You’ll Be Back, Time Will Tell. The London Invasion

September 5-September 8, 2019

Day 11 Thursday, September 5  Up up up again off to Gare du Nord in Paris to catch the train to London!  As we were looking for the Eurostar station, we ran in to a group from, of all places, Tuscaloosa!  A mother/son duo traveling back to London from Paris.  They were planning to attend a period dress-up event at Highclere Castle, where Down Abbey was filmed.  I enjoyed talking with them and getting tips.  We even knew a few of the same people.  It is a small world:)  Upon arrival in London, we took the tube (the subway in London is an underground walkway…the tube is the actual transportation) to our stop at Earl’s Court and walked the short walk to our apartment.  It was still being cleaned, so we dropped our bags and took off exploring.  We ended up at Holland Park…not a place on my radar, but it was nice and big and had several fields, a museum and a beautiful rose garden. We ended at a brand new amazing playground.  Honestly, it was the coolest one I’ve seen.  Kids wanted to play forever, and eventually my phone died!!!  Yikes!  Thankfully, I talked another mom into letting me look at her maps long enough to get my bearings back to our place. The one time I don’t bring my backup battery…. Anywho, we grab some groceries on the way home and settle in for a few days.

Day 12 Friday, September 6:  Who has time to keep up with blogging and who actually reads this stuff?!?  I digress and I will pair-down my words and details for you all here.  I LOVED London.  I have only been once, as a teen, and I remember Trafalgar Square and dying for hamburger and a coke.  So, with the kids in tow and only a few days, I knew must just hit the highlights (which for them were the M&M store and the world’s largest Lego store…go figure!).  Tower of London-loved it!  Loved the stories, the stoney streets, the drawbridges, the artillery, the chapel, the Yeoman Warders (called Beefeaters, or Meateaters if you’re Geer).  And the Crown Jewels!  WHAT!?!  They were amazing!  I rode the revolving walkway time and time again to get a look.  Kids really had fun, too.  Then we walked over bridges, under tunnels, through an amazing food market (Bourough Market), tried foods from different cultures, passed by the new Globe Theater, up to the top of the Tate Museum of Modern Art (kids are getting tired and punchy), then over the Thames again on the Millennium Bridge, a marvel of a steel suspension bridge for pedestrian traffic only.  Once across, we make it just to St Paul’s Cathedral just in time for the Evensong.  I suspected this would be crowded, because to tour the church costs money, but to come for service is free.  But it wasn’t and we find ourselves in the choir loft.  This place is magnificent. On this site, there has been a church for over 1,400 years!  The building has been replaced a few times, but the current structure was opened in 1697.  I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, but I will remember how great it was.  I was recently reading an article that made references to the cathedrals of old and how no one would take the time and effort and attention to detail to build something of that magnitude today.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  Now the organ music and the choir…well:/. I can enjoy lots of different music but it wasn’t really my thing.  It was beautiful and I’m sure very meaningful to their congregation (where were they anyway?), so I just closed my eyes and thanked God for the centuries of believers who have carried the torch of Christianity and preserved the history so we can recount again and again how good our God is.  Actually, God is the one who has preserved it against all odds, and I love that.  As the minister said (in a sing-song voice, I might add), “Ooouuurrr Faaahhhhttthhher”, it was understandable that Carson thought we were going into a song that we actually knew.  So when she chimed in (actually, she was the only one chiming), in her lowest voice to match the officiant’s, “WWWhhhhhhooooo aaarrttt….”.  I.almost.died.  I jerked around to her, she looked up at me with big eyes and red cheeks, and we did die.  Right there, we couldn’t hold in the laughter.  I’m so sorry to St. Paul’s, we didn’t mean any disrespect.  But I couldn’t stop.  We exit quickly as soon as it’s over.  I made the worst meal ever, but the kids didn’t seem to care.  As a treat (I mean, what’s an all-expenses paid European vacation without a TREAT, right?), the kids watch Annie on netflix.  The songs are still ringing in my head:)

