London: Day Seven

We’re pretty tired today. We’re not good at relaxing vacations. Instead, we’re too ambitious about trying to see everything and trek our kids miles and miles each day. Tired.

We started out the day with some bread and jam for breakfast that we got at Harrods. It was raining this morning for the first time since we’ve been in London, but as we guessed, it cleared up by the time we were ready to leave. We were able to sneak away without Sabine grabbing her purse. This is a good thing, as we’ve been worried about her dropping it as we’re jumping on and off tube trains and going up and down steps in the Underground.

The only thing we’d really planned for today was a visit to the Imperial War Museum, which had two new exhibitions that looked fun. One was the Terrible Trenches, which was about trench warfare. While this doesn’t sound like a child-centric exhibit, it was actually presented in a very family friendly way. In fact, it was geared toward children through cartoons and activities, etc. Instead of focusing on the actually war and blood and guts, it just focused on what life was like for the soldiers in the trenches.

Here’s a video of the kid smashing rats in the exhibit

Imperial War Museum: "But I'm sick of taking pictures"

The other exhibition that was interesting was the Ministry of Food. This is the type of thing Sammy really enjoys learning about. It was primarily about the rationing efforts during WWII and the “Dig for Victory” movement, which encouraged housewives to grow their own food to offset the meager rations during and after the war. It was actually pretty interesting and of course we came away with some WWII ration cookbooks. This was followed by an exhibit about what a 1940′s home looked like on the inside (full scale model) during the war, including the air raid structures that people kept in their houses.  So that was all cool. There was also a Holocaust section in the museum, which the museum worker tried to convince me that it wasn’t appropriate for my children. I then convinced him that my kids were both asleep (one in the stroller, one in my arms). It was interesting, but not as moving as the one in DC. Oh, and lunch was pretty good. They served food from the WWII ration cookbook. We both had some chicken stew with national bread.

Kids in the Terrible Trenches

"Ok but I'm not smiling"

This is always good to know.

"No more pictures!"

After the museum, we headed back to the apartment, exhausted as usual, and then walked around Covent Garden. While it’s been a really fun week, we’re both exhausted, and we probably should’ve had a recuperation day in the middle of the week.  Tomorrow, our train doesn’t leave until 5pm or something, so we just plan on hanging around Covent Garden and seeing some street performers. Luckily, the owners of the apartment are letting us keep our luggage in the place well after check out.

Beanie carries her new rat doll in her purse.

Instead of a proper post tomorrow, we’ll try to just upload photos directly from the iPhone throughout the day.

Bye.

London: Day Six

Oh, these are getting harder and harder to write as I get more and more exhausted… yet I don’t start it until 9:30pm, anyway.  Ugh.

Today was Knit Nation day!  Yay!  So, while I looked at pretty wool and talked to a few friends there, Mike and the kids played at the Diana, Princess of Wales’ Memorial Playground.  We walked to a different Underground station today, a little farther away and on a different line, for a change (and one less transfer to drag the stroller through).  I went with them, mainly to help Mike, as I don’t think it would be possible alone with all the stairs at the stations, and then walked through Kensington Garden to get to Knit Nation.  It was a bit longer than I had anticipated, but a nice walk, anyway!

Since it’s my day to blog, I’ll just write about KN first.  Ha.  I got in and looked at a few booths, then came across the lovely Kim of Pure Purl and Anne.  Spoke with them a bit, got warned of the Wollemeise fever in the place, and marched on.  Encountered said Wollemeise fever, and ran into my friend Sophia in the booth.  Bought two skeins, one Twin in Petersilie (not my picture, nor did I get two!) and one merino in Petit Poison Nr. 5 dark (again, not my pic).  I also grabbed a skein of Old Maiden Aunt Yarn 100% merino in Kelpie.  It’s my only real impulse purchase of the day.. it’s like oxidized copper, it’s just the neatest color ever.  Seafoam green (patina colored) with a brownish haze… man, it’s just something you have to see.  After that, I decided I’d gotten enough (ha, like there’s ever enough!) and headed back to meet Mike and the kids.

So, while I was having a yarny time, Mike and the kids played at the playground.  See the following videos:

Bean’s happy food dance

Swinging as I left

Pirate ship at the playground

Playing at the Diana, Princess of Wales' Memorial Playground

While there, the kids apparently made friends quickly and disregarded anything Mike told them.  Elliott also had to stick up for Bean a few times, as there was one little girl who wouldn’t share and was quite the brat.  He kept making sure everyone knew her name was Sabine and NOT “little girl”.

