Friday, October 5, 2007: First Full Day

Amazingly the boys went right to bed at 10:00 p.m. and slept through the night. I even had to drag Liam out of bed at 9:30 a.m. so we could get out to see the sites. Purchasing an Oyster card for the Tube was a bit of a challenge. After blankly staring at the bank of automatic machines for a few minutes I decided to wait for the sole human teller instead. I walked up said, "I'm absolutely clueless. I'm here for a few weeks, what do I need?" She was very helpful and even explained that the boys were free after 9:30 in the morning. Yeah! Later Note: I have since discovered they are free all the time with a paying adult.

We took the Jubilee Line from Canary Wharf to Westminster. I deliberately chose the exit right by Big Ben so Colin could get the full experience. I wish I'd had my camera out to catch his jaw dropping. He admitted it was pretty big. The weather is spectacular today so the gilt on the tower was shimmering and just gorgeous. It took me a few minutes to get my bearings and find the correct heading to the first place on our itenerary. We traveled a bit further off course than I thought based on the map. That's okay we ended up taking the "scenic" route to the Cabinet War Rooms which took us through an absolutely darling back street with town homes that must be worth a king's ransom.

The Cabinet War Rooms is very well done. The boys were free. Yeah! And the self-guided audio tour is free. Another Yeah! They even had a kid's version of the narration for Colin. We stopped in their snack bar for a sandwich about half way through the tour. Colin wanted to bail out pretty early on but I convinced him to keep going. Didn't give him a choice actually. When all was said and done he thought it was okay. It is located right next to St. James park so I offered to take the boys in so they could run around and play but they decided to press on to Westminster Abbey.

Wow, wow and wow. I thought I was going to have to pay admission for the boys, but amazingly they were free there too. Yeah! It defies all description and is one of those places you really just need to experience. The only downside is that you are experiencing it with about a thousand other people that day too. I wish the boys had gotten into it more, but they were predictable with the "mom, my feet hurt, can we go now?" Hmmm...where have I heard that before? Oh yes, when my parents took me to Westminster Abbey when I was eight years old. I could kick my former self for not appreciating it more.

I again offered to take the boys to St. James park and over to the kids' playground. They declined in favor of going back to the flat to rest. Oh well, it got me a 40 minute nap. In the late afternoon we wandered around a bit more as we went over to Canary Wharf to meet Jamie for some minor grocery shopping. The boys got into a 45 minute argument over whether red or yellow is the better color. Can you imagine how annoying that is?



We went to dinner at an Indian restaurant around the corner. It was divine and far less expensive than we had predicted. I got a little speech about tipping from Jamie as I apparently am want to leave entirely too much. It just doesn't feel right to leave 10%. The rest of the evening will be spent learning how to use the appliances in the flat. We have a washing machine and dryer all in one. Kind of ingenious with the exception of not being able to wash a load while drying another. The stove is not remotely intuitive and the coffee pot downright intimidates me. Goodness, it was hard enough figuring out how to turn on the lights. Thank heavens the shower is easier to use than my own back home. The boys are tickled pink that you have to push a button way far into the wall to flush.

Tomorrow is our first day out with daddy. We have reservations on the London Eye and then we're considering a bus tour. At least that way the kids can't complain about their feet. As soon as I figure out how to download and rescale pictures I'll try to put a few up on this page.

I miss my baby!