Apparently, only BA, as it's called here, is allowed to land directly over the city. Luckily for TB, he was seated by the window on the right side of the plane and so he got to see every major London landmark on descent into Heathrow. It was gorgeous.
Oh, and here's a question for you. On the flight from Paris to Warsaw last week, TB was supposed to be by the window on the small jet, which had two seats on each side of the aisle. When he arrived at his row, there was a boy about 12 by the window, with his mother and sister across the aisle. The mother asked TB if it would be okay if the boy took the window seat.
Now, TB had paid $20 to get his seat in advance. What would you have done? What do you think TB did? Of course he let the boy have the window, and he said nothing about the $20.
The flight into Heathrow had three seats on each side of the aisle, and TB shared a row with two teenage boys. As it turns out, their names are Tytus and Bartek. They're Polish best friends, Tytus age 16 and Bartek age 17.
The sportswriter in TigerBlog asked them a bunch of questions. and as such he learned all of the following: They were on their way to see Tytus' aunt, who lives in Southampton, for 12 days. They are finishing up high school next year. They both are apparently really good football players, the European variety, which is to say soccer.
Seeing as they were Polish, TB assumed their favorite player would be Robert Lewandowski, who plays for Barcelona, which he assumed would be their favorite team. Wrong on both counts. They liked Christian Eriksen, who plays for Denmark and Manchester United.
They have never seen the American version of football, which TB found hard to believe. They'd also never seen lacrosse, which was easier to believe. TB showed them a few clips of Princeton lacrosse on his computer, and they both immediately wanted to play.
They asked TB what he did, and so he explained what his job was. Whether they were serious or not, they said they'd like to read some of his stories, and they left him their email addresses. He'll be sending some along, then.
While the boys headed to the south of England, TigerBlog stayed in the London area, first to see "Wicked" on the West End Sunday (it was great, though it's not quite the same without Princeton's own Sam Gravitte as Fiyero).
Today and tomorrow? TB is off to the Henley Royal Regatta. Held on the River Thames, Henley is the oldest regatta in the world, having begun in 1839. For that matter, there can't be many sporting events, if any, that are older.
The format is a head-to-head, single-elimination one. Crews compete in a variety of events, but once you're lost, you're out. The draw for each event is done randomly, with names written on pieces of paper and pulled from the Grand Challenge Cup.
Princeton has a long history of competing at Henley, including four women's lightweight boats a week ago. The competition that starts today will include representatives from the men's lightweights and women's open, both of whom won national championships this spring, and the men's heavyweights, who finished third.
There are all kinds of different combinations of Tiger rowers and events. For a full list of who is competing, you can see THIS story.
TigerBlog is excited to see this event. Henley is a place of great tradition and traditions, and the atmosphere figures to be both energetic and also stuck in time a bit. That seems like a fun combination.
If that's how TB feels, imagine what it must be like to be a rower in this event. As he said, Princeton has a long history at Henley, and it has to be something really special for anyone who competes here. This isn't just rowing against other colleges, by the way. There are some colleges who will row, and there are many racing clubs.
Also, this is the Thames. It's the same river where Cambridge and Oxford have their annual race. It doesn't get any more special in racing than to be here.
TB will report in on his experience later this week. For tomorrow, there's another subject that requires everyone's attention.
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