The reason they had no clothes when I came back.

While I was gone, I got one text: “Kids are soaked. Don’t ask.”  This is why.  A faucet to clean the sand off your feet, after playing in the pirate ship or other sandy areas.  Well, they just were drenched… so, they wore raincoats instead of shirts, and Bean didn’t have any pants on when I came back.  They’re STILL wet.  Luckily, I had a spare pair of shorts for Elliott in the backpack and she wore those for the rest of the day.  Those grey gym shorts really matched her flowery top perfectly.

Raincoat ice cream party!

They also got ice cream!

Captain of her sand-boat.

Who needs pants or a shirt when you’ve got a boat in the sand?

And, of course, on the way out of the playground, Elliott had to ride the carousel.  He loves those things!

We then moved on to the British Museum.  This is the one that houses all the Egyptian artifacts and the Rosetta Stone.  Elliott did NOT like going through the Egyptian sculpture rooms (gypsy rooms, as he called them).

"But I'm tired..."

We were all pretty tired by this point, so we grabbed a snack (which was my lunch, really… healthy blueberry muffin and some crisps) and set a plan of where we’d go.  We wanted to get through it pretty quick, so we picked what we really wanted to see and set off.  First, the Rosetta Stone.

Mike taking a picture of the Rosetta Stone

Very crowded, as you can see in the plexiglass reflection.  Hard to take pictures of, too.  We went through the Egyptian sculpture, the Europe Middle Ages through 20th Century and Ancient Egypt.

Natural mummy!

It was pretty crowded throughout the whole Egyptian exhibit, of course, so we didn’t do much other than speed through.  We also had an encounter with a passive-aggressive museum attendant and a balloon, but it’s done and over and I don’t want to get mad again!  (Long story short: one balloon got free, he bitched about the other one, then found us, told us “someone radioed to him we needed to leave with the balloon” so I just snapped it and deflated it [just one of those plugs, Elliott played with it for like an hour once we got home] and we walked away.  Grr.)

So, tired and cranky, we walked home.  Mike took a nap, I looked at and petted my yarn, the kids watched some CBeebies and we all kind of just chilled for a bit.

We went back in to Covent Garden for some dinner things (for the kids, as Mike and I were going to order some takeaway Indian).  Elliott kept saying “ah apaht-ment” (our apartment in a posh accent).  Said he learned it at his school.  He had said it earlier (maybe yesterday?  Can’t remember..) and it was one of this first real slips into an accent without him thinking anything of it beforehand) (unlike zed or ladybird, where he’ll say “zed.. or z” or “it’s a ladyBUG, not ladybird!”)

The market was closing up for the night, so we stopped and started watching a show, but the dude just kept setting things up and we got bored before it even started:

It was 20 minutes of set-up time.

Stopped at M&S for the kids’ dinner (posh mac&cheese), ordered and ate our dinner, got the kids in bed and now I’m off to bed!  Another long day.

Tomorrow, we’re going to the Imperial War Museum, which has a special exhibit on the Ministry of Food, wartime rationing, etc.  I cannot wait!  That’s my thing.

I really wish I would have know that “domestic/social life historian” was a real thing years ago… I should have been one of those!

London: Day Five

Getting ready to wave

We’ll start off today’s post with four videos.

The first are of the street performers at Piccadilly Circus that Sammy mentioned in yesterday’s blog. Sorry, but you’ll have to navigate to them to watch:

Video 1 (Piccadilly Circus street performers)

Video 2 (Piccadilly Circus street performers)

Next is just a taste of Beanie throwing an emotional fit. These don’t usually involve kicking and screaming and flailing (though this happens). Her signature eruptions involve deep grunts and growls (like the Exorcist movies, but without the vomit), destruction (she will throw everything off the table), and occasionally spitting (though I didn’t capture this on video). She usually slams her fists down and knocks everything off the table very violently. Was I provoking her a bit in this video? Yes, but this was a mild ‘incident’ and I wanted to capture the magic on film.

Video 3 (Beanie flips the cuss out)

The last video is of some good street performers in Covent Garden (right where our apartment is). These guys were pretty impressive. Keep in mind that the floor is stone. Many of these performers get up on high ropes and juggle knives. If they fall, there is no net. This part of this guy’s act was impressive.

