Saturday and Sunday (March 31 to April 1st)

Pop and Grandma gave us a great surprise when they told us they would be treating us to a trip to Europe. They've been a few times recently visiting Cari who has been teaching in London for the past few years. Sari was in tears. Grandma said it was to make memories. Well that it did. We'll remember this forever.

Sari bought me and the boys a journal to record and illustrate our trip. In this travel log I jotted down my thoughts and added them with the pictures from our camera. NOTE: the pics are from our camera only and not from Pop, Cari, and Grandma's, as I would consider them better photographers.

First thing this morning was Sam's Rio Salado little league "opening day". He's been to Jake and Luke's but this was his. He was proud in his new uniform. Sari stayed home to clean. After ceremonies, festivities, and play, and plenty of procrastinating, it was time for me to pack. Our flight was at 7:25 pm and our neighbor Teresa was taking us at 5:15 to the airport. I was getting my usual flight anxiety.

It died down after we settled in at our gate (Flight BA288, Gate B25, Terminal 4). Britons were waiting too. Our first taste of British accent. The next taste was after boarding because the whole flight crew was British.

I've flown before with Jake and Luke and they were blissful. However, Jake is anxious this time because we're flying over the ocean. Among other things, we watched movies and cartoons on the flight to pass time. I watched bits of "The Descendant," "Tower Heist," Johnny English Reborn," and "Creature Comforts". I read some on my Kindle (Jo Nesbo), and I fidgeted.

We were served dinner about two hours after take off, and good thing because we were all famished. Poor Sam was already asleep though, then Jake fell asleep, then Sari, then Luke. I had bits of sleep but was too uncomfortable. Sam got the most sleep, then Sari, Luke, and Jake. We were served breakfast.

The flight path started north through Flagstaff then Denver, the Dakotas into Canada, over Greenland, Scotland, then London and Heathrow airport. We were all very excited to be in London. Pop met us with a driver. Wow, the English roads and countryside.

The cars were different, the buildings and homes looked different. The buildings had smears of black soot; stained from the industrial age. Jake fell asleep during the ride.We pulled up a steep hill to our Whitehall Park house. A three story red-brick structure.

Our driver unloaded the bags, Pop took care of the fee and tip, and we were greeted by Grandma and Aunt Cari. We entered from the street, through a garden gate, left then right up steps though a small front yard.

Shoes came off inside. The tiled entry passes a sitting room to a steep staircase going up. To the right of the staircase is the family room, to the left is a hall bathroom tucked back and then the kitchen entry. Before entering there is a door opening to short slippery steps to the basement. The living room has a fireplace, TV, piano, and kids toys. It connects to the kitchen on the other side. The kitchen has wood floors, wood chopping block counters, a marble-countered island, modern appliances, and fully stocked cupboards. The ceiling over the kitchen was all paned glass windows, steepled in the middle. You could look down from the second and third floor bedrooms to see who was cooking (or making coffee).

Going upstairs to the second floor landing three bedrooms are beautifully made for us with a central shower and bathroom. One more floor up there are two more bedrooms and a bathroom. After settling in and marveling at the place we would be living at for the next 10 days we prepared to go out.

We walked down to the Archway station, which would be our Underground (AKA the Tube) hub for travels from our London home, Cari gave a quick tutorial on etiquette for riding on the Tube. At the ticket window to buy passes, I could scarcely understand the guy. It was though he wasn't speaking English. It must have been a combination of flying all night and his thick accent.

We rode the tube to Waterloo Station. We walked through the station and out to the busy streets and were led by Cari to our first view, magnificently framed under the near bridge.

We were fortunate to walk into a chocolate fair and had to order something.

We stopped for biscuits and coffee and made our way to the Thames river bank and had these views.





We crossed the bridge and walked. In London! Grandma told us that artists sculpted 200 eggs and placed them throughout London.







We saw lots of red telephone booths.





Trafalgar Square





View from Trafalgar Square

We made our way through the theater district on our way to Trafalgar Square. It would be fun to take in a show in one of these theaters (when Sam is old enough). Pop and I were trying to guess how many seats these old places held - between 400 to 1200?

The Olympic count-down.

When we made it back to Whitehall (home) Grandma and Pop made a comforting spaghetti with meat sauce and salad. I'm proud of the boys for the journal and sketching they did today. It seems like a week ago when we were at Sam's opening day.

Monday

Awoke to a beautiful crisp sunny morning. After toast and coffee we gathered out the door to make our way to Buckingham Palace. We wanted to make it by 11:30am to see the changing of the guard. A few paces out the door and Sari was rushing back inside. No one was sure what happened. Sam said it was because he spit his gum in her hand. Actually she picked a plant she thought was mint and pinched the leaves. Her fingers immediately felt like needles pricking at her. We were guessing throughout the day whether it was poison ivy or, God forbid, poison oak. Sari guessed correctly. It was Stinging Nettles.

