London - Part IV

On Thursday, May 7th, the boys left super early (around 7:50am) to pick up the rental cars at Marble Arch. After masterizing how to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road, they arrived to pick us girls and the kids up at 9:10am. We were READY!There were harrowing close calls for Brian in the passenger seat. I think I heard..."STAY IN YOUR LANE!" a good number of times from Brian to John. We got a little lost and John stopped an elderly couple in a neighborhood to get directions to Windsor Castle. This British guy's directions ran something like this:

So you're going to go out over there and turn right.
Takes you right into the village.
At the roundabout...veer left. There's a hotel there.
You'll cross a set of railroad tracks.
Don't worry if you miss them, there will be another set.
Then, you'll run into the river and you won't be able to go straight anymore. So you take a right.
And then, there you will be at the castle.

So here Brian and Michael are at the entrance:

We got to see a changing of the guards, which was pretty neat. Way cooler than at Buckingham palace, because as you can see from the picture, you could get up really close. After tripping over the ground bar of a barricade and nearly knocking over 2 older women, I was able to get Michael up close so he could see the band and the action. He really was very interested!

Then, we toured the castle and the chapel. We learned lots of things. Well, at least those who were able to listen to the audio tour did. There were some of us who were trying to get a hungry infant out to feed them outside. And another chasing a bored toddler around. Those of us, did not get to listen to the audio tour! :o) Let me tell you how annoying it is that there wasn't a simple exit sign. We had to go through all the rooms to find the way out...only to discover there was a very easy way that was not marked.

We learned though from John/Kelli that King Henry VIII's armor was 52 inches around the waist. And nearly 90 pounds. That's like him wearing ME when I was in middle school.

Here's our family picture after we made it through the rooms:

Then, we grabbed paninis and some good shortbread at a cafe and ate quickly in the car. We were planning to go to a nice green park and eat, but our sandwiches were hot and we didn't want to wander. Of course, on our drive out, we discovered the green park, not 2 minutes away.

Next, up, a drive to Stonehenge! It is very funny. The drive up to Stonehenge. You see a sign for the turn off. So you turn off. And you drive for a while. And then there's a hill. And then...VOILA. There it is! In your head you're thinking... "La la la...nice English countryside...la...la...la...WHOA. STONEHENGE!"

And for 6.60 pounds, you can cross underneath the road and see stonehenge from this view without a fence obstructing it:

And get this picture of your son, behaving in front of it:

And this picture of your son, pulling out the post that holds the guard rope up. He explained to me that he was trying to get to Stonehenge to "stand on the big rocks."
The 2 "World Heritage" workers nearby didn't seem to mind too much that there was a toddler ripping apart their "barricade." It reminds me of a quote I heard Bill Cosby say one time, "I can conquer any country with an army of toddlers."

We got a nice family picture nearby too...also included in the 6.60 pound price.

As you can see, this 6.60 pound price is a big deal to me. Mainly because as I explained...you can see it very well when you come up the hill. Just a very small flimsy nylon fence separates you from it. You could easily just walk up to the fence, FOR FREE...and take a picture. Also, they are having in the works a plan to put the road that goes up to Stonehenge underground, make you park 3 km away at a "state of the art" tour/welcoming center and then get trained into Stonehenge. Hmmm...I'd rather save my 6.60 pounds and see it the way I just did.

Either way, it was still very cool. And afterwards, we explored a town called Salisbury. No, we did not get steak there. Instead, there was a little French market in town! Brian bought some cheeses, pates, mousse de canard to share with everyone. I didn't understand considering we LIVE in France...but it ended up being quite nice because 1) We got to see John's disgusted reaction to Roquefort, and 2) We got to share a little bit of French culture with everyone.

On Friday, May 8th, we woke up early, got out of the house...and were rewarded with an ugly rainy London day for our tour of the Tower of London. We stood in the rain for our Yodem tour, which was cut short, for...you guessed it...the rain. We all gathered in the Royal chapel for a little bit of history and warmth. And then explored the Crown Jewels afterwards. Pretty impressive. The world's largest diamond, at 530 carats, is there in one of the sceptors.

