Today, I went to Kings Cross Station to pick up our train tickets to Edinburgh. I could not get seats when I purchased the tickets online and when I called, the woman said I could get seats when I pick up my tickets (or that is what I thought the woman said). I headed to the station, got my tickets from the machine and then patiently waited in the que to talk to the man behind the counter. I explained that I would like to get seats assigned. He explained that there were no seats on that train. This is going to be an interesting train ride. Let's hope we find seats together in the one car that has open seating the Friday before a bank holiday weekend!

Caps for Sale

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.

Minor Adjustment, Part 2

I did not pack much in the way of serving bowls and platters for entertaining. This is an appetizer of mango chutney, served in a small mixing bowl and a crunchy Indian thing (can't remember the name), served straight from the package. Very yummy. Ex-pat living is all about improvising.

Minor Adjustment

We do not have a water filter system on our sink and we do not have an ice maker. I spend some part of every day making ice. The freezer drawer is too small for more than 2 small trays of ice. As a family of 5, we go through 2 trays of ice a day. I wanted to document this for two reasons: first, to illustrate that life here in London is not all tea and scones and sight seeing. It is mundane and normal, as well as exciting, fun and new.  I also want to illustrate the minor adjustments that are part of ex-pat living. This is one of the many small compromises we make to be here in this amazing city. I have not used a Brita pitcher and made ice for many years. There is no room in our very small refrigerator for the Brita pitcher, so we are getting used to drinking water at room temperature, as there is an ice shortage. When in Rome.........
Oh, and one more thing: whoever invented this ice tray with the lid is a genius.

Royal Albert Hall

Julia says she feels like she is seeing lots of statues and she doesn't know what they mean. I know the feeling because I keep seeing sights, but do not know all the history, so I have to keep researching to find out what I am looking at. From the Royal Albert Hall website:

The Royal Albert Hall was built to fulfil the vision of Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's consort) of a 'Central Hall' that would be used to promote understanding and appreciation of the Arts and Sciences and would stand at the heart of the South Kensington estate, surrounded by museums and places of learning.The list of famous performers and world figures who have appeared at the Royal Albert Hall since it opened in 1871 is unrivalled. Wagner, Verdi and Elgar conducted the first UK performance of their own works on its concert platform, Rachmaninov played his own compositions and nearly every major classical solo artist and leading orchestra has performed at the Hall.

The list of popular music artists includes Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Oscar Peterson, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Sting and Elton John and from a younger generation Jay Z, Kaiser Chiefs and the Killers.

Among leading world figures who have spoken at the Hall are Her Majesty The Queen, Sir Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton.

Just a side note about London weather: we set out and it was a gorgeous, sunny day. By the time we were walking back to the tube after lunch, it was cloudy and cool. You really never know what you are going to get here, but coming from Chicago, I do not understand all the moaning about the weather here. It is really not too bad.

Picnic in Hyde Park

After watching the changing of the guard, we walked over to Hyde Park and had a picnic.

What is wrong with this picture?

Is there no etiquette about cell phone usage whilst being transported in a Royal horse and carriage to visit with the Queen?

Horsey

Are you alright, sir?

This gentleman was trying to cross the street when the police had stopped the pedestrian traffic. This lovely, young mounted police officer approached him on her horse. I was very impressed with her. First, she asked him if he was alright, repeatedly. He didn't really answer her. Then she proceeded to explain to him that his behaviour looked suspicious and then reminded him that he was in front of the Palace. The other officer came over and asked for a photo i.d., which the man gave them. He did look very nervous, but explained he was simply trying to get across the street. The kids were more interested in this scene than all the pomp and circumstance of the changing of the guard.

Do you think those hats are heavy?

The Girls

I took the girls to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

What Not To Wear

Self Reflection

Black Hats Protesting

I ran across this protest while walking back to the Kensington High Street Underground. There were probably over 100 protesters. I came home and looked up what the issue was:
Reuters: "A heavily guarded operation to dig up ancient graves to make way for a new hospital emergency room on Sunday stirred up traditional tensions between Israel's Jewish secular majority and ultra-Orthodox minority."
The Ultra-Orthodox minority in Great Britain were out protesting peacefully, holding signs criticizing the Israeli government on a busy London street. It was a beautiful sight and a reminder of the freedom people and Jews enjoy, both in the U.S. and here in the U.K. See news from Bangkok and Israel these days to fully appreciate this sight.

