Imagine this day

Today we had an opportunity to explore the city. I decided to take the kids on the Original Bus Tour: http://www.theoriginaltour.com/. This is one of those double decker open buses that tour the city. I thought it would be a good way for them to see many of the major tourist attractions without doing too much walking. We set out at 11 a.m. I left the house well prepared, or so I thought. I packed a back pack full of snacks and water bottles for all. I packed my camera. At some point, I thought to find the sunscreen, as it was a very sunny day. We got to the bus stop and I took out my camera to take a picture of the three kids sitting and waiting at the bus stop and, to my extreme disappointment, realized that I had not put the battery back in the camera after I had plugged it in to charge. There was no going back at this point, so I decided to let it go and blog the good old fashioned way - using words and no pictures. This is my attempt to do that.

We set out on the bus to the train. We took the subway from Finchley Road Station to Piccadilly Circus. From there, we walked to get tickets for the bus tour. The kind lady who sold us the tickets decided Abigail was small enough to pass for under age 4 and did not charge for her ticket. Bonus. We boarded the bus and took our seats upstairs in the sun. Of course, I never did find the sunscreen and left home without it. We rode the bus past many spectacular sights, including Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

Just past Trafalgar, we encountered a small, but vocal protest marching down the street. The kids were enthralled and wanted to get off and watch. We got off and followed the protesters who were chanting and waving flags. I believe the protestors were from the English Defence League, a group that protests against Muslim extremism. The groups name prompted Jacob to observe, "What do they have to protest about? Nobody discriminates against the English."

At this point, we were hungry, so we set off to find some lunch. We walked to the river bank near the London Eye and had some lunch. I am too ashamed to report on where we ate, but suffice it to say it was fast, cheap and the kids were happy.

We got back on the bus and circled around to see the London Bridge (yes, we sang) and the Tower of London. We then got off the bus at Victoria Station. By this time it was close to 4 p.m. If Andy was with us, this would have been the end of the tour and time to go home. Glutton for punishment that I am, we pressed on to Part 2 of our day. We headed to Westfield (yes, the mall, yes, the same Westfield as Old Orchard). There was a Big Dance event going on at the mall and I promised the girls I would take them. Sorry Jacob. For more on Big Dance2010 in London, check it out: http://www.bigdance2010.com/.

From Victoria Station, we headed to the mall. I did not check the weekend service disruptions and our journey ended up taking forever because the District/Circle Line that we needed to take was closed for some "planned work". We soldiered on and made it to the mall. I have no idea what time it was. We walked around. It is huge. We did some shopping. We watched two dance troupes. One was a Bollywood Dance Troupe. They were amazing and lots of fun. The other was an African Dance Troupe with African drummers, so even Jacob had some fun. This was the part that I needed my camera. I have never seen anything like these dancers and I think my kids will remember this for a long time. I cannot describe it with words.

At 8 p.m., we were hungry and tired. We had dinner at Yo Sushi: http://www.yosushi.com/, described as fast, fun and fresh Japanese food. It was.

Two trains and a bus later, we arrived home at 9:30 p.m. The kids passed out. London is one big, giant playground.

And a picture is indeed worth a thousand words. I promise, next time I will not leave home without a working camera!!!!

Footnote: Andy is out of town this weekend.