Sunday, October 7, 2007: Uber Iron Man Day

I have discovered it takes a minimum of two stupid Americans to learn how to operate a flat in London. What Jamie can't figure out I stumble upon by accident and vice versa. It is truly a humbling experience. I also suspect there is a governor on the water heater. Hot showers last approximately 3 minutes and forget about taking a shower or a bath in the evening. Brr! On the other hand, heated towel racks totally rock!

This was the last full day Jamie will have to toodle around the city with us. Next weekend we will be in Spain and the following out in Warwick so we did know ahead of time that we'd be pushing Liam and Colin a bit. We had a devil of a time waking Liam up. I was prepared to leave him behind and head out anyway. Too bad we didn't do that.


We took the DLR into the city which the boys just loved. It's almost as good as a roller coaster ride with quite the side to side jiggle. Wear a good sturdy bra if you require one. Some of the line is above ground and we sat in the very front car. They had a ball. Thank goodness it was a Sunday morning with no grumpy commuters to annoy.


We started our day at the British Museum. Our children have no appreciation for its contents. Did they really spring from my loins? Jamie and I could easily have spent all day there. Liam started whining and moaning after fifteen minutes. Colin showed much more enthusiasm and even asked questions about specific items. He was enamored of all the helmets and every time we went into a room he wanted to know if there were any helmets there. His favorite was from the Sutton Hoo burial site. I think he was also a bit taken with "Ginger," an Egyptian buried in the sand about 5,000 years ago. I was really disappointed that Liam did not exhibit more interest. We had just finished a unit on ancient history. You'd think the Parthenon pieces and its conflict would have at least piqued his curiosity. The kids lasted somewhere between 90 minutes and two hours. Yes, that made for way too fast breezing through most of the exhibits.

After the museum we went into an authentic old British pub called The Crown for lunch where I tried alcoholic cider for the first time. Not too bad, but I shan't become an afficionado. I did receive a welcome compliment from a lovely lady who took the time to lean over and congratulate me on my knowledge of British history and government. She said I got my facts absolutely correct. I had been answering countless questions from Colin. For example, "who is the king of London?" and when he discovered the king was a queen he said, "Oh, so she isn't married?" I did so enjoy telling him that not only was she married but she outranked her husband. So there!

Two things about the pub. First, I found out what brown sauce is. We saw a hilarious Irish movie in the last year or two that included a great quantity of the stuff so I have been wondering exactly what it is and what you do with it. Think thick worcestershire sauce. I guess. Not too bad to dip fries in but I certainly wouldn't dump it in my tea. The boys sure loved it. Second, about three blocks away I saw another authentic old British pub called The Crown that looked suspiciously like the one we had just left. If you think there are chains and franchises for everything in America, you should see London!

We looked into getting half price matinee tickets for a show in the West End, but the theatre district is dark on Sunday afternoons. Whoops, should have tried yesterday I guess.

After lunch we walked down towards Covent Garden. It reminded me much of Faneuil Hall in Boston. Shops, crafts and street performers. Once again I was deeply disappointed by the boys. They just wanted to go back to the flat. Are you kidding me?! Not a chance. After I picked up a present for my sister and Colin aquired a schlocky teddy bear, we walked to Trafalgar Square where two woefully exhausted boys miraculously transformed into acrobats leaping onto the backs of the lions again. I darted into the National Gallery to use the facilities and took the long way through the 1250-1500 A.D. halls. We discovered why there are not remotely the number of pigeons in Trafalgar Square as there were the last time I visited...in 1977. There is a guy who comes out four times a week with a hawk. Yes, I can see why the pigeons might not want to hang around.

Our Big City Bus Tour tickets were good for 48 hours so we went to the Trafalgar stop to catch the other half of the routes we did not cover yesterday. Our bus was delayed by a pro-Palestinian/boycott Israel march. I must say the metropolitan police force is remarkably efficient and the protest passed by without too terrible a delay in traffic. I found the western half of the bus tour remarkable and noted at least three or four neighborhoods I could easily settle in...if I had a spare five million quid or so. We were a bit on the cold side as the boys have to sit on the open top level of the bus of course. By the time we got off at Paddington station I was shaking pretty hard and looking for a nice warm restaurant to thaw my blood. There is always a nice warm restaurant nearby. We found Maxim Cafe, a Greek/Lebanese eastern Mediterranean influenced place that luckily served bangers and mash for the likes of Colin and a hamburger for Liam. No accounting for taste. Jamie and I were a little nervous after we were served dreadful wine and there wasn't another soul in the place, but the food was phenomenal. Londoners do not dine at 5:15 p.m. so if you want a restaurant all to yourself, that is the time to go.



We finished up around 6:00 and had been out since about 9:30 a.m. The Tube ride home took a bit of figuring out because a good 15-20% of the Underground was closed for engineering maintenance. The children were once again suffering from acute fatigue and Liam whined about not getting a seat on the train. This is the same child that danced and skipped off of walls and hedges on the walk back from the Canary Wharf Tube station and has been wrestling and screaming with his brother for the last hour.

Tomorrow the boys may sleep as late as they want. We'll mosey on up to the zoo when we feel like it if the weather is decent. For now I have two or three loads of laundry to wash if I can figure out how.