London Calling

Well for our last hoorah before the start of my University courses and for a celebration of Harrison's birthday weekend (and to use our Brit Rail passes) we headed off to London for the Bank Holiday weekend. We travelled on the Caledonian Sleeper train from Edinburgh to London Euston station. We left at about midnight and arrived at 7 AM with both kids soundly sleeping the whole way - now that's the way to travel! At first we walked around along the Thames and saw views of the London Eye, Westminister Abbey, Parliament, and Big Ben. As we walked and rode the tube over the course of the day we were struck by the sheer number of people crowding the streets and subway cars - not the most pleasant experience.

Finally we made it through the crowds and headed to the Natural History Museum. This was a very large building (3 or 4 of our museums put together) with very large and elaborate displays of the wonders of the natural world. Of course the dinosaurs were a big hit with the highlight being an anamatronic TRex that was quite lifelike. We were blown away by the sheer size and high quality of this magnificent museum.

We also planned to take in some shows on Saturday. Phil and Harrison went to see Mary Poppins in the afternoon. Phil said it was a fantastic production and marvelled at the special effects and set design and the overall quality of the performance in general. Harrison said it was the best show he's ever seen and he has been to see quite a number of stage plays for someone of his age. In the evening I went to see the Sound of Music (unfortunately it wasn't the sing-a-long version). Just as Phil had experienced this play was on a grand scale from the singing to the set. I had a great seat in the centre of the Royal Circle so I had a wonderful vantage point to take it all in. Apparently, the woman that played Maria was chosen through a reality TV show on the BBC called "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?". They ended up finding a wonderful woman to play the lead role in the play, Connie Fisher, and undoubtedly boosted ticket sales. There were a few audience members dressed as nuns for good measure. I was glad to have had the opportunity to see a play in London and will never forget the experience. I recommend it to everyone.



















On Sunday we were invited to spend the afternoon with my Uncle Peter, Aunt Naomi and their daughter Hillary. My uncle and Aunt live in Purley, about half an hour south of central London by train. We had a fabulous Sunday lunch and dinner and spent the day catching up with our family before catching the 11PM sleeper train back to Edinburgh. We thank my uncle and aunt so much for their hospitality and the enjoyable day. Harrison thanks his uncle and aunt and cousin for his birthday presents which gave as much pleasure to him as to his mother who spent a good part of the day helping him put together his lego car!