Let's Finish This: London Days 4, 5, and the flight home

So much for getting these posts finished two weeks ago.  Well, in the new catch phrase of my 2-year-old: "Let's Do This!"

On Sunday morning, Eric started looking at maps very closely.  Something similar happened in Oxford and you know how that turned out.  Well, he had decided that instead of walking the half mile to the nearest tube stop, we should use the bus system to get to Hyde Park for the end of the half-marathon that Grandpa and Grandma were running in.  Have I mentioned that was what they were doing?  No?  Well, they were.  Because they are amazing.  Rick commented he didn't know what we would be doing when we were pushing a decade that will be kept secret...but, he hoped we would be able to run half-marathons, too.  Heck, I hope I'm able to run a half-marathon when I'm a couple decades under the decade they are...

At any rate, long story short, my adventuresome husband convinced me to try out the bus thing.  We started out in the wrong direction, but ended up where we needed to be.  With plenty of time to spare.  The park we arranged to meet the Buschelmans at post-race turned out to be the meeting spot for anyone with kids.  Who knew?  (Rick knew, that is who)  So after a few claustrophobic moments, Eric suggested we head to the river for our lunch.  One that was missing sandwiches, but since there were chips, cookies, twix, and oranges, only Dom really minded the omission.  But, being Dom, he did not complain.  His mother did, though.

We passed the time doing mini-races through the park.  Eric was mistaken for a local a couple of times.  He was very proud.

Thanks to technology, we were able to track the Buschelmans and caught them about 100 yards from the finish.  They are just the coolest grandparents around.  And the best part?  Rick had offered to watch the kids for us in the afternoon while Eric and I ventured out on our own.  The kids were a bit touristed out and just wanted to hang out at the flat, which would work great for any runners who might just want to sit for a while.

We didn't pass them off immediately...because that would have been insane.  So, we took our offspring on the cruise we had missed the day before.  The timing could not have been more perfect.  We showed up just as they were boarding and sat up front.  The kids all enjoyed the time on the boat and Eric and I enjoyed the dry wit of the tour guide.

After the Thames cruise, we headed to the park we had discovered the day before to meet up with Rick and Liz.  John loves slides.  None of these kids have loved them like him.  This has made my times at parks so much easier because I can almost always count on him being somewhere along the slope.  This slide was no different.  He must have ridden it 100 times, and that will tire anyone out.  Lucky Grandma and Grandpa!

After the Buschelmans arrived, we booked it to the Tower for the last beefeater tour.  It was so great!  Not only did we learn horrible stories about the tower, but we got to go at our own pace without chasing a child.  And at 25 pounds a ticket, that experience is priceless!

And, it was about this time that our camera's battery died.  Therefore, we have no pictures of the crown jewels (which had no line!) or the tower where the two princes stayed (the boys and I just covered this in history!) or the chapel where St. Thomas More's remains are buried.  We did get a picture of Eric outside of the tower where his confirmation saint spent his last days.  So that's something.  It took us a bit, but we eventually remembered we had Liz's phone, as ours did not get reception in England, so we took several attempts at a selfie.  

After touring the tower, we found a pub and had fish and chips and enjoyed a quiet evening together.  We got to discuss the highlights of the trip and both agreed we were exhausted and that John is heavy (I know...should have brought a stroller).  But, this trip was better than we could have ever imagined.  And we still had 36 hours!

 The next morning, we went to the Imperial War Museum.  They had several exhibits which told about the lead up to World War I as well as the war itself.  The boys could not understand it and I had no words to help them.  An entire generation was wiped out.  Boys not much older than Dom were sent.  I was keeping back tears as best as I could.  After the emotional experience of that exhibit, we moved through the World War II section much more quickly.  We will wait to discuss the Holocaust on another day.  And eventually headed to the hall that told stories of extreme bravery.  The best lesson they could take away from here is that bravery does not mean you are not scared.  It means you are very scared, but go through with it anyway.

 After spending a couple of hours and several pounds in the gift shop, we had yet another picnic lunch and decided that Molly and John's sightseeing was over for the trip.  Grandma offered to take them back to the flat, and the rest of us headed to Trafalgar square.  Where Dom and Will got their picture with the lions around Horatio Nelson.  Naturally.  We also headed into the National Gallery.  Eric and Will could have stayed there for hours discussing perspective and the use of color and technique.  Dom was not as impressed.  He only asked about dozen times if it was time to leave.  But, never in a whine.  Almost as though the thought had just occurred to him...again...about 5 minutes after he had whispered the question to me earlier.  Overall, he was a really great sport.  We only spent about an hour there total and then it was time to head back to the flat.

