London Living

Firstly, we're all okay, and doing fine. The recent attempted car bombings were not close to my office, and certainly not close to where we live. And despite the news, life in London yesterday certainly seemed to be normal - as normal as London gets, anyway. I had told Michelle and the kids that we were going in on Saturday to do something, rain or shine, and had anticipated going to Trafalgar Square to let the kids feed the pigeons, and going to the National Gallery. However, with one of the attempted bombings being right next door, and the annual Pride parade occurring there yesterday, we decided that it might be better not to go there this Saturday.

We did, however, go in - it was raining - and the train ride in was not a promising start to the day, as two guys got into a fight in our coach. I had decided to take the family to the British Museum - there's stuff there for kids and grown-ups. Dalton really wanted to see the mummies, so I was able to buy some time for Michelle and I to wander by some old boring Egyptian, Greek, and Roman stuff by making him promise to behave until we went to see them. Visitor's tip: There is tons of stuff there - you WILL NOT be able to see all of it, or even close to all of it in one day. Pick what you want to see, and buy the guide book for 6 pounds. You might even want to buy the guide book first, as it gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect. What I didn't realise until yesterday is that the Museum (which was started in 1759) actually split out its collections because they became so large, forming what is now the Museum of Natural History and the British Library. Anyway, if you make it over here, I highly, highly, recommend going there. I'm putting some more pictures that Michelle took below.

After spending a few hours there, I enticed everyone to Harrod's, with promises of doughnuts and ice cream. On the way, we passed the Virgin Megastore, so we stopped in, and Mich found a U2 single, which was promptly purchased. We then proceeded to Harrod's. We went through the perfumes and into the food halls. Near the bakery, there's a Krispy Kreme, where we bought the "Limited Edition Harrod's Dreamcake" (picture below), as well as a glazed cruller for Dalton, and a chocolate glazed for Maggie. We then went over and had ice cream. The ice cream creations there are truly amazing looking, and taste good to boot. I would highly recommend going there if you're here, just for the experience and presentation factors. Afterwards, we wandered through the rest of the food halls, and then up to the toys section on the 4th floor. Like everything else there, the toys are presented most enticingly, and our children rushed to look for their favorites, getting sidetracked by just about everything else on the way.

The day wrapped up quite well - we got on the train riding back home, and met a Brit who plays American football in an American football league over here, and had quite a good conversation about holidays, rugby rules, American football vs. "football", and, of course, the terrible weather recently. He was quite personable, and actually confirmed that I was telling the truth about the British celebration of Guy Fawkes' Day... which was being met with some lack of confidence by my wife. It was quite a long day, and we were tired by the time we made it home, but everyone had fun. Dalton says that he will allow me to type what he says about our walk home from the station, so stay tuned for another post later on today.