everyone awake. After a photo walk and a short tour of town tonight, I think that it might be an early lights out for everyone!

One nice surprise today was that everyone got an international cell phone phone to use for the program. It should only cost around 8 pence (about 16 cents) to call friends and family in the US.

I've added some pictures that appear at the bottom of the blog--I'm too tired to try to figure out how to integrate them into the actual post. More tomorrow.