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Day 13 Saturday, September 7:  Really kids, we have to get going, catch the tube to the Leicester Square area (think Times Square).  What?  A huge M&M store?  Of course!  They really wanted to get their faces on them, but we have to cut somewhere.  Apparently, the chocolate in the M&Ms in Europe is better.  I have to try a lot of them to finally agree.  And Legos?  A huge Lego store with a 2 story Big Ben replica made of LEGOS?  Yes please!  Finally, we buy tickets to the show that the kids picked out (School of Rock) and tickets for the double decker bus tour.  NOTE TO SELF: I didn’t think this was really worth it.  There were so many strikes that we were sitting more than riding, it was a cold day for us and we already had an Oyster card which gave us unlimited bus and tube rides.  But it was fun.  And the kids enjoyed sitting for a while.  We ride the bus to Buckingham Palace!  Because of course we have to see the changing of the guards.  But today marked the end of summer and now they don’t change daily.  Oh dang.  Anyway, we check out the palace, crawl and climb on some huge statues until we are asked to get down, walk through the green park and play a while, spend a good half-hour trying to figure out where we catch the dang double decker bus, then hop back on.  The bus is in gridlock.  I remember wanting to go the Museum of London.  NOTE TO SELF: I liked it.  The kids were almost museum-ed out at this point.  It tells the story of London since it was Londonium, a Roman settlement, around AD 43, to Lundenwic, to London.  Just seeing artifacts that were that old was pretty cool to me.  I didn’t have time to explore the entire timeline of London, but I enjoyed trying to get it in.  Did I tell my kids, through pinched lips, that I will snatch them up and take them home and put them in front of their computer for schoolwork?  Maybe.  I digress. We find ourselves at the double decker bus stop and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Finally we start talking to the mother/daughter that are also waiting.  A lovely pair from Switzerland.  The daughter, Milia, doesn’t speak much English yet but she’s 9 and kids don’t really need words.  They sign language for tag and the fun begins.  We end up canning the double decker and hitting the tube to our theater spot with our new friends.  We grab a bite to eat and the kids are more interested about playing.  It was such a fun break.  We split up so they can see Matilda and we head to School of Rock!  It was a little rougher than I had imagined, but the kids LOVED it.  And children played their actual instruments on stage and they were all amazing.  What a fun night!  Tube ride home was no problem and we fall into bed singing, “Stick it to the MAN”!

Day 14 Sunday, September 8: It’s Sunday, yay!  We were debating going to church at Westminster Abbey or Hillsong’s London campus.  I’m thinking Hillsong because it’s later and we already had our organ fill.  But Carson kinda wants to go to the Abbey.  I’m so glad we did!  We make it just in time on a perfectly beautiful sunny day.  It’s also breathtaking (no pictures except this one I snuck in).  I enjoyed the Bible reading and the responsive portion and loved reading the passages they were singing and had included in the bulletin.  I could see the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge right in this place.  Carson wondered if she could get married there?  I’m not really certain.  We walk our way to Trafalgar Square and see a service going on to honor those who died in battle for Britain.  On the square, who can resist those massive bronze lion sculptures? The kids climbed and scooted and hoisted on to them.  Did we get a glance from the guard once?  Well, yes.  But we needed that last picture and honestly, everyone was doing it.  When the guard came and told us that if he warns us again he will be calling the police, we were OUT.  Like a wild animal we left that place.  So on to more walking, an hour or so in Hamley’s (this 7 floor toy store puts all others to shame and they had demonstrations on every floor).  We make it to Hyde Park and the Princess Diana Memorial Museum for an hour of fun, then we jet over to the Science Museum with only 1/2 hour left:(  A fun last-night dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant, more giggles and shenanigans on the tube home, and we were ready to move on to the final stage of the play.  I left many things undone in London:  I didn’t eat nearly enough food that I WANTED to eat, and there were glasses of wine that I wanted to drink!  I passed way to many shops that I wanted to go in.  Harrods?  I didn’t get to do that.  I wanted to take the kids to the Natural History Museum and maybe the London Eye.  But, I guess we need to leave more to be explored for another time, hopefully. “You’ll be back…time will tell…”