London

For those who do not yet know, we are planning our return home quite a bit earlier than originally stated. We'll be home later this month (yes, that's this month, July!). We can't wait to settle back in and rekindle friendships and our family relationships. We've missed you all terribly over the past (almost) 12-months.


We've been in London for about a week now. About half of them rainy - the rest quite warm and beautiful. So goes the typical summer in the UK. There's tons to keep you busy and empty your wallet in this town. The contrasts between new, contemporary buildings and awesome architecture is simply stunning. Sometimes it works, sometimes I stare in awe, wondering what the architecht(s) were thinking.


Old mixing with new


More old mixing with new

The city is quite overwhelming and while transportation is good, it often leaves you about 1/2 a mile from your destination or having to trek it between a tube and rail station. Maybe we're just too impatient to catch the connecting bus. That said, it's relatively cheap to get around London - just £5.80 for the non-peak day card with the child card costing only an additional £1. The tube and rail lines are often partially closed for maintenance on weekends and holidays so be sure you check. Oh - and we've found the health and safety announcements an interesting addition to our travels. So far, at the train station we've been advised:

• "it's advisable to carry a bottle of water in this warm weather"
• "when it rains, the platform can be slippery"
• "mind the gap"
  

We made the typical tourist mistake and mistook the Tower Bridge for London Bridge. A little disconcerting on day 1 as we exited at the London Bridge rail station but couldn't find "London Bridge." Oops. The beautifully ornate bridge we were expecting is known as "Tower Bridge" and is a pretty long (though worth it) trek from the train station. I found it fun to see the bridge in action though as Dan pointed out, "it's just a draw bridge."




Sophia on London Bridge with the Tower Bridge in the (distant) background


Tower Bridge in action

We felt like the London Eye was a "must do" given that it's the world's largest ferris wheel. Don't know that aside from the sheer novelty of it that I can honestly recommend it to anyone else. Lines are long for tickets (30+ minutes), followed by about a 30-minute wait (on a weekday) to get on the ride. It takes about 30 minutes to slowly rotate around - kind of odd to be crammed in a small, hot little glass pod with 15 of your closest strangers and no corresponding references (unless you purchaed the additional guide book). Short of the fact you're able to say you did it, time is better spent gaping at Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and maybe just wandering around, lost in the crazy maze of streets for a while.


The Eye of London as seen from the ground and looking at the pod in front of us at the top.


View from the top of London Eye


Big Ben & Houses of Parliament - we were just in time to hear the chimes on a sunny, beautiful day. Cool iron work.




Big Ben towering over Megan & Sophia

Kung Fu Panda was a huge hit with the girls. It opened at the downtown IMAX on the fourth of July - a perfect excuse to go to a movie on Dan's birthday! Best bet is to pre-purchase your tickets. All seats are preassigned at this theater and it made the actual event smooth. The theater does a cool presentation of how IMAX works before the show - very enlightening for the girls!



The girls can't stop "kung fu fighting" after seeing this hit!

Today (8.July) we got up early and made our way to the masses thronging Buckingham Palace so we could witness the Changing of The Guard. As we approached, I thought, "A downside of being a part of the Royal Family is you wake up each morning to throngs of people outside your house." Seriously folks, the ceremony was long and relatively subdued. Unless you are pressed up against the fence outside the palace courtyard, you really don't see or hear much. Despite the ceremony, a few cars exited the palace, creating excitement among the crowd - at least one person thought they saw a member of the Royal family today. Glad we did it though kind of wish we had taken the advice to view the ceremony at Windsor Castle as it's more intimate.


Flocking to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard





End of ceremony - cool to see the huge gates open and the soldiers marching by

Our favorite activities (besides dinner with Simone and Stefan) turned out to be the free museums. We first visited the Science Museum in an effort to quickly get out of the rain. It is so huge and so fun, it was hard to leave. The hands on science experiments, sponsored by Shell, were awesome and a ton of fun for Megan (us too).



Playing with bubbles


Exploring space equipment including a life sized astronaut mannequin

This afternoon (8.July), we went to the Natural History Museum (also free) and had our fill of earth science, creepy crawlies (cool ant exhibit) and dinosaurs. I think we saw maybe 1/4 of the entire museum before we finally left, exhausted and in need of coffee and cake. ;-)



Natural History Museum



Into the center of the earth


Snack, anyone?


This T-Rex moves and roars ... leaving Sophia to run around growling at everyone for the rest of the afternoon. I'm sure she insulted at least one commuter as we passed by and she looked directly at them and gave a mighty "roar."



Cool iron fence outside the Natural History museum

We've trekked all over London and probably still haven't seen 1/4 of the city. It's just a massive, sprawling experience. Glad we visited - even if it's not our absolute favorite destination. Wish the weather had been a bit more conducive to exploring the outdoor parks more - the few we meandered through are quite beautiful.



Tower of London



Ciao for now!