Heading Home

7 am London time and heading (via taxi - our first since Milan) to the Victoria Train Station to catch the Gatwick Express to the airport.  We are heading home after a long, extremely fun, amazing trip with our family!  The morning went smooth as it could be - got to the airport with 2 hours to spare.  A nice 7 hour 40 minute flight and we were home!  Weary and tired - we managed to unpack (well, the bags were NOT allowed in the house since the LICE episode - so we unloaded on the porch and put all our clothes in plastic bags to wash) and got settled.  Dogs happy to see us.  Kids happy to have their 'space'.  Back to the real world.  School in 4 days.  Orientation the same afternoon we arrived home.  School supplies.  New tennis shoes (you should see the worn and torn shoes from our travels!).  Grocery store.  Cook dinner?  Ugh - not yet!  Here we go!

The Last Day in London

Well, I have a few minutes before we go to dinner and I thought I would share the last memorable moments of London.  We had another packed day in London - There is SO much to do here and so little time.  I am glad now that we had five days.  We went straight to Westminster Abbey and had a guided audio tour for a few hours.  Ford was given a scavenger hunt "The Children's Trail" with questions to answer...some pretty tough questions because I had to quit my audio to help him find the clues!  Very interesting and fun to do!  It was amazing to be in a place where people have worshipped God for the past 1000 years and where Kings and Queens have been crowned since the time of William the Conqueror and where many of them are buried - that was wild seeing all the tombs.  Catherine seemed to breeze through on her own and for about 15 minutes she was 'lost' (in my mind) and I panicked - we all stopped and searched - and in the masses of people we could not find her!  Finally she 'appeared' around the corner - saying 'what?' 'I was following the audio guide!'  From then on we were in pairs - I just cannot deal with the MASSES of people and having my chickens get lost in the sea of them!

We finished up and Ford got a huge gold coin for finishing his 4 page paper - I wanted one too since I had to help out so much - the moms I would see helping their children would all say - 'this is hard!!'

We left there and had a 2:30 tour of Parliament with Philip which was very informative - they are only doing these tours for 2 months while everyone is on 'holiday' and we had a wonderful tour with about 15 other people.  That was fascinating - we started the tour in the Robe Room where the queen gets dressed in her crown and royal robe and then proceeded to house of Lords and the house of Commons - the girls were itching to get out and shop - but faired well during the tour.  Ford stuck right by the side of Philip - I think he really enjoyed it.  

Finally around 4 - the boys and girls split up for 2 hours.  The boys were going to the War Museum and the girls to Covent Gardens to shop the streets!  The girls and I went straight to the Underground and - as we have done for the past 5 days - Taylor does not have to have a ticket and goes through the electronic gates with and adult - however, a VERY MEAN man looked at me and asked me where her ticket was and I explained that we have a week Oyster pass and she has been getting in on our pass (that is what the man who sold us the passes said - Ford and Taylor go free!)  He basically yelled at me and said "SO - that is NOT THE RULE and do you know the fine for that is 50 pounds - and you better go get her a ticket"  I am telling you he was R U D E...we huffed off and did not get her a ticket because I had not one pound on me and we decided we would W A L K!!!  We managed - feet weary - but had fun shopping.  We did get some pounds for our ride back - I was not going to take the chance of being fined - and entered into our familiar 'Covent Gardens Underground'.  Before I bought a ticket - I asked a man guarding the post if she needed a ticket and he said NO.  HMMMM...the other man just was having a VERY bad day!  We got home and are packing - going to have our final meal and bed early - up at 6 am to get our flight at 10!!!  

I praise God for the weather we have had - in 30 days - not one day of rain.  London has been exceptionally COOL - they were calling for a heat wave and I went out yesterday with a sundress/bare shoulders and the high was about 78 degrees!  Everyone (the Londoner's) were saying it was HOT and I was Cold!!  Anyway, it has been beautiful every step of the way!

There is No Place Like Home

Well, we only have one more day left of our journey!  I will have to say that I could have gone on for another 9 months - Clark said that he could too - the kids however, are ready to come home...I am not sure that I could have taken on the 'home schooling' for the Around the World journey - It is difficult to keep their attention in museums and the girls are ALWAYS wanting to go to the next clothing shop - we have done well though - not indulging in trinkets, souvenirs or extra clothing!  We have had a GREAT 30 days of togetherness - eating EVERY single meal together, sleeping 3 to a bed (well, up until the Number Sixteen Hotel) being together 24/7, laughing, walking everywhere we go, figuring out the Metro system for each country we have visited, eating new foods, getting lost, dealing with lice (ugh), trying to learn new languages (Ford's favorite is the English accent - he has gotten quite good at it!)  experiencing the Eurail system - We get back with only a few days before our oldest begins High School, two in middle school and Ford starts Third Grade - WOW - our year begins!  It makes me sad - but all day today, I was planning our next trip for The Traveling Six for next summer (I am hoping for 2 months!)  I know that the girls LOVE Greystone Camp - but I just think that these years together are priceless!  My idea is to explore more countries - but MOM - we can always have a family reunion in the Villa in Italy!  

