My Travel Blog
I'm not going to lie, my feet are tired! My entire body is pretty tired too even after a fairly decent sleep last night. I'm happy to report that our second night went much better than the first and absolutely everyone slept straight through. Chloe gets the record for 13 hours - impressive! We had pre-arranged to meet Stefan and Valentijn at Borough Market at 1 pm, and thankfully it wasn't any earlier because we would've been late due to half of this family still sleeping at noon. So, we had 'breakfast' at 1 pm at the market - what a fantastic place! There were so many amazing vendors and we had to make some tough decisions as we wanted to eat everything in sight. We settled on some amazing homemade pasta, fresh juice, tiny delicious coffees, gingerbread, Turkish Delight, and some amazing fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries, and peaches). Everything was amazing and I could spend days there just eating my way around!
With full tummies we were off in search of Julia's 'must-do' which was to ride a double decker bus. Considering we didn't have any specific destination in mind we decided to just get on the very first one we saw and be surprised by our destination. We were beyond pleased to find that the very front seats on the top level were empty - score! Well, we thought it was a score until we'd sat there for 2 minutes and almost melted… perhaps they were empty for a reason. We found ourselves nearly off of our map so we hopped off the bus at Elephant and Castle. We weren't sure what to expect; almost every city seems to have an Elephant and Castle pub so we assumed there would be something of interest. Well, not really. There is a dismal shopping centre filled with cheap shoes and phone stores and a small market around the outside of it peddling suitcases, cell phones and strange undergarments. We were underwhelmed to say the least.
So, doing what any inquisitive person does in 2013 I used Wikipedia to help me understand it when we got back to our apartment. It turns out that the shopping centre at Elephant and Castle was the first covered mall in Europe and was considered pretty fancy back in the day. That's not where the name gains prominence around the world though - I think it just sounds British and cool so people just go with it.
We jumped on the tube and went to Piccadilly Circus for no reason other than to see it. It's funny because Stefan actually thought we were going to see a circus (lions and elephants!) but all we saw was a lot of hot and sweaty tourists walking around. It was time for some sustenance so an air conditioned pub called our name and we happily obliged. More fish and chips for the kids (I think it's their 3rd time already) and a baked potato for me. (It was really good, even better than I'd anticipated. These Brits know their potatoes!)
We decided to stroll through Soho (only because the name is familiar and it seemed like something we should do) and happened upon a delicious gelato place. Very authentic and exactly the right texture. Yum. We stopped at Soho Square Garden for a little rest and were completely amazed at the sheer number of cigarette butts all over the ground. It's a fairly small 'park' and people were sitting around having a drink and (most of them) a smoke. Apparently when they're done with their little nature break they feel comfortable just disposing their cigarette butt right there on the grass. Quite honestly there were about 10 butts in each square foot of space which made for a less than ideal break from walking. So, off we went - destination The British Museum. What's so nice about the British Museum is the fact that most of the exhibits are open to the public for free, and they truly have some amazing things. I have a weakness for really old books and they had more than I could ever look at. Shakespeare's complete works that were printed in the early 1800's and Some Voltaire books from the late 1600s. Amazing. What astounded me was the quality of the leather and printing on the covers - there were some very talented book makers back then and I can only imagine the pride you'd have had in owning one back then as they would've been very expensive. (Not like now where we all buy them at Costco and Chapters and have more than we know what to do with! Or e-books! Don't get me started…)
About half an hour into the museum my feet decided they no longer wanted me to stand on them so I gave up and headed to the bench next to a very old Roman statue of Cupid. We decided the best move for us as a family was to head back to our apartment for a rest before dinner. We left Stefan and Valentijn in the museum and spent a very restorative hour and a half sitting on the couch doing nothing. It was much needed; sometimes checking a few more things off of the tourist 'list' isn't as important and maintaining sanity.
-- hours later ---
I am so full I may explode. And if I did explode you would find insanely delicious mushroom ravioli and some pinot grigio thrown in for good measure. (Simply to cut the heaviness of the mushroom sauce, of course.) I'm human, what can I say.
After meeting up with Stefan and Valentijn at London's oldest pub (which is literally across the street from our apartment) we had a drink and then made our way down to a delicious Italian restaurant. It was very authentic (the waiters barely spoke English and they were cantankerous to say the least). Our waiter eventually warmed up to us after all 4 of us adults joked with him over and over again. We finally cracked him! The food was delicious, the company was excellent, and it was a great way to end our time in London.
Tomorrow we catch a train to Salisbury to meet up with Jennie (one of my bestest friends in the whole world and a bride-to-be next Saturday!).
We look forward to new adventures awaiting us!
We all slept fitfully last night, and I must say that out of the many times we've travelled as a family to Europe sleep was actually 'less than stellar' for all of us last night. Bad is a relative term, I know, but let's just say that all four of us saw very small numbers on the clock when we didn't want to. I was awake for 2-3 hours in the middle of the night (thank goodness for iPads!) and Chloe actually slept great from about 8:30 - 3:30 and has been up ever since! The fact that she was pleasant and still on her feet by the end of the day is incredible. As I type this it's 9:30 pm here and she is sitting on the couch reading Teen Beat magazine. Impressive.