 Here we are on the tube.  Looking like locals.

 If I haven't mentioned it earlier, John loved the escalators and we rode them up and down and up and down a lot.  Some people would notice and give us a smile.  I tried very hard to always be out of eveyrone's way...but you do fail on occasion.  Ah well.

 While we were in Trafalgar square, I was looking out towards Big Ben and thought what a nice view it was.  As our camera was dead, I asked Rick to borrow his camera.  I could not tell if I got the picture I wanted or not, but it turned out better than I thought.  It really was a pretty view.  I wish Tracy had been there to take it, I'm sure it would have been beautiful.

As it was our last evening, we knew we needed to have dinner in a pub.  Luckily, there was one quite close to us that we had scoped out earlier in the day.

 As this happened over a month ago, I don't remember what anyone ate.  Though, I seem to recall there was a cider with "Molly" in the name.  I'm pretty sure fish and chips were eaten, too.  It was a great way to spend our last evening.  So much so, that Rick and Eric went to another pub after this one.

We ended the night playing Mexican Train Dominoes and finishing laundry.  Our trip to London was coming to a close.  The next day we took a cab to the airport, checked in without incident, spent some time in the children's play place, crossed the Atlantic without incident (Will commented this flight was way better than the flight east.  He was not sick and had a window seat and loved seeing us go over various big cities or through the clouds), landed in Atlanta, hit customs, found our next gate, where Molly and John fell asleep and proceeded to sleep on our flight to Fort Walton, where John woke up at the very end and cried for the first time on any of our flights.  If we got nasty looks, I didn't notice.  I knew my kids had done an amazing job of traveling and it was 2 AM by his body clock.

Our wonderful neighbors picked us up and we got everyone home and into bed.  We had made it.  It was a great vacation and the kids are eager to travel internationally again.  I think we'll seriously consider a stroller the next time around.

And here are some more pictures that I didn't have when I started these posts so I'll just add them here.  Thanks for reading:

London Day 2 and 3: The Tour Bus

A little over 13 years ago, my first or second bff (I have so many, it is a little hard to keep track), Ann, and I went to Europe (clearly, she is a little bit higher than other bffs who have not taken transatlantic trips with me and spent 24 hours a day for 30 days in my presence).  On an extremely tight budget.  We spent a month traveling through 6 countries staying in hostels and basically surviving on whatever free breakfast was provided.  Not unlike my children on this most recent trip.  One of our splurges in London was to buy tickets for a tour bus.  It worked out really well for us (aside from my getting a really bad sunburn...in London...while attempting to backpack through Europe...ouch.  Thanks Ann for carrying my backpack for the next few days!)  With the happy memories of this trip, I ordered seven 48 hour tickets on a hop on/hop off sightseeing bus.  I knew the kids would love it!

 Granted, I did not realize they rode public transit for free.  Nor did I realize how relatively easy it is to figure out that transit.  Nor did I factor in how quickly we could get from one place to another when you can pick which direction you want to go in (the tour bus does a one direction loop, so you may need to ride the entire 2 or 3 hour loop to get where you wanted to go).  And I definitely didn't factor in how cold riding in an open top bus would be for my Florida clan...

 It was really cold.  And the novelty quickly wore off as the children fended off hypothermia.  But, it was nice for a while to listen to the tour guide and learn various things about London.  None of which I can recall a month after doing so.

For example...I have no idea what this is:...and I should.  It looks famous.  Maybe where Will and Kate were married?  Definitely not St. Paul's Cathedral.  Eric would know.  Ask him.

The Marble Arch.  And clearly my best side.  We saw this site more than a couple times as we road the tour bus around the loop. 

Liz has most recently been to London and suggested we go see Regent's Park.  We got off the tour bus at the nearest stop and started walking.  It was cold, drizzling, and I was probably carrying John.  Or someone was.  Kids were hungry.  Ok, I was hungry.  It was a pretty low point.

Then we walked through the gates of the park and the sun came out.  And by sun, I mean we saw a sign indicating a cafe was nearby.  Which meant there was Hot Chocolate nearby.  With renewed vigor we located this oasis, sat down to a lunch of homemade sandwiches, crisps, pizza, and cookies.  Drank our warm drinks and were ready to carry on with our day with renewed vigor. 

I love watching the transformation of my children as they enter a wide open space.  John can't walk down a sidewalk for more than about a block, but give him a park and he could run all day.  Not really exaggerating.  He and Molly chased some geese for a while.