Video 4 (Covent Garden performer)

Ok, moving on …. Notice I’ve added hyperlinks to various text through so that you can see what some of these places look like:

Today was fun and a little more relaxing. We still were constantly moving, but we didn’t spend too much time on the tubes today. As we were getting ready to leave the flat, Sabine made it clear that she was going to take her purse. She kept getting mad when we’d strap it on her stroller, because she constantly wants to have it on her shoulder.

Ready to go

Once we got to the Underground, Elliott was ready to wave as usual. I’ve been having him wave at the train conductors as the train pulls in to see how many wave back. I think we at about 50% right now. On another note (random thought), on 4 separate occasions today (not exaggerating, it was exactly 4), people mistook Elliott for a girl due to his hair. Either he’s cutting it short (against his will) or growing a beard.

Anyways, the first thing we did was go to Green Park (though due to a warm and dry summer, it wasn’t very green) for a coffee and to let the kids run around. As is become common practice, they get very brave when they’re together, and will run off into the wilderness without a care in the world. Sammy was off getting coffee (which was really crappy by the way), and the kids kept running. So instead of chasing them, naturally, I took pictures. At one point, Elliott did something that pissed Beanie off something awful. She did her typical ‘mad stance’ as I call it. She stands firm, puts her head down with a grumpy look, and will not move or acknowledge anything around her, even if calling her name. It was pretty funny, because she did this while holding her purse, and the people around us thought it was pretty funny.

Brave kids in the distance

The next thing we did was head to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. This was kind of a let-down for numerous reasons. Not that the ceremony wasn’t cool, but you couldn’t really see anything and there were too many rude people that would jump in front of us and the kids to take pictures and see stuff. So, we saw the band come in and play a little bit, but couldn’t see anything related to the actual changing of the guard. The kids were getting restless, so we made the decision to just watch it on YouTube and note that we were there. Done.

This was pretty much our view the whole time

Something we’d booked a few days ago was a tour of the Buckingham Palace state rooms. These are one of the main parts of the Palace where the royal family hosts fancy-pants parties with fancy-pants people. And they presumably do fancy-pants things. Luckily, the Queen and her homies go away from the last week of July until the first of October and this is the only time they open these to the public.  It was a bit pricey, but it was pretty cool. Did the kids have any fun? No. We moved through it quite quickly and ended up in royal garden to the back of the Palace. This was kind of a let down, as they didn’t let us see much and most of it was brown and dying. Once again, due to the weather this summer. It’s at least nice to know that the tax payers’ money isn’t going to the upkeep of the Queen’s lawn.

Beanie takes pleasure in feeding Elliott and others.

After the gardens, we went to Harrods. I actually went in this time. It was interesting I suppose, but not the type of place where I’d like to hang out for a long period of time, unless I’d planned on buying an $800 jacket or something. We bought some bread for breakfast and chocolates though. Pretty good. One of the stores from Bruges had a stand there, so we bought some of their goods for the sake of nostalgia.

In the Buckingham Palace gardens

After Harrods, we decided to go back to the flat at about 3pm-ish to chill a bit. The kids were still wild and I tried to take a nap. In other words, I wasn’t able to take a nap. The weather was pretty nice today (high 60′s maybe?), so we headed into the Piazza to shop and see some street performers. We walked around for a bit and got sucked into the performance that I posted a video of. After that, the kids ate Belgium waffles and Sammy and I each had jacket potatoes.

Easy

After the potatoes and waffles, we headed back to the room to get the kids bathed and ready for bed. Nothing too exciting there, except for what Beanie did. I was supposed to keep her wrapped up in a towel to dry off, but she really wanted out. So I obliged. And she ran into the kitchen naked. And then she peed. And Elliott got naked and sat there and laughed. And Sammy told me to help her. So I did, right after I got out the iPhone to snap a couple of pictures.

Pee!

After putting Elliott to bed, we realized that you can hear the entire production of Chicago (the theatre is right by our apartment) our the window. And that is all for this evening. I leave you with the following picture of Beanie posing while on the way to Harrods.

Sabine at Hyde Park

London: Day Four

I’m tired of trying to fix Mike’s post from last night, so I’ll fix it later. Just don’t want to do it right now.

