'Twas the night before Christmas

For anyone who has been wondering what we've been up to for the past couple of weeks, I apologise. The weeks and weekends have been hectic, and by the time I've gotten home I've had little energy to post. I'm going to try to recap the best that I can, but I may miss a few things. Since I last posted on the 10th, there's a lot of ground to cover...

That Sunday, we made it into church in the morning, and putted around London the rest of the day, going to Covent Garden, where we ate at Bistro, then visiting Harrod's and picking out some Christmas ornaments - one of the good things about the credit crunch is that everyone is already putting everything on sale, and we got ornaments from Harrod's for half price. We also got Dalton and Maggie the Harrod's Christmas bears, since they were on sale as well. After Harrod's, we headed back to Trafalgar Square to wait for the carolers. While we were waiting, I got some mince pies and mulled wine for Mich and myself, and a brownie for the kids. Regrettably, the carolers didn't show up on time, and it started raining, so we headed home without seeing the carolers in the square.

The following week was extremely hectic for me - I didn't make it home at a decent hour all week. So, not a whole lot to report there. On Friday, though, Mich and the kids came up to meet me in London so we could finally see the carolers in Trafalgar. We watched them sing for a bit, then headed up towards Piccadilly and wandered down Regent Street to Carnaby for the Christmas lights, before returning to Trafalgar for a few more pictures and carols.

Saturday was the big ice skating day - this year we went to the rink at the Tower of London. We were a little intrepidated at first, since when we got there, the rink had already partially turned into a giant puddle of water (it was around 50F on Saturday, although, to be fair, that was probably the first time in about a month that it was that warm). Somehow we managed to remain mostly dry - Mich, Maggie and I didn't fall down at all, and Dalton only fell down three times, but he also went around the rink thirteen times, and was out there for the majority of the hour that we were allowed to skate. We went to eat at the Shad Thames Pizza Express - the Shad Thames being a small alley/street on the south side of Tower Bridge that has a somewhat medieval feel to it - cobblestones, tall overhanging buildings, and the like.

And then, Sunday we went in to church for the carol service, followed by a visit to the Museum of London - which I found mostly interesting for the bits about the great fire of 1666, although it also had some stuff about the Black Death, which apparently freaked Maggie out. After that, we went to the "Christmas Meditation" at Westminster Abbey. I enjoyed the Abbey, but.... I suppose that I anticipated a "Christmas Meditation" being somewhat Christmas-y. While there were some Christmas readings, the music was stuff that was on a par with John Cage. If we hadn't been sitting on the front row, (and Maggie hadn't fallen asleep) we would have walked out. Several people did. Michelle and I were kicking ourselves for not going with the traditional "Lessons and Carols" service at St. Margaret's (right next to Westminster). Still, we did actually make it into Westminster, so I guess that counts for something.

Today, we're going in to see the Nutcracker, hopefully followed by a candlelight service at the little church up the road. And then, to put the children to bed, so that visions of sugar plums can dance in their head...

Tuesday, August 7th

Tuesday was off to a slow start, largely due to the long day the day prior. Before I had met up with everyone on Monday, they had also been to Covent Garden and had lunch with Johnny and Becky Long at some Italian joint. After everyone finally got up and moving, we headed back into London for a final day of sightseeing.

We opted for the Big Bus Tour. I know I've mentioned this before, but I really do recommend this as a good way to see the sights of the city. All but my dad had done it before, but even so, it was enjoyable, and the prior time it had been rather cold and wet, and Tuesday was largely sunny and reasonably warm. So we rode around and saw the sights of the city, including Tower Bridge - please, please, please, whatever you do, understand that the bridge with the towers on it is called "Tower Bridge". London Bridge itself is rather unimpressive, although it seems to afford the English great amounts of joy to speak of the Americans purchasing the previous bridge, now located in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

At any rate, we spent a bit riding around on the bus, and then my dad wanted to get off at Westminster Abbey, so we hopped off there. Dalton was yearning to eat, so we ended up having a picnic in the grass in front of Westminster, but we decided that time was running short, so we didn't actually go in after we got through eating. We hopped back on the bus, took advantage of the river boat ride that comes with it, and then hopped on again. The bus happened to pick up a Canadian who was clearly ecstatic about being in London (although she was leaving the next day for a European tour) and who was taking pictures of everything. I was reminded of the time when Michelle and I went to Ireland - on the last day we were there, we bumped into a couple from New Orleans while we were in The Brazen Head. The lady made the comment that since The Brazen Head was the oldest pub in Ireland, it stood to reason that the fireplace there must be the oldest fireplace in Ireland - and we should take some pictures. She then went on to make the comment that she had taken over 1,000 pictures in about a week of sightseeing there. I imagine that the Canadian on the bus was well on her way to 1,000 pictures in one day.

We finally got off the last bus of the day close to St. Paul's, and went to a pub (Ye Olde London, above) for some fish and chips. I would call it a good day, much less demanding on the feet than the previous days, for certain.

So that wrapped up the visit - fairly short, yet enjoyable. I enjoyed the opportunity to act the part of tourist guide for a few days and it was a welcome break from routine. So, I guess I'm saying Maison Johnson is officially open for business...