Anyways, we exited the Crown Jewels display only to be greeted by GORGEOUS sunshine and practically clear skies. BLAST IT ALL! But we ended up thanking Brian in the end for getting us out of the house early because the lines were 4-5 times longer than when we got there in the morning!

We got some pictures outside by the exit of the Tower of London with the Bridge of London. I know it is a bit dark, but I don't have my monitor calibrated yet to fix it:

Playing with Daddy outside the Tower of London

Afterwards, the girls spent the afternoon shopping and stimulating the London economy while Bryan and John explored Camden Market with Eden. Brian took Michael to Hyde Park and played with him like a good dad does with his son!

We all met at home and dilly-dallyed too long and missed a dinner out. On Friday night at 8pm, it is hard to find a family friendly pub environment to eat dinner in! So instead, we got this super cute picture of us girls in our scarves outside of our flat:
And pictures of us crammed into red photo booths:

We got lucky and found a pub near us who did an incredible favor for us and gave us takeaway. She put it all on plates for us and it was still hot (our fish and chips and pies and hamburgers) when we got home. So we enjoyed a nice dinner all together for our last night. All we had to do was take the plates back when we were done.

On Saturday, we all woke up, packed, cleaned, and left. And now, we are adjusting to life after vacation. BLAH.

Love,
P

London - Part III

Wednesday - may 6th: We got another early start to our day at 11:00am and had breakfast at The Waffle House - Patisserie, which was neither our idea of an American Waffle House or a French patisserie. It was delicious all the same!

We took the Rick Steves City Walk, led by our fearless leader and his pensive wife:

Some sights along the way...I like the red buses in this picture that Brian took:

My favorite English tea:

And a very interestingly named tavern:

This interesting fountain palace that resulted in a fun, albeit wet, stop for Michael:

Little Eden even joined in on the fun. We purposely sat her on a dry spot with no water so that we were sure she wouldn't get wet.

But then the wind shifted and she got COMPLETELY soaked!

Brian decided to get some World's Strongest Man Silhouettes

And a Brother's High Five Pose:

After having fun there...we found St. Paul's Cathedral:

Which was kind of strange because it's in the middle of all these business building so it seems a bit weird and out of place. And then, inside, you have to pay to see the church. WHAT? That just seems wrong to me.

We continued with our walk and ended up at the Tower of London:

only to find out that there were no more tours for the day so we would have to pay full price and not get any tours. So we opted to walk across the Tower Bridge:

And sit and play in a green park overlooking the Tower Bridge:
Of course, a game of steamroller was a must:

And pictures of all of us enjoying some down time with our kids:

While we were there, we changed 4 diapers total. Michael pooped once. Got changed. Went to tackle Uncle John. And while hovering over Uncle John's face, did another poop. Eden did not want to be left out so she did a pee diaper and then a poop one.

Ahhh...the great outdoors!

5 days down, 2 more to go! Tomorrow, will be Windsor Castle/Stonehenge (lots of pictures too) and then our last full day (Tower of London/Shopping...not so many pictures).

P

London Part II

On Monday, bank holiday in England, we barely made it out of the house in time for the changing of the guards at 11:30am at Buckingham Palace. Did I mention we were on vacation?

Anyways, here is the best we could do, in the rain, and behind crowds:Michael met a pair of horses. He told me about the black horse that was dirty because it had boogers all over it:

I got a whistle blown at me for wandering too close. I should have known I was too close when I noticed that I was wandering through horse poop.

After this, we took a pretty long walk along side a park. Michael decided he was too tall for this barrier:

We ended up at Covent Market Garden where there was an antique market and various artists. Bryan and Katie haggled and got 5 pounds off their cute painting and we paid sticker price for a photo of Trafalgar Square.

After this, we decided to split up to do shopping. Brian was pretty antsy to go to Oxford Circus and shop so he lit out of there pretty quick! Who would have guessed it was BRIAN who would be so anxious to shop in London?

We met up with J&K and B&K&E around dinnertime and had fish and chips at a good pub near Oxford Circus. After filling our bellies full of grease, we went home and the boys decided to watch About a Boy and sit in the living room while having a farting contest. It was SO incredibly smelly that us girls watched the movie from the dining room. How is it that they got the comfortable seats near the TV and we were relegated to the living room? HOW?