So last night I got about an hour of me time in Covent Garden, so I could go get a new bra. I bought two cheap-ass ones from Asda right before we left and they were just uncomfortable as could be. Now I know why, after having a fitting at Bravissimo. SO not the size I thought I was/was buying. I will never buy a bra anywhere else again. Best place ever. I had to wait a little before the fitting, so I went and bought some cookies from Ben’s Cookies. Not as good as I thought they’d be. Rather disappointing, really, but oh well. They’re still cookies!

Today was another exhausting, but awesome, day. Woke up (no arguments in the street last night), ate some breakfast (fruit and leftover cookies–the fruit makes it healthy, shut up) and got on the road. Well, Tube. Whatever. I have two gripes about the Underground. 1: Stairs. Too many stairs. Super annoying with a stroller. Sick of stairs. 2: People’s herd mentality when a train comes. LET PEOPLE GET OFF THE DAMN TRAIN BEFORE YOU GET ON!

Anyway, today was the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, which are two of our favorite “types” of museums to go to. Long story short, these two did not disappoint, and were free, to boot. We even dared say they surpass the museums in Chicago, our long-held benchmark! The Science Museum squeaked by with the win, mainly because it’s free. And they had a household exhibit in the basement, which is totally my thing.

45 seconds of fun for only 1p!

Elliott has a fascination with these things… give him a few pennies and he’s happy until he runs out. He’d do it all day if he could. Odd kid.

They found real Kryptonite!

One of the first exhibits was about the earth and gems/minerals/stone/etc. Did you know they found real Kryptonite in Serbia? It wasn’t such a fictitious chemical compound after all! That just made my morning.

Yeah, I killed a gazelle. What of it?

I just liked this picture. Love the nonchalant look of that tiger!

Dinosaur time!

We ate lunch in their restaurant, which was pretty good. Pizza for us, mac&cheese for Elliott and Beanie ate my pizza instead of her sausages and mash. After, we decided to go through the bugs (Elliott didn’t want to go in, then it was hard to get him out) and then to the dinosaurs. They had everyone queuing, and until we were in there I couldn’t understand why… it’s just dinosaurs. But as soon as we got in there, I understood! So much more than Chicago and even the Smithsonian. You go up stairs to a walkway above all the “reading” exhibits (our days of those are over, at least until the kids care enough) and the dinosaur skeletons hang from the ceiling. There’s even little animatronic raptors at the beginning and end of the walkway, just before you get to the big T. Rex.

Roar.

That’s right. Giant, moving, growling, roaring T. Rex. How awesome is that? Elliott wasn’t too sure, of course, and Sabine wasn’t thrilled, either. I, however, loved it. Elliott got a roaring dinosaur pincher head toy thingy. I’m rather annoyed by the sound of it already. I really hope the batteries run out soon. They may be “non-replaceable”. Ahem.

Then we went on to the Science Museum, which was, again, free. We made our way through this one quite quickly, as one entire floor was closed for refurbishment. There was a neat kids play area with all sorts of interactive displays. The kids had a ball!

Again, Nemo makes an appearance.

There was another exhibit with an interactive display that they would not leave. We started walking away, and they were totally fine with it. We hid outside the doors, completely out of sight. Did they care? Not a bit.

The kids needed some Oblivon Paediatric Sedative...

... And I needed these.

Here, too, we ran into the “rush in before anyone can get out” phenomenon. Some dude just ran right into an elevator before anyone else could get off, and at another one, these people just crowded around it and barely let anyone off without a fight. Seriously. They aren’t going anywhere… just wait 30 seconds. Argh, it makes me mad. Rant over. Continuing on. Bean got herself a shiny new 1:26 scale Morris Minor Traveler car, in classic maroon, as her toy for the day. She loves her cars! Best of all? It’s silent. Mike got his Astronaut Ice Cream that he has to buy at every museum he goes to, and he got Astronaut Strawberries, too. They’re tart, but still really good. I’m not a huge fan of the ice cream, but Elliott really, really likes it now.

After, we took the Tube to Piccadilly Circus to grab some dinner and walk a bit. We did some early Christmas shopping (hey, it pays to get it done early!), Beanie got herself a new purse and WOULD NOT put it down, as shown by the photos below, and we got some dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Scottish restaurant called McDonalds… ever heard of it? It’s not bad. Fantastic fried potatoes. The kids even get toys with their meals! (All of which are in Bean’s new purse right now, actually.)

