31 March 2008

Post #57:  London

Yesterday, as we were maneuvering our bags and children from train to bus to train, I said to Dave, “To think, it all began with a bike ride on a logging trail.” He gave me a questioning glance, and I said, “Who would have ever thought that these little adventures we shared back during our courtship days would have advanced to hauling six kids through London?”

One of the things I liked about Dave Gibbs, when we were dating, was that he shared my passion for adventure. We'd take some crazy hikes and bike rides in some strange places, having no idea where we might end up, but knowing we'd have seen something interesting along the way. Seems we're just maximizing the potential for adventure as we go about with six little ones across the globe. Today, the adventure continued with hikes past some extremely interesting historical sites.

After a nice breakfast in the hotel cafe, which came at a steep price, even with the promotion Kids Eat Free, we packed the rolling backpack for our day out in London, and headed off, first, in the hotel shuttle. From the Brent Cross Station, we found our way, via two trains, to Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace.

After a brief visit there, and some photo ops, we moved down the street, where Addison and DeDe got pictures with one of the the Palace Guards, in front of the St. James Palace. Ian wanted so badly to have his picture taken, after Addison had done so, but he had a moment of anxiety, shyness, or over-excitement, and broke down in tears.

We strolled through the beautiful St. James Park where we stopped by a restroom, and then David (4) asked to take some photos of some flowers. See web album for his excellent photography. We enjoyed the ducks, swans, pelicans, and geese that were plentiful along the stream. We also noted the huge knotty tree trunks that made us think of Uncle Bob Gibbs. He hunts burls for bowls. That is, he looks for trees with huge out-growths that can be shaped into wooden bowls using his lathe. He would have appreciated the raw material these huge trees might have provided. We have to do research to find out exactly what kind of trees these were. They were quite spectacular.

As we reached the other end of the park, we heard the chime of a clock, and looked up to find Big Ben striking twelve! We continued along the Jubilee Walkway, to Westminster Abby, past St. Margaret's Church, and to the British Parliament building. We enjoyed the statues of famous English historical figures. Richard, the Lionheart, and Oliver Cromwell, are commemorated in stone outside Parliament, and the boys recognized them right away. In Malta, I had bought some antique storybooks, and those were two of the stories. Nichole had read to them Richard, the Lionheart, while we were in Italy. Ian had chosen the Oliver Cromwell story to carry along on the plane, so he had it in his backpack!

We snapped many photos along the way, as we walked along Parliament, toward the end of the building where Big Ben stands overlooking the bridge and city of Westminster. Across the River Thames, we stopped for photos, and then bought some postcards at a kiosk. We continued on the other side of the river, in front of the Movieum; a museum on English film industry...did you know Spiderman, Batman, and Raiders of the Lost Ark were filmed in England?

We had lunch on the waterfront at a McDonald's, and then made sure kids went to the restroom, before getting in the queue for the London Eye. The Eye is a gigantic ferris wheel, with glass containers that revolve around, giving you a complete view of the area. We had purchased our tickets online, so all we had to do is go to a computer and have them printed out near the ticket counter. We then went through a security check, where they sent our backpack through a scanner, and they asked if we had radios. We turned over our fancy walkie-talkies and they gave us a claim slip. We each passed through a metal detector and then up the ramp to the Eye.

We noticed in one of the capsules, a couple with a young girl, maybe four, and a man in tuxedo, who opened a picnic basket, and poured out glasses of champagne. Clearly, this was not typical service, but these folks paid the big bucks for a private capsule.

We snapped many photos of the panoramic views, and the kids did well with the heights (the top is at 135 meters!). At first, Nathan, Addison and David were happy to sit on the bench in the center of the capsule, but they got bolder as they realized the wheel spins very slowly, and you could hardly tell we were moving. At one point, I was taking photos of the capsules to the left and right of us, and some young girls saw me aiming my camera at them, and they waved, so we waved back, and they snapped a shot of us, too.