We finally made it down the hill to Archway. We took the Northern line to the Victoria line to Victoria station.
We walked through a beautiful park, Royal park, as we approached the inlaid gold designs of the gates to Buckingham Palace. There were a lot of people to watch the changing of the guards.

The weather was brisk. It was just cold, or warm, enough to remove a layer but keep a scarf with a t-shirt. I kept a sweatshirt around the waist to use when necessary. It was beautiful out.

After the changing ceremony we walked to the Patisserie Valerie for breakfast (and or lunch). Then we walked around a few blocks, looking right or left as the roads directed us, which was helpful since they came from the opposite direction from what we were used to. We then made our way to Westminster Abbey, taking up-close and personal pictures of Big Ben on the way.

There was a long line for Westminster Abbey, actually two long lines one for cash and the other for credit. I mildly protested the glaringly obvious hypocrisy of money changing. Was it a museum, a church, or both?

The lines were long but went pretty fast. The boys got to run out some energy on the lawn.

The historic significance inside the church was daunting. From King Henry III, V, VII, VIII (other numerals?) to Queen Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots, and poets corner with Lord Tennyson, Byron, Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, and many more immortalized in the ground and tombs within the abbey. A lady chaplain called for a moment of silence at 3pm and then spoke a prayer.

The unbelievable art and skill and work that went into the statues, tombs, and other flourishes of the final resting places of these people as though they are gods themselves.

The cloister room had lighted incense that when mixed with the church and the old wood, marble, and stone gave me a happy and calm feeling of nostalgia.

After Westminster Abbey we hurried to the Eye. Fortunately, Grandma had the foresight to buy fast-pass tickets from her phone.

After the eye, Luke got lost. What a sense of dread that is for a parent. A sick feeling I had and I'm sure Sari did too. Here's how these things happen. Sari is taking Sam into a gift shop and Luke wants to go with them, but Sam wants to go down to a carousel we saw earlier. I start to head in the opposite direction with Jake to check out a haunted house thing. Luke decides to come with us. Sari yells, "Luke I thought you wanted to come in here?" Luke changes his mind again and turns back to Sari. Jake and I take off. Where did we go wrong? Where was the hole? Ultimately, I dropped the ball. I saw Sari heading into the gift shop with Sam and Luke going to them. However, Luke didn't actually see them. He walked to the carousel. I should have watched him until he got to Sari. It was so crowded, poor Luke was scared and crying but he found us after walking all the way to the carousel and back.

We all headed down to the carousel ride and were working up an appetite. Sam wanted his picture taken with the street performers pretending to be statues. They paint themselves silver, gold, bronze or whatever. He really liked the guy dressed like a skeleton zombie and wanted his picture taken with him but he was on break as you can see riding the carousel.

We had dinner at Wagamama. After dinner we walked across Westminster bridge, found a store where Luke found a perfect satchel to keep his things in and then headed to the underground and home.

Tuesday

I thought today was Wednesday and the cleaners were due around 2pm. However, I had a pleasant surprise when I realized it was only Tuesday.

We are dressing for rain but it is beautiful sunshine at the moment. We're learning how to dress with layers, removing articles in the sun, and putting them back on in the shadows. We're not accustomed to this. My favorite is t-shirt, scarf, and beanie, with a sweatshirt handy for the frequent cool spells. It can get downright cold by the Thames, in the shade, or sundown. The warmest I've dressed so far is t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweater, scarf, beanie, and gloves (and always jeans). It's warm in the underground. I have to say I'm really loving the weather so far. I love the mix of warm and cold, sun and clouds.

We took off for our routine walk down the hill to Archway. We're headed for the museum district to the National History Museum and the Victoria and Albert museum.

In the National History Museum, Pop, Jake, Luke, and I headed to the Blue Zone to see the dinosaurs.

Sari and Sam headed to Human Biology - Sam's choice. Grandma and Cari went to the V&A. We all met later for lunch at a cafe in the Victoria and Albert. The "cafe" is adorned like some Victorian princesses dining hall with giant chandeliers, columns, paintings, ornate ceiling, and trim, which contrasted with the stacking chairs, round cafeteria tables, and lunch trays.

We toured the V&A after lunch and it was so impressive - one of the finest I've been to (not that I have been to many museums to make a weighted comparison). We barely had time to scratch the surface before heading to our next destination, Harrods.

Traveling by foot in London is an experience. There are a lot of pedestrians, beautiful old buildings and architecture, old-style taxis, double-decker buses, old red phone booths, bass-ackwards traffic, and looking in the opposite direction before crossing the street.