This was before we even bought it.

And after.

There was a really interesting group of street musicians there, too. Country/bluegrass with a tap dancing mini-banjo singer. (Is there such a thing as a banjo ukulele? That’s what it looked like.)

I wish I would have caught their group's name.

We also got ice creams on the way home, as I promised Elliott, because we wanted to go to a couple of shops before they closed on the way back to the apartment and he really, really didn’t want to do that. Bribery works.

So far tonight I haven’t heard any singing… usually we hear people singing around early evening. I finally figured out why… the stage door of the Cambridge Theatre is like 15-20 feet from our door. Wondering if Wednesdays are dark for that theatre? Chicago is running there right now.

So tomorrow, we’re going to the Changing of the Guard, the Buckingham Palace State Rooms and Harrod’s. Another long day! Friday is what I’m really looking forward to… Knit Nation! How sad is it that I’m so excited just for a few hours of yarn? I seriously can’t wait! I will be there at 10am sharp when the doors open.

London: Day Three

** Yes, the formatting is off but I’m too tired to fix it tonight. Live with it. And this is Mike, not Sammy (unlike what the post says)

Ok, day three. We’re still resisting the urge to hail a taxi while here, but it’s tiring. We’re making good use of the Underground tube system here, but most of the time we’re going up and down steps with the stroller (lots of steps), including during the business rush hour. With the stroller on the tube, the humidity, the steps, and keeping Elliott from disappearing into the crowd, it gets pretty exhausting. But, we’re going to continue to avoid the taxis.

But let’s start at the beginning of the day. Woke up at 5:15am to a guy and girl arguing on the street. We’re 3 stories up, but there’s no air conditioning so the windows are wide open all the time. This was a loud argument, and the only thing that kept me from yelling out the window what the fact that our kids remained asleep. So, we quickly go over this and I was treated to eggs and bacon by my lovely wife (who made a gourmet selection of cereal and fruit for the kids … and by ‘gourmet’, I mean Cocoa-Munchers).

We’d pre-booked at the London Aquarium the night before, so we wanted to be there at 10am sharp. Sabine was apparently expecting a sunny day, as she wanted to wear her sunglasses. We then made our way to the tube, where Elliott encountered the pictured advertisement below (for the 18th time … he comments each time though).

He's more interested in the advertisements then seeing the show.

Anticipating a sunny day. She was wrong.

You’ll notice that the Aquarium is in the same building we stayed at in May 2009 with my parents and grandparents … which is right next to the London Eye and Big Ben.

London Eye (near the London Aquarium)

The Aquarium was pretty good, but it was no Shedd Aquarium. It wasn’t too big, but the displays were well presented. Elliott and Sabine were hit or miss. He was scared of things that she wasn’t, and she was scared of things he loved. The sharks displays were pretty cool, and he didn’t warm up to them until the end (there was a long section that you walk directly over the shark tank on a glass floor … he made me go through it twice).

A little freaked out by the bigger fish.

Sabine was totally into this.

Over all, it was pretty good. Besides trying to keep them from freaking out at the bigger fish, our other goal was to keep them from wanting the overpriced souvenirs in each of the strategically-located shops throughout the exhibits. I told Elliott he could get a souvenir while here, and he found something the first day at this sci-fi/comic book shop. They have a Ben 10: Alien Force action figure that he really wants. So each time he sees some overpriced plastic ‘thingy’, I let him choose between getting that and getting the Ben 10 figure at the end of the week. So far this strategy has worked, and he’s resisted the urges (though I did get a few small things at the Museum of London … we’ll get to that).

For lunch, I’d really wanted to go to a specific pub that we attempted to eat at in 2009: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Besides the fact that I heard it was ‘child friendly’, I was interested in it due to its history. Though the pub was originally there since the 1500′s, it burned down in the great fire of London. It was quickly rebuilt in 1666 (I think) and has been there since. The interior has also kept the majority of the charm and character from this time period, and it was just a neat experience (though the food wasn’t all that special). So after a quick meal and a pint (for two of us anyways), we were off once again.

In the shark tunnel

Didn't want to leave

We’d walked quite a way (only one stroller …. carrying one kid on the back) to get the The Cheese since it wasn’t too close to an Underground station. After we ate, we realized this would also be the case for getting to our next stop on the itinerary: The Museum of London. So after more walking, we arrived and decided to sit in the lobby to cool down for a little while. After a cold water and some juice, we went into the first exhibit with Elliott asleep in the stroller.