 As the ride was coming to an end, a voice came on a speaker, alerting us to the fact that there was a camera on either side of the capsule that would take our picture, and that we should pose for it. So we stood at one end of the capsule, and a young couple with three small children joined us, and the rest of the passengers went to the other side to face another camera. I was hoping to get a picture of the camera taking our picture, but I switched the off button on the camera by accident, and missed it, and meanwhile, my face is blocked out by our camera.

We were informed that the photo would cost 10 pounds for two copies. (Equal to twenty bucks.) We debated as we left the Eye whether to drop the money on it, and we had kids who needed a restroom, so Nichole took them, while we checked out the photo on the screen in the gift shop. It was a nice shot, so as we were walking out, I said, “We really should get a copy.” Dave said, “You think so?” I said, “Yeah.” And then he said, “I'm going to go find that other family and see if they want to split the cost and photos.” He dashed back into the crowded shop, caught the guy, and the guy said, “My wife just said that I should go find you guys to do the same thing!” So it worked out great. We have a nice little momento of our trip on the London Eye.

From there, we walked back to the train station across the river, and caught a train to The London Tower and the surrounding historic sites. I was especially interested in seeing which tower was the Beauchamp Tower, as I had read about it last summer in The Other Boleyn Girl, the story of Mary Boleyn, Queen Anne's sister, and the history of Queen Anne's quest for the throne. My paternal grandmother was a Beauchamp.

The tower is named for Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who was first imprisoned there. He served under Richard II, but when Richard wanted to make peace with France, Beauchamp and other members of the Lords Appellant went against him. He was later arrested for high treason, and placed in the prison, which is now named for him. He later was released after King Richard II was over-thrown.

The Other Boleyn Girl was quite a gripping novel, and I look forward, with some hesitation, to seeing the movie. There are some very gruesome scenes that were hard enough to read about. Not sure how I'll stand to see some of it on the screen. If you're looking for a good read, I would recommend the book. It was quite amazing to be standing at The Traitor's Gate, knowing that Queen Anne entered there on her way to her demise.

As we encircled the tower, I snapped photos of all the placards that told the story of its history. We had Nichole take a family shot with the Tower Bridge behind us, using our digital camera. We continued our tour under the Tower Bridge, and I took many digitals of it.

At this time, David had to use the restroom, so he and I walked behind a tall building there, and we found a marina with some really neat old boats. I knew David had to go badly, but I couldn't resist stopping to get pictures of the boats before moving on. We found a restroom just beyond the marina, and then we rushed back to tell the rest of the gang to come that way. They did, and I got more pictures of the cool, old sailing vessels. They were huge! I'd guess 40 foot boats, that were of the Pirate's of the Caribbean style. I would have been happy to just have a ride in the dinghies. They were so neat!

We'd put on quite a lot of miles, walking, and it was going on 4:30, so we decided to head back to the hotel, and try to have an early night, so we'd be well-rested for the trip home. Dave went to the Borders Bookstore to work on his online course. I did some blogging of our past couple days. Nichole and Rachel rested while boys watched cartoons in their hotel room.

That evening we walked across the highway (there was a walkway overpass) and hoped to find a restaurant in the mall there. We struck out after much searching, and suddenly it was going on 8 PM and we had not yet eaten! We ended up going back to the hotel restaurant, which was expensive, and it didn't help us get that early night as we'd hoped.

Once kids were in bed, I decided to get the photos from the day onto my laptop, so I could work on captions on the plane. While they were uploading, I worked on the blog, and then I disconnected the camera, and emptied it. After that, I thought I'd glance through the day's photos. I was devastated when I realized that only half the pictures were on the laptop!

I usually check to be sure they are all there before emptying the camera, but I thought I'd seen 800 photos in the folder, so I assumed they made it. Unfortunately, only half were copied, so I lost all the photos from our tour around the London Tower, and the Tower Bridge. I was so, so, very mad at myself, I could have cried!

Fortunately, Rachel was snapping picswith our old digital, and Nichole took a few as well. But I won't have a copy of that family shot in front of the bridge, or the shot of “The Traitor's Gate,” or the Beauchamp Tower. (Unless Rachel managed to get one of those.) Boohoohoo. Shows you, one should not mess with such things when totally exhausted! This did not help me to sleep well the night before our very long travel day home.

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