Which made the above statue all the more appropriate to discover.  A little boy with curly hair catching a goose.  I think Will thought it was particularly clever when I commented that there was a statue of John.

The swans were not so accommodating of my children's attentions.  One snapped at Molly when she got too close.  It only got a bit of her leggings, though. 

Of everything we did, Regent's Park is definitely one of my favorites.  Even in October, it was beautiful.  Liz commented that the roses and flowers were really amazing in the summer.  I'm sure they were, but I think visiting without crowds was a worthwhile trade-off.  Especially with children running off to discover little hidden corners.  We lost Molly once amid the rose bushes.

John found a bridge. 

I love this picture.  I shared it on facebook with the title: Mischief Managed. 

I have no idea why the boys are doing this on this particular tube stop.  Again, ask Eric. 

After Regent's Park, we took public transit to The British Museum.  Prior to our trip, I purchased a Scavenger Hunt book of London to help make some sites more interesting for the boys.  The British Museum was included and they happily searched out various exhibits to get full points.  One of which is The Rosetta Stone.

I let Eric take the lead on this museum as I was carrying John.  Again.  He was asleep, so I was grateful for that.  But, my back and legs had not recovered from the walking tour the day before, so it was pretty uncomfortable to do anything, but sit.  Which was fine.  Because it was quiet.

We only spent about an hour in the museum.  And then spent about that in a green space outside while the kids ran off some energy.  John had woken up.  He needed to stretch his legs and the other three were more than happy to keep up with him. 

Along with running, the kids loved going into the phone booths.  These are all over London.  I may be repeating myself here, but in some of the country villages, the phone booths have been converted to honor system libraries.  The kids got a kick out of borrowing a couple books from the one we visited in Barrow.

We did not go into many stores.  But, it was fun to walk along and window shop.  Eric found a store that he would love to check out someday when he is look for some more dapper clothes.

After the British Museum, we head back to the flat.  The boys returned to Adventure Land and Molly and John had some quiet time.  A few words about the flat.  It was three stories.  The kitchen was particularly tiny and the washing machine was located in there.  None of the appliances had words, just pictures.  So, John probably could have figured them out better than the adults.  The dryer was on the third floor.  So, yeah.  Not cool.  Also on the third floor were two bedrooms.  The three boys took one and Molly took the other.  She was in heaven and after the first day of sightseeing, really never wanted to leave the flat again.

But, leave the flat she did.  On Saturday morning, we headed to The Natural History Museum.  I have this single picture.  Why?  Because Eric had the camera and also took on the responsibility of holding John.  Which meant, he could not take pictures.  The older three really enjoyed the exhibits they saw.  There were not a lot of hands on exhibits, but there was one that allowed you to create a volcano.  Volcanoes are one of Will's top four things to discuss.  (The others currently being Alexander Hamilton, Harry Potter, and long division).  We also watched a video about earthquakes that led to more questions than answers.  All in all, a great learning experience.

Poor Eric did not have as much of an enjoyable time.  He had John on his back for about 30 minutes, was in so much pain, he could not fathom how I had held him for 5 times longer.  Came to the conclusion I must be in a horrible mood and he needed to start doing everything in his power to make my trip better.  In reality, I was just tired.  Because we were traveling with four kids in England.  Just part of the territory. 

Rick and Liz met us outside the museum (which, it being a Saturday and free was super crowded).  We decided we would hit up the bus tour and head to the Tower of London where we could take a river cruise.  As we were sitting outside the museum eating our lunch, it started to rain.  Really the first (and only) out right rain of the trip.  Eric had packed some umbrellas and rain gear.  We still got pretty wet, but it all dried by the end of the day.  We caught our bus and rode around seeing some more of London.  Dom and I spotted the house where Benedict Arnold stayed.  I think there is a picture of St. Paul's Cathedral somewhere, too.  Dom and I opted to sit below as the above seats were wet and cold.  Eventually a few more of our group joined us and we had some twix and chocolate Digestives.  We ended up not taking the river cruise that day, as there was a park and that kept the children plenty happy until it was time to return to the flat.  Will and Dom were a little disappointed, but we came up with a plan to ride the cruise the next afternoon (turned out I had purchased a deal with the tour bus that we'd get a third day free with the 48 hour pass) Where I fell asleep at 7:30 while everyone else watched Chicken Run.

The above picture was taken by Molly.  I know, because there are several in the series that start far away and end up extremely close.  Grandpa is a really great sport.  I like that hat, too!

The kids on their walk to the bus.  They look almost local.

The end of the third day.  Next up: Half-Marathon!