London Times

My mom arrived in Whitehaven on December 15 to experience an English Christmas with us. Once she rested and the kids got out of school we took a train journey to London. Riding the train was a first for the kids (they seem to have had quite a few of those since we moved) What would be a traffic nightmare to drive a car 6 hours down into London was a four hour, scenic ride from Penrith. (I was very excited about the train as I had not ridden a train since China my sophmore year in college. Trains in China 20+ years ago left you scrubbing dirt and grim off of your skin once you arrived at your destination. Maybe it's not that way today)
Dennis and big cities go together like peanut butter and jelly. He lights up with the rush of city transportation and the mobs of people from all over the world. Dennis happily












manuevered us from the train station to the subway dragging 6 suitcases, 3 kids and a Grammy with two hip replacements. We dropped our suitcases at the hotel and hit the streets - jaws dropped for some of us seeing for the first time such sights as Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey all from the front window of the second story of a double decker bus, of course. One of our stops was Hamley's toy store which gave the Toys R Us in New York City a run for its money. Really cool toys from all over the world complete with wall to wall people. (and they said it wasn't even their busiest day, whoah! If you didn't keep right behind each other the river of people could easily separate you.) After enjoying the Legos section of the store with Dad, Nathan purchased a skate board with his Christmas money from Granddad and Margaret. For the next four days, Nathan skateboarded through London. Had Nathan asked me back in Whitehaven if he could bring a skateboard to London I would have promptly replied, "What? Are you crazy, ride a skateboard in London? I don't think so." But ride he did. Yes, I may need to have my head examined but he only ran into two people, one of which was quite grumpy about it and told him to throw the skateboard away. No chance. So look for Nathan on skateboard in all of the pictures. While Na rolled, Julieanne bounced her Astrojax - she's quite coordinated walking and bouncing at the same time.I'm not that gifted.

Remember, it gets dark here in Merry Ole England by 4 p.m. so we explored the city in the dark our first day. We ended with some great Chinese food in China town. Normally, when you eat out in England, they expect you are at the table for an expereince not a necessity but the Chinese restaurant was there to maximize profit so we were served promptly. We all laughed at first and then became annoyed when we were asked for our drink orders by at least 8 different waiters. Once we ordered, we hardly saw them again. It was like they were on commission or something. Oh well, the food was good.

For the next two days we mostly hopped on and off the bus listening to the narrative of the city while perched in the front seat of the top of the bus. We left the hotel with high expectations of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. (note the flag flying which signifies that the Queen is home. We kept looking at the windows to see if she was peeking out but I guess she's seen the guards change plenty.) We had the primo spot on the steps opposite the main gate but we pretty much froze our toes for two hours to see a few minutes of the soldiers in their dreary gray winter uniforms instead of the lively red coats. I mean they aren't called the red coats for nothing, right? Anyway, the band played the guards changed and Nathan skateboarded. He didn't seemed to be impressed with the fact that the Queen lived in that gargantuous mansion. He was more interested in the imminent fact that the band would have to march right through all that horse poop. Dennis obliged us with close ups of the 'squish' on video and picture. That's a boy (and a big boy)for you.

The big event for the day was great seats for the evening performance of the musical, 'Wicked', the prequil to the Wizard of Oz. If you know our girls well, you know that they get hooked on a musical and then we have to hear it every waking moment for months until we know all of the words and then move on to another one. They've been through The Sound of Music, Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, Phantom of the Opera, High School Musical and HSM2, and Wicked. We ate dinner at a mexican restaurant before which was yummy and fun as you can see. The musical was naturally the highlight of London for the girls! The story itself is quite clever as it explores how the witches of Oz came to be witches. Elfaba was amazing and 'Ga-linda' was funny but she was the understudy for the regular Glinda.

Some other London highlights were Handel's Messiah at St. Martin's in the Field (that was Grammy's) Sunday morning and evening service at All Soul's Church with people from 70 different nations represented left Dennis feeling like he was 'home'. I loved experiencing the city with the family - watching the wonder in Nathan's face when he was completely engrossed in the Christmas window displays, Dennis and the kids marveling at the lights, people, and sights.

We took a boat ride down the Thames at 4 pm which treated us to some beautiful lighting and views of the city we wouldn't have had from the streets. Dennis and I stole away from the warmth and crowds inside the boat to the chilly rooftop for these pretty views of the London Eye and Big Ben and Parliament.
Mom was a trooper walking all over the city. She didn't particularly appreciate the mobs of people on bustling Oxford Street or Regent Street but she didn't complain and kept plodding along.
We're looking forward to returning to the city in April with the Willis family. We saved a visit to the Tower of London and the Eye to experience with our friends.