This museum was actually pretty good, and best of all (like many of the London museums), free of charge. There was almost too much to see, so we moved quickly through some sections to get to what we really wanted to see.

Posing for the camera

After the main part of the museum, we spent some time in the gift shop looking around, since they had some stuff we were all interested in.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Sammy got a couple of cook books from the war era and Victorian period … the type of stuff she always likes to get, but I don’t see her making Blood Pudding or Ox Cheek Stew anytime soon.

Elliott wanted just about everything in the store, but I convinced him to get some old favorites: a flip book (the kind where the picture animates as you flip through it) and one of those magnetic gyroscope things. Do these have anything to do with London? No. But it’s better than the $10 plastic fishing reel he wanted at the Aquarium. He also had quite a bit of fun trying different things on, as you can see in one of the pictures.

At the end of the museum, we were pretty exhausted and decided to head back to the hotel. Sammy walked around Covent Garden a bit while I watched Ice Age with the kids (for the 42nd time).

After a long walk.

Elliott the bobby

We’ve been good about only really eating out at lunch, and cooking for breakfast and dinner (though we’ll eat out for dinner a couple of times). We made peanut butter sandwiches for the kids (I know, but that’s what they wanted) and we made some Indian food from Marks & Spencers.

After dinner, it was time for Elliott to chase Sabine around, with both of them laughing way too loud. This resulted, in multiple occasions, with Sabine running into the table and crying. And then it all started again. This, for some reason, resulted in the crazy clothing party, where they had to keep putting clothes on their heads and running around laughing. After this little party, we ended up skyping with Uncle Matt, which only lasted so long due to attention span (the kids, that is).

So with that, I leave you until tomorrow. The plan so far is the Science Museum and Natural History Museum. We’ll have to see how they hold up to those in Chicago. — Mike

Silly party time.

London: Day Two

Well, here we are on day two, eating M&S’ poor excuse for hot and spicy chicken wings and drinking cheap Spanish red.  Overall, a not bad end to a nice day!

We went to the London Zoo today.

Nearly there...

It was a nice day today… warm, but overcast, so it wasn’t too hot.  Humid like mad, but we survived!  Nothing like a DC-area summer would be, so although it’s quite a bit warmer than up north, it’s definitely survivable!

Breakfast of Champions

We started off the day by eating doughnuts and pop, the healthiest of all breakfasts.  Not a lot of choice, and it was pretty good.  A bird hopped up on the table and stole some of Bean’s, so she wouldn’t eat, but oh man does she like 7Up.  Bub enjoyed his Tango and scaring the birds away by shouting at them.  Such a protector, he is.

Sabine, the Lioness

Elliott, the Lion

From the Butterfly House

We saw all sorts of animals, as you would in any zoo, but this one had an awesome butterfly house (oddly shaped like a huge caterpillar).  They were just flying all around, moreso than in any other butterfly garden I’ve ever been in… which, admittedly, is very few.  They have the first ever aquarium inside the grounds, too.  They even claim to have invented the word “aquarium”.  It was small, but Bean really likes all the colorful fish and Elliott likes anything that may have been in Finding Nemo.  Actually, most of the kids in there were shouting names from the movie.  I think that’s probably true of any aquarium now.  (We’ll find out tomorrow, as we’re going to the London Aquarium.  And Harrod’s.)

The London Zoo also has more “put you in the habitat” exhibits than other zoos seem to (that I can remember, anyway).  Nearly every “world” (like the desert, the rainforest, Africa, etc.) has their own aviary.  (Nettie, you would have absolutely loved it, ha ha.  Especially the show we sat in on… a Macaw buzzed our heads numerous times.  And there were adorable rats, meerkats and an owl, too.)

Spider monkeys roaming above our heads

The monkey area was especially fun.  Tiny, baby spider monkeys running around ropes over your head!  Cutest thing ever.

Finally, he accepts the gorilla.

All day, Elliott was worried about the gorillas.  There were signs the minute you got off the Tube, continuing all the 20-minute walk to the zoo.  Plus, that dude dressed up in a gorilla suit in Covent Garden Market last night… well, that was interesting.  He’s not a fan of people dressed up, or real animals that get too close.  He’s kind of a sensitive boy, really.  Anyway, we finally get to the gorilla exhibit and there’s just one you can really see in the enclosure.  Elliott decided that that gorilla was lonely, and he was a good gorilla.  I’m thinking we shouldn’t let him watch Congo anytime soon.

