London -- Monday & Tuesday

Given that the Eurostar trip through the Chunnel is only 2.25 hours long, it was surprisingly tiring to get to London. We left our apartment at 10:30, took two metros to the train station, and then had to go through customs, etc. We arrived in London around 2:00 (it's an hour earlier there), and then took two undergrounds and walked quite a ways to get to the hotel.

(view from our hotel)

By the time we unpacked and ventured out, we were tired and hungry. We randomly chose the Oxford Circus stop to "pop out", as Marc is fond of saying. It ended up being a charming area, full of great stores for window shopping.

We walked by Liberty of London. It is enormous. Just huge. With multiple floors. Marc offered to go in, knowing I would be quite taken with it, but I knew it wouldn't be fun with the rest of the fam anxiously waiting to go. Just one thing of many I'd like to do in London if I ever get back there someday!

After wandering for awhile, we found a little restaurant where we stopped for dinner. We sat outside, rested our weary feet, and then we all felt much better.

I can't decide if I like this or find it a bit of a stressful admonition...

It was dark at this point and Marc and Max had to stop in at a big Apple store.

Eva and I waited outside and I took some pictures. These big hanging baskets of flowers are all around London. They reminded me of Victoria, B.C., which is probably silly, as Victoria is very British and so is most likely supposed to remind one of London? They are lovely, but I couldn't help wondering how they water them all.

After the interminable Apple store visit, we rode on one of these double-decker buses. It's a great way to get around town. I much prefer buses to subways, as you don't have to worry about stairs (always a trial with a stroller) and you get to see where you are going!

We bought a few groceries and went back to go to bed. Eva was in our room, and Max & Lucas had their own room across the hall. Eva did pretty well, but I still envied Max & Lucas.

On Tuesday, Marc took all of his students to see As You Like It at the Globe Theater. They had standing tickets. Can you imagine standing to watch a play for nearly 3 hours?? I couldn't. Although I was very curious, I stayed with Eva & Lucas, and Max went to the Globe. (Max loved it. Apparently about 4 people fainted and had to be taken out. Later when we saw an ambulance go by, Lucas said, "Well, I guess we know where they're going." I looked at him blankly, and he said, "The Globe!")

I took Lucas and Eva to the Natural History Museum. West Brompton was our nearest underground stop. I liked how the platform was outside, so refreshing.

Also, how cute is that? Benches and flowers to make your wait cheerier.

Lucas, wearing one of the new hats we bought him at H&M. He's really into hats right now. Mostly because he thinks his hair is too short.

The museum was bigger than I had imagined. We were there for over 3 hours and didn't see an entire wing and portions of the other two! Lucas rode the escalator up into the globe, but they wouldn't allow strollers, so we took the lift.

They have a set of a Japanese grocery store that simulates an earthquake. You stand on a platform that moves as the ground moved during an actual earthquake in Japan, just a few years ago. Monitors show you the actual footage of the store during the quake. In the museum's version, the items on the shelves are roped down so that they don't fall off, but merely move around. The whole thing freaked Eva out, but Lucas and I thought it was fascinating.

For some reason, this photo just tickles me.

They have an excellent dinosaur section, complete with robotic raptors and a T. Rex. Eva couldn't get out of the T. Rex display fast enough, yet it was all she could talk about afterwards. Kids!

In the creepy crawlies exhibit, they have this clever display of things that bugs eat. You choose something off the "menu", and then you are treated to a short film of the appropriate bug eating said "food". Disgusting, but clever.

When the kids were worn out, we went back to the hotel to wait for Marc and Max. I started to feel ill, which may or may not have had something to do with the sausage & egg baguette I had for breakfast... I got into bed for awhile and Lucas played with Eva (hallelujah!).

Marc and Max came back later than we thought. They had already gone to dinner, so we just went to a grocery store for provisions. I had a wonderful pasta/pesto salad and a cherry tomato/fresh mozzarella/basil salad, both prepackaged in the deli section. Strangely enough, the store that advertised being open 24/7 started to close when we were there.

End of London Day 2.