The other thing that stands out is the London accents. They're not the smooth British accents of say Hugh Grant, but more like an actor putting on a cockney accent. I don't know if cockney is the right description, but it almost sounds like actors putting on a London accent. According to Cari the accents are different by location and class.

Harrod's is enormous and we barely scratching the surface. Sari bought some marzipan candy and immediately Sam was crying because he wanted the banana shaped marzipan not the pear and watermelon. The crying went on for some time before I finally took him back around to the first candy store and bought him the banana candy. I feel bad for Sam because he's a bit of the third wheel out here. He would be just as happy going to a park. He's been asking and I've been promising so I promised I would take him to nearby Hyde park. Unfortunately, it is cloudy, rainy and very cold now. We don't stay too long before heading off to catch the train back to Archway and up the hill to home.


While the house was being filled with the aromas of dinner being cooked, the rain opened up on the kitchen roof window. It was fantastic. Grandma made a superb baked chicken dinner with salad, mashed potato, and broccoli. Another night, another comforting dinner.

Wednesday

This morning tube line we took Northern to Kings Cross to Picadilly to Covent Gardens. The forecast is ten degrees lower than yesterday. I forced Jake to wear his beanie and new running shoes. Mom forced him to wear his new jacket.  Jake was practically in tears. Of course, then he's mean to Luke. So Luke teases him, Jake strikes back madly, and Luke retaliates. I intervene. Luke is close to tears. Jake confided to me during lunch that he doesn't like wearing a beanie because it messes up his hair. Funny. He wears his baseball cap all the time. When he gets out of the shower he puts his baseball cap over his wet hair to form it. He also deoesn't like his new jacket because he said it was too big. I'm guessing since Luke's is big on him and Luke wears a beanie Jake doesn't like the style - just a guess.

Jake was sullen and quiet on the train. It's a recurring theme this trip. He opens up when we get back to the house. Is it a 13 year old thing? Perhaps, I need to set a better example.

Again, walking throught London - beautiful architecture tightly woven buildings with narrow meandering streets, and lots of pedestrians - to Covent Gardens.  It's bright out now and very warm but large rain clouds are everywhere. Two hundred ten Easter eggs had been spread around downtown London. Each egg about thirty inches tall and uniquely painted, sculpted, and interpreted by artists, schools, groups, people, et al. All the eggs were collected and then dispersed around Covent Gardens.

We ate at a pub. We entered off a street corner and walked up narrow winding staris to a small landing that led into a small dining area. We ordered beef pies, fish and chips, and burgers. Our server brought me a taste of English beer, Doombar. It was not like anything I tasted. It was a delicious ale. He brought me another taste when I finished. After lunch we took in street performers, shopped and admired more eggs.

From Convent Gardens we took the tube to Baker St. destined for the Sherlock Homes museum 221B Baker St.

The house is three and a half old creaky wood floors with small Victorian rooms and fireplaces and old trinketts related to stories of Conan Doyle. The last floor had wax figures in the rooms and the final half floor were steps to an attic set.

Descending the steps to leave required squeezing by people coming up. Of course we had to visit the shop. Next door was The Beatles Store and across the street was another rock and roll store. We visited both.

It started raining. Homeward bound. I promised Sam we would visit another park. This time near home.

Grandma, Pop, Cari, and Jake went to the market outside Archway. Sari, Sam, Luke, and I headed up towards home and then to find Waterlow Park.

The clearners were still at the house. We dropped off our stuff and headed up the hill. It's a nice neighborhood. We got to the top of the hill passed two old, ornate, and beautiful churches, crossed a bridge and finally found what looked like the entrance to a park. Up some steps and between hedges and shrubs we came on a clearing that opended to reveal a huge expanse of green park, broken up by separate plateaus, hills, flower gardens, and a lake with a stream falling under a bridge to a lower lake. Also, finally, a play area wooden platforms on springs, a large rope ladder, a rolling wooden pole raised off the ground on each end, and single rope swing. Also, we found a huge hollow tree about five feet in diameter.

Then we found a graveyard. Hightgate cemetary. A scene out of the Haunted mansion. It was overrun with crowded cement crosses and headstones and meandering trails and moss on cement. Cari later told us that she made a special visit to this cemetary because there are famous literary people buried there, including Karl Marx.

Intermittently itrained while we were walking to the park and at the park. We brought an umbrella for tunately. We found another p;lay area that had a small merry go round, slide, and swings. We spoke to a mother with a young girl, probably around one and a half years old. She was excited to play with Sam and couldn't keep her hands off Luke - he was playing hisnew Sherlock Holms music box for her. Her mom recommended annother park close by callled Highgate Woods and another Hampstead Heath. We came home and had leftover spaghetti, salad and garlic bread. Again, it poured on the kitchen window while dinner cooked.