We had a full day today - hitting the streets around 11 am.  Our first stop was H&M (original) and then we toured the entire floors of Harrods - wow - what a place!  We found a cool lunch spot (kind of like a LARGE Dean and DeLuca) had a sandwich and was on our way to the London Tower.  That was FUN!  The CROWN JEWELS!!!  Ford looked at me and asked - "How do you get that sword and that crown??"  I told Clark - "I want to be the QUEEN!!"  That was a sight to see all the jewels, the Star Of Africa, the crowns, the chalices - all adorned with many beautiful jewels!  It was a sight!  We strolled back - OH - we actually took a double decker bus back - and it was SLOW stopping at each stop.  We did get a good glimpse of London but home just in time to shower, hope back on the tube and meet our old (well, she is very young) babysitter - Jasmine Stephenson - for a yummy Mexican dinner at Wahaca - It was AWESOME!!!  We are home and will pack in another full day tomorrow - Westminster Abbey, The War Museum, Covent Gardens, and whatever else we can fit into the day - I probably will not blog because I will be packing - sad to say - we leave London at 6 am Thursday morning (via the tube - NOT taxi) to the airport!!!!  Can't wait to see everyone!  

This has been an incredible journey - please pray for safe travels as we journey home on Thursday - Blessings and LOVE to all!

I couldn't resist this photo!  So far - we have been bug free since we got the big BUZZ!  Keep praying!  We set out for day three in London.  Had a GREAT breakfast in 'the garden' and went to the Natural History Museum for a few hours.  That was a fun adventure for us all - a little warm in the museum and a lot of people - but we managed to stroll through all the events.  Left there and hopped on the Tube to Piccadilly Circus to grab our tickets for the play (we were still a bit weary about these tickets - but in the end - they were GREAT seats and it was a GREAT show!!!) We had lunch at a little sandwich shop on the way to the National Museum which I was dying to get to - AWESOME exhibition of Manet - Corot - Cezanne - Renoir - Degas - OH it was an eyeful! They  had a great bookstore in the bottom of the museum where we spent some time (I bought some new art books that I can't wait to dig into).  Strolled a bit on the streets of London - hopped on the Tube (we are getting to love this kind of transportation - and Taylor seems to know how to navigate us to the right line!) Got home to shower and head to the play...which was fabulous!  Got back to our area around 10:30 and were all starving - so we stopped at our favorite restaurant where we had our first dinner in London - Carluccious - and had some snacks before bed!  My favorite - a YUMMY mushroom risotto!  It was a late night - going to bed and looking forward to day four in London - the London Tower!  

London day Two

Woke up to continuous steps above our head – back and forth – back and forth – AH HA – We must be right below the kitchen!  We were – but that did not matter – we had the most incredible nights sleep.  Wonderful bed, clean, quiet (well, until this morning) and just felt great!  Went and had a wonderful breakfast in the English Gardens (MOM – you would LOVE THIS PLACE!)  Got out on the streets around 11:30 (running a little behind because we went to bed so late) and got on the Big Tour Bus (the only way to do London!)  We were on the bus for about 3 hours (wow) you could get on and off at each stop – but we found it so fascinating since we have never been to London (well, Clark was here when he was 9)  Saw museums, Big Ben, The London Bridge, The London Eye, Buckingham Palace, The Financial District of London, The Aquarium, The London Tower, The Marble Arch, Westminster Abbey, The Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and ended up in Piccadilly Circus where we got out and bought six tickets for Wicked tomorrow night!  Now our bus tour guide told us that we could get tickets (half off face value) here and we walked into a very large tourist trap shop that had every kind of trinket known to man and was playing some pretty funky music to buy these tickets (there was a cardboard sign outside that said ‘Theater Tickets Here’.  The place was crawling with people!  We talked to a nice man in a corner booth (who was not like all the other sales people who were obviously from India – there were even a few people guarding doorways)   Anyway – the ‘nice’ man assured us that these were GOOD tickets and he gave us the ‘best he had’ for $40 pounds each instead of the face value of $70 pounds…we purchased them (well we have a receipt and will go back in the morning to get the ACTUAL tickets – again, he assured us that he would be there)  Clark made the comment – “yeah right we will come back and this will be a liquor store – and you will have changed your identity!”  Just kidding – but we HOPE that we have tickets for tomorrow night!  Blakely was her usual VERY CONCERNED self – and the guy just was laughing assuring her that she will get to see the play and that he has given us the best tickets!  Stay tuned!

We are home now lounging in our luxurious room…getting cleaned up to go have a great dinner at an Indian Restaurant!  Last nights meal was fabulous and VERY reasonable!  We are still on the European budget – or trying to be!  Only 3 more days L  NOW I could go on for another nine months J  But this has been a good end to our adventurous travels!