The next morning, Tuesday, we got out to enjoy a full English breakfast with eggs/sausage/mushrooms/tomatoes/beans/toast/tea at Cafe Diana. Which, not surprisingly, was devoted to Princess Diana and was plastered with pictures of her and also letters from her thanking them for the bouquets of flowers they had sent her for her birthday.

After this, we walked through Nottinghill to shop at the outdoor produce market/area: Portobello Market Road.

Here's a pic of a building lined Nottinghill:

The kids fell asleep from sheer boredom during our long walk to Portobello Market Road:

We bought fruits and vegetables for the kids, stopped at some tres chic boutiques and popped over to the Travel Bookstore with the blue front, made famous from the movie Nottinghill with Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts.
Baby Eden decided to bedazzle us with her amazing walking abilities. This girl is too cute for words:

Michael got a treat for being patient while waiting for us to shop:

And when we got back, Brian got pictures of their matching outfits. Thanks Besancons for bringing/buying us these Kinsler jerseys!

In the afternoon, Eden took a nap at home while Katie and Bryan generously straightened up the flat. Team Besancon Paris and Boston decided to visit the Churchill Museum and the underground command center (War Cabinet Rooms) of the British government during WWII. Very cool.

This night, us girls watched the kids as Brian, Bryan, and John went to a pub to watch the ManU v. Arsenal game. We got delicious Italian takeout and the boys enjoyed a night out!

When they came back, we had:

GAME NIGHT. We watched Brian and Bryan duke it out in a very exhilirating game of Memory. As John (the Master Memory Player) called it, a competition between getting zero and zero. It was INCREDIBLE how much these 2 guys forgot where pieces were. Considering I am no Memory professional, I am saying this from john's point of view.

Also, I played Connect 4 with Brian. The first 3 games, I lost in like 30 seconds. And when I finally got my act together, I did beat him in the last game. BOOM. Roasted.

4 days down, 3 more to go!

Love,
P

London - 1st of Several Installments

On Sat. May 2nd (Happy birthday MOMMY!), our nuclear family hopped on the "fast choo choo...go underwater," otherwise known as the Eurostar bound for London.

We arrived at 84 Inverness Terrace around 1:30pm and checked into our 2 story, 3 bedroom flat. We threw our bags down and headed to Hyde Park to check it out and the Princess Diana Memorial Playground (PDMP).

Upon arriving, we found a huge line into the playground. With a bouncer. For a playground. Does anyone else find this as wrong?

I guess I can undestand since it was Saturday after all around 4pm on a sunny day in London. So we decided to play in the grass with our balloon and explore the lake.

Michael loved playing with the balloon. And then when it popped, he loved getting sprayed in the face with Brian's spit when he blew through the balloon end. And of course, running around always is fun for Michael:

After this, we went to Tesco and M&S to buy groceries for a dinner at home and breakfast. And we waited until John & Kelli Besancon and Bryan, Katie, and Eden Thomason arrived! Around 9:45pm, we sat around eating pizza and horrible nachos and catching up/talking. It was a great 1st day!

The 2nd day, Michael got up around 7:30am and by 9:30am was going crazy. Since everyone else was still asleep, we went back to Hyde Park (it's just a 5 min walk away) and went to the PDMP! It was early and there was no line. So we went to town.

First up, the pirate ship:

Michael enjoyed climbing up the ropes, but it was a bit anticlimactic once aboard. So Michael was climbing back down fairly quickly:

Then, there was a huge tree house, so we did that:

Brian decided to do the kids' slide and found out he basically was the length of the slide...and according to this pic, the width as well:

After which, there was a teepee land...so that was at least worth a stop:

And Michael decided that Indians most definitely did this inside them:

After this, we went back to the flat to meet up with everyone else and left around 11am for the Rick Steve's Westminster Walk. We saw Trafalgar square:

Westminster Abbey:



Some horse guards:
Big Ben and Parliament:
And ended up at the London Eye:

Michael could spot this carrousel on the ground after being up in the eye. Kid's got my vision:

After this, we walked along the cold, sunny, and windy River Thames to do the Jubilee walk and headed home for a nice calm dinner at home!

That's 2 days. Only 7 more to blog! So I know you will be checking back every half hour for more...I know it.