KidsTour5

We drove into London easily, and easily managed to come within a block of the Alhambra Hotel. The problem came from the fact that the street that it's on is one way against you from both ends! After finally getting there, and then checking in, we went across the street to King's Cross Station. Our first mission in London was to find platform 9 3/4. And were we ever delighted to see it! Brigitta tried to get through to the other side...

The next morning we took the tube to Green Park, to start the day of jam-packed sightseeing. We walked through the park to Buckingham Palace, and then through St James's Park, admiring the birds near the water.

We were soon at Westminster Abbey, where we joined the crowds for a tour. Something that we hadn't seen before was the set of ten statues on the West Front, a series of "20th century religious martyrs". We were impressed, and moved. In this photo are Martin Luthur King, Oscar Romero, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

		As we walked toward the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, the gigantic new ferris wheel called the "London Eye" came into sight. We walked down to the Thames and sat on steps on the Embankment across the river from it, to eat our lunch.

We walked up to Whitehall and stopped to see the horse guard. The style now seems to be for tourists to stand beside the horse to have their pictures taken. It was a constant stream of pushy people, some even petting the horse.

Then on to Trafalgar Square. It was quite warm, so Brigitta and Andres had fun wading in one of the pools.

In the National Gallery we found a children's booklet with the challenge of finding paintings with gold in them. The map sent Brigitta and Andres all around the gallery. Meanwhile, Thann and I spent a long time in the Impressionist rooms, while Penny went up Charing Cross to her favorite book stores. We met up and went over to St. Martin in the Fields, to the cafe in the crypt for a snack. Refreshed, Alida and the children went over to the Brass Rubbing Centre, in a corner of the crypt, where they bought materials and got instructions. They chose the brasses that they wanted to do, and worked hard, producing excellent artwork!

We took a bus back to the hotel. We were lucky, getting seats for the kids at the front upstairs.

After a few minutes in the hotel, we were back on the tube, heading for dinner. We got off at Covent Garden. We ate at the "Rock and Plaice", a restaurant specializing in fish; fortunately they also had chicken, which the children prefer. Then after dinner (during which we hurriedly moved from outside to inside when it suddenly started raining) we walked over to Covent Garden. We noticed a (probably temporary) setup with a wall-climbing game and a bungee-jumping game. Andres elected the former and Brigitta the latter. Andres had the disadvantage of sandals, making climbing much harder, but he did a great job:

Meanwhile, Brigitta was waiting patiently in the queue for the bungee jumping. Her turn finally came, and she made the most of it, doing sky-high jumps, twisting and flipping at the top.

The next day was another full one. We started off taking the underground to Westminster, emerging right at the place to get on a boat down to the Tower. The trip was fun, as the guide pointed out interesting and funny sights.

We had a great time at the Tower. Soon after we arrived, we were part of a group listening to a woman who was the wife of the Constable of the Tower in 1533. She told us about the arrangements that she was making for the upcoming wedding of the king to Anne Boleyn, whom she didn't like. There was no doubt in our minds that we were in 1533, listening to explanations about the happenings around us.

		After this, we joined Robert Catesby as he recruited volunteers for his Gunpowder Plot. He was trying to persuade this woman on her balcony to join his band of conspirators. She didn't join up, but we did (he was very persuasive), and after we followed him we met Guy Fawkes (on the right), who also joined. We got very involved in the plot. Fortunately we fared better than Catesby and Fawkes, whose fate was described to us in gory detail.

We went through the White Tower, seeing all the armor exhibits, and again admiring the Norman chapel on an upper floor. There was a room telling about children who had lived in the Tower. Interestingly, there was a panel with stories written very recently by children who live there now. There are in fact rooms currently occupied by people who work there, and their families. The children like living in the Tower; several of them told about the ghosts which they see regularly.

We watched a couple of fellows demonstrating the use of Elizabethan broadswords. They explained various positions and thrusts and defense methods, and then had a duel.

Finally, we went up onto the wall (Brigitta leading) for a route that took us through several smaller towers, each one with interesting historical facts about someone who had lived there.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we left the Tower. We decided to go to the British Museum, even though it would be for a very brief visit. We managed to see mummies and Greek vases and Greek and Roman sculptures and a coin collection (Andres's favorite). We were glad that we did it, even for a short time. This amazing Egyptian ship model was (I believe) some 3500 years old.

Back to the hotel, then, stopping on the way at a grocery for dinner food. We ate a picnic supper in a park near the hotel, and went back to pack. That was it, the end of our wonderful vacation!