Encounter with a detective (no, not Sherlock Holmes).....

I stopped in to the Whole Foods on Kensington High Street today just to see what it was like. I noted that we do not have a muesli bar at the Whole Foods in Deerfield. I thought it was worth a photo for my blog for the purpose of illustrating something that is different here. So very European that they have a muesli bar at the Whole Foods. As I was about to get a better angle (what would have been photo #3 here on my blog), a store detective approached me and informed me that I was not allowed to take pictures inside the store. Per the detective, they have many competitors who try to steal their ideas. I assured him that the only folks I would mention the muesli bar to were the 4 people who read my blog and the good people at the Whole Foods in Deerfield, Illinois, as a suggestion for something they could add to their store.

Chicago had cows........

Elephant Parade is a conservation campaign that shines a multi-coloured spotlight on the urgent crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. Brought to you by www.elephantfamily.org, the event sees over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants located over central London this summer.
Each decorated by a different artist or celebrity, the elephants brighten and beautify the city, enhancing every park, street corner and building they grace. Running from May to July 2010, this is London’s biggest outdoor art event on record. With an estimated audience of 25 million, we aim to raise £2 million for the Asian elephant and benefit 20 UK conservation charities.

Saatchi Gallery

Today, I went to a show at the Saatchi Gallery. I thought it would be similar to the craft show in Evanston every year. It was the same type of show, but there was not one thing there for under 500 quid and most things were over 1,000. (Quid is the British slang for "bucks" and I only use it because I cannot find the symbol for pounds to place in front of the 500.)

This was one of the stranger pieces there. 

Little Venice London Walk

Today we went on a London Walk of Little Venice.

Never seen Wisteria like this.

Madonna made an offer on this house, but was outbid by Michael Flatley. He has since sold the house.

Georgian purpose-built flats.

Spring in London

My parents are visiting this week, so we have been touring around a bit. Yesterday, we visited Regent's Park and caught the tail end of the tulips.

A little about my living space

This is my kitchen. Please note: the white unit on the left is my washer AND dryer. It's an all in one. Isn't that handy? Anyone who has known me for any length of time knows that I have laundry issues. I must say this little unit, coupled with a do or die situation, has forced me to do my laundry day in and day out. The laundry is always going. It never ends. I am actually o.k. with this. This is major progress for me.

Received this in an e-mail this morning

There’s a poem about listening by an unknown author. This little poem expresses several thoughts about what people want from their partners, friends, and children.

Listen

When I ask you to listen to me
And you start giving me advice
You have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me
And you begin to tell me why
I shouldn’t feel that way
You are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me
and you think you have to do something
to solve my problem
you have failed me,
strange as that may seem.

Listen! All I asked was that you listen,
not talk or do…just hear me.
advice is cheap; twenty five cents will get
you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham
in the same newspaper.

And I can do for myself. I am not
helpless. Maybe discouraged
and faltering, but not helpless.

When you do something for me
that I can do for myself
you contribute to my fear
and inadequacy.

But when you accept as a
simple fact that I do
feel what I feel,
no matter ho irrational,
then I can quit trying to convince
you and can get about this business
of understanding what’s behind
this irrational feeling.

And when that’s clear, the answers are
obvious and I don’t need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense when
we understand what’s behind them.

Perhaps that’s why prayer works
sometimes, for some people…because
god is mute, and doesn’t give
advice or try to fix things.
He (or She) just listens
and let’s you work it out
yourself.

So please listen and just hear me
and if you want to talk, wait a minute for
your turn…and I’ll listen to you.*

*Writings from Dr. Thomas Gordon

More from Sudeley Castle

I sure wish someone had give me this book when I got married:

I am not sure what year it was published, but it was in a display at the castle.

Think 10th Century!!
My children were most impressed that an actual family lives here!