Our last weekend in London and it was fierce. We’ve had great weather so far a bit chilly, but not much rain, yet this AM reminded us what London fog/mist/rain is all about. Not terrible but a pleasant reminder. So great to see Hyde Park still full of people walking, running, playing sports, despite the rain. These people are desperate to get outside! At home, the rain would have cleared it.
Saturday was an epic day – picnic together in Hyde Park, Science Museum with Cone and the kids, Blake off to see Kneehigh Theatre and the “Umbrellas at Cherbourg,” then a family rendezvous at Trafalgar Square to see a candlelight concert at St. Martin in the Fields. We were out and about for 11 straight hours. Not easy to do when you are 5 but Cal caught a catnap on a bus and then was ready to go!
The boys and I had a great time at the Science Museum. They had these family friendly tours where you could dress up in a cockroach suit and take a tour of the museum as a cockroach! Weird. A bit gross but cool and totally free. I want to do that next time. There was a whole room dedicated to model ships and miniature steam engines. We took some pictures for Unkey to use as inspiration.
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| Build this Unkey!! |
There was another whole room filled with kid friendly hands on science, like: building a arch that you could then climb across, connecting circuits to turn on lights and alarms, building bridges with blocks to understand the concept of counterweight, magnets etc… Terrific. Why can’t we have that somewhere? There were tons of kids there so we had to fight some of them off. We spent hours at the museum and we were still eager for more. In fact, we had just climbed 4 flights of stairs to get to an exhibit that Dec wanted to see about the future. We get there, we dive in and then a voice comes over the loudspeaker stating that the museum is closing at 6. At this point it’s 5:40. I think, “OK, 20 more minutes.” No go. The guards immediately start breathing down our necks, “This exhibit’s closed. Make your way to the exits.” And the guards are standing right next to you, moving you along. No one more minute here. Museum is closing, you are DONE. Move out! Dec was bummed.
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| I wanna see the future exhibit!! |
Blake didn’t like Kneehigh Theatre so much. Feh.
Then we headed over to see the concert. It was beautiful in my opinion. Candlelight. Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, what more can you ask for? The boys? No likey so much. Feh. I have to say that there was part of me that wanted them to hear the music, be inspired and then want to take violin lessons. Not happening. My dreams of having a Joshua Bell-like offspring have been crushed. Blake took Cal home early and I forced Dec to stay and hear the second half. Then we had to make our way home through central London at 9:30 on a Sat night. Not easy as every 3rd person has been drinking, every 2nd person is in massive platform heels and the rest are tourists and don’t know where they are going or are pulling around luggage or massive backpacks.
Sunday was a bit more subdued, swim, laundry and stroll in Regents Park.
Tomorrow is our last day of being surrounded by the English language. Lord, help us. Next week – FRANCE!
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