By the time we all roused ourselves out of our pyjamas it was 10:30 am and we were starving! Thank goodness we had a few provisions to get us through (the kids each had a yogurt drink, lychee juice, and some strangely dry crackers - prison rations?). We headed out with breakfast on our minds but no actual known destination in mind. Usually this works out for us in the form of a cute café, but we are currently in a residential area with a pub across the street and not much else. We wandered in a disoriented fashion until we reached a major road where a lot of McDonalds wrappers were scattered about. We took this as a sign of life nearby and followed the garbage as though we were Hansel and Gretel in search of a magical cottage. We found it in the form of a large grocery store and bought some fresh baguettes, cheese, peaches and juice. Instead of retracing our steps we went the opposite way (the unintended long-cut) but found a delightful little area of butchers, bakers, and coffee shops. Low blood sugar and heat exhaustion were achieved, but at least now we know where to go tomorrow morning!
After scarfing down our food (we were very hungry!) we only had a short time to wait until Jeff's cousin Stefan and his friend would meet up with us. For those who aren't familiar, Stefan is from Holland and is Jeff's youngest cousin. He lived with us for 2 months last year and has been travelling around Australia until a few weeks ago when he returned back to Holland. He had the opportunity to meet up with us here and it's been so nice to see him again - it's really amazing how much a person can change in one year when they are 20 years old and travelling the world! (Sigh... to be young again...!)
Stefan and his friend Valentijn joined us as we took the 20 minute walk from our apartment to the Tower of London. Six years ago we paid to go inside, but this time no one really cared and the heat and line-ups were prohibitive to us going into it again. I took a few obligatory photos of the outside of it and then we sat down in the shade for a cool drink. It's another scorcher here in London - even the grass has turned yellow! From here we took the touristy (but fast and clean) boat to Westminster. The boat had A/C and the captain was informative and cheery; we learned a few interesting facts while drinking a nice cold beer (and juice for the young ones) before disembarking right in front of Westminster Abbey. After more picture taking we headed towards Buckingham Palace. Our path was slightly off course (who looks at a map?) and we started to get hungry and slightly cranky. An oasis appeared in the form of what we thought was a sushi restaurant due to it's sleek booths and bamboo window coverings. It touted itself as 'Asian Cuisine' and was just what we were looking for. By the time we were settled in and looked at the menu we realized there wasn't . actually any sushi on the menu, but instead had various set meals for Chinese, Japanese, Seafood, and Dim Sum. The prices were reasonable and I must admit that absolutely everything we ordered was very, very good.
Fully refueled we went in search of the Queen! Buckingham Palace wasn't quite as busy as I'd expected (though not empty by any stretch of the imagination) and after watching the guards march around and dipping our feet in the fountain it was time to move on. An interesting side note was the large 'camp' of foreign media anxiously awaiting the royal baby; they've been there for weeks and are obviously quite bored on "Operation Placenta Watch". (Yes, I made that up.) At this point we temporarily left the company of Stefan and Valentijn when they met up with some friends from the hostel they're staying at. With a meeting point later, the 4 of us headed to the train station to buy tickets for our Saturday trip out to Salisbury. On the map it didn't look too far, but about 5 minutes into the walk Julia mentioned that her feet may actually catch on fire so Jeff hailed a cab and off we went. I'm so glad her feet were close to igniting, because until we were sitting in that cab I didn't realize how tired I was!
We purchased our tickets and figured out all the pertinent details then used the bathroom where you have to put coins in the turnstile to get into it. The kids were outraged when they saw a lady hop over the barrier to 'pee for free'. Seriously, if you have to go and don't have 30 pense I am not going to call the cops on you! I hate paying to pee and am glad we don't have that at home. (Maybe they should have a one cent pee tax on every bottle of water sold?)
We went to Trafalgar Square (our meeting point with Stefan) and went into Canada House while we waited for them. After proving our citizenship (okay, not really, but we said we were from Calgary) we enjoyed the beautiful air conditioning and padded benches while admiring some Inuit art. After reuniting with the boys (and their newfound Australian friends) we went to a pub for some beer and fries before realizing that we had some extremely tired children with us. Julia actually fell asleep on my shoulder on the metro ride home, while Chloe's eyelids seemed heavier than usual as she had a very difficult time keeping them up. We went straight to our apartment while the boys all went out in search of take-out dinner (easier said than done!).
___ many moons later___
The boys came back with authentic Italian pizza for everyone and the girls ate it with gusto before running off to bed. It was delicious and there, quite literally, isn't a crumb left. This was a surprise considering the amount of boxes they walked in with… granted it's very thin crust, but still - these boys were overly ambitious with their pizza purchasing. (I say this as though there were mounds of pizza left, but in actuality there isn't even a single crumb left.) Well done!
Now after excessive pizza eating and beer drinking it seems like the two young men are fading faster then us 'oldies'. So we need to either kick them out or get them blankets… time will tell. Good night from East London!
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