He loves the Tube.

We left the zoo on a narrowboat water taxi, which was nice.  Not as nice as living on one for a week, though… those are still my favorite vacations, hands down.  It took us from the zoo to Little Venice, and we grabbed the Tube from Paddington Station.

After the kids had their dinner (and although we planned on eating later, we ended up eating some of theirs and some snacks instead), we went to an awesome comics/nerd stuff/sci-fi store, Forbidden Planet.  Elliott charmed a couple of people in there by asking me, “Hey, can I buy the Star Wars: The Clone Wars mask?”  I said no, but only because I’m sure it was insanely expensive.  He picked out some Ben 10 crap that he swears he wants as his souvenir… I’m sure we’ll be back there before we leave.

Successful day, I’d say.  We’re hoping to get an early start tomorrow, so best get to bed now… Bean just got to sleep.  She’s not coping well with sleeping in a big bed in a room by herself, really.  This is how she ended up last night, about 10pm:

Comfy kitchen floor?

Until tomorrow!  Well, tomorrow is Mike’s night, so until Thursday!

~S.

Oh, I almost forgot… the apartment is right by Pineapple Dance Studio.  It’s interesting to see the people in various states of undress practicing their routines in the street, and it’s annoying how they leave a bunch of trash outside, but I really do kind of hope I see that one guy (no idea what his name is.. the dude that was on Top Gear, making Richard Hammond uncomfortable… Louis?).  I know I won’t, but still.

Also, we’re near both Stringfellow’s… which, if you didn’t know, is a “gentlemen’s steakhouse”.  It’s Morton’s with boobies, really.  Supposedly the best steak in London, though!

London: Day One

Hello everyone. This is the first post of the week — a week in which you will see a daily post about our time in London. Although we’d already been to London (last year), we were interested in a return in order to see a lot of what you miss as a ‘long weekend tourist’. That is, we’ve seen Big Ben and all that, but haven’t actually gone into Buckingham Palace, gone to the British Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Aquarium … you get the the picture. So, here we are from Sunday 25 July to Sunday 1 August, 2010.

Today was less than exciting, but still nice. We’d booked a train out of Harrogate for 09:53am to catch a 10:40am train from Leeds to London. Little did we know that the train conductor for the 09:53am would decide not to show up. The train was canceled. This sucked. Let me explain. We booked early enough so that we could have a table on the train — two chairs facing two chairs, with a table in the middle. We’d bought the kids some activity magazines (crappy plastic toys, magazines, and stickers — it’s a big hit) to use on said table. But, because we couldn’t take our original train, we had to take the 10:53am and catch the 11:40am from Leeds to London. And why does this suck? Because we no longer had reserved seats and had to sit on the floor between train cars for 2hrs 15 mins. Yes, that’s right. Luckily, Sabine slept the whole time in her stroller and Elliott and I played on the iPod.  He was quite well behaved.

So, we arrived at Kings Cross Station a little past 2pm, and hopped on the Piccadilly tube to Covent Garden — our home for the next week. We decided to skip the hotel thing and rent a flat through VRBO. It costs about the same as a hotel in a good location, but we’re able to cook for ourselves for a lot of meals, which saves a lot of money in London. But the location is excellent — we’re just outside the Covent Garden Piazza, which is where all the street vendors and performers are.

I’d hoped to post some pictures of the flat, but realized that we forgot the proprietary camera cord to transfer pictures. Sooooo, this week’s blog will need to be supplemented by photos from our iPhone. Unfortunately, we haven’t taken these yet. Stay tuned on that one.

Not sure what we’re going to do tomorrow. We have a huge lists of museums and attractions to see, and we haven’t really discussed tomorrow. The weather looks to be pretty good this week (between 71 and 77 F) down here. To those of you who’ve visited, you’ll notice that this is warmer than we’re used to up north, but it’s still not too hot.

So, that’s all I’ve got for now. We just got the kids off to bed (after a day-long grab bag of good and bad behavior), and we’re enjoying some wine. Time to go figure out what we’re doing. Oh, and I just reminder myself that I can steal the photos of the place from VRBO. So here they are. Goodnight. — Mike