Six Days in London

I don't know what to say about London, really. It was bad. Not everything about it was bad, but generally it just wasn't very happy for me. It was raining, the house we rented was too far from town and very echoey, with enough bedrooms but no good living space. I was at my lowest on our first full day there, and ended up staying home all day. Ed and I went out in the evening, but both of us were tired and annoyed at the distance we had to travel to get to the Tate Modern down by London Bridge and St. Paul's and Tower Bridge. Over the five full days we were there, we didn't go out very much, and I only took the kids downtown once. But the whole experience can be summed up in one anecdote: we had left Isaac's Sunday shirt in Connecticut and for the last six weeks he had been wearing one of Ed's shirts with the sleeves rolled up. I finally found a convenient place to shop for a new shirt (a TJ Maxx, which in England is called TK Maxx), and despite a very small selection, I found a nice one for what would be $30. Unfortunately, Isaac insisted on carrying it himself so I wouldn't be burdened (that was nice, huh?) and left it at the bus stop or on the bus and we never found it again. Our London experience was just kind of like that, although we did find a couple of nice playgrounds. I showed the kids and Ed almost nothing of this city I have always loved, and now I don't know if I ever want to go back. It's not the city's fault, but this week nevertheless left a bitter taste in my mouth.

The view of Tower Bridge from the Millennium footbridge across the Thames.

St. Paul's Cathedral from the courtyard of the Tate Modern on the other side of the Thames. 

We enjoyed our visit to the Tate Modern, although a lot of the art was very weird or somewhat offensive. I always thought I like Modern art, but I found very little beauty or meaning in most of what I saw. I found a few notable exceptions, but they reside on Ed's phone at the moment and he's not here and not in internet-range. So here's a photo I stole from Google of one of South African artist Nicholas Hlobo's works (As with all art I like, the real thing is much better): 

I can't do a straight stitch on fabric, and this is paper. Amazing.

We were here for the first episode of the last season, and we didn't even have to watch it pirated! Actually, we didn't watch it anyway. Neither of us are diehard fans and we didn't care to take the time to figure out the TV. We DID watch a game or two of the Rugby World Cup (which was being held in London and contributed to the traffic and frustration of trying to navigate the city.)

Their first ride on a double-decker bus!

I had planned to make three sightseeing trips: the first was to the British Museum. I read the kids Roald Dahl's short story "The Mildenhall Treasure, " then we found it in the Museum, along with the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. There were a lot of people and we didn't last very long in there. I had a funny moment on our walk from the train to the museum: an Asian tourist wanted me to take a picture of him in the park, and when he saw Joe he wanted Joe in his picture as well. Abby saw that Joe was in a picture and came running from the other side of the lawn, but by the time she got there the tourist was finished and gone. Abby was so upset that someone would want her brother's picture instead of hers that she pouted for a half hour.

Our second trip was to Westminster Abbey

and Big Ben, where we ate our lunch.

This is also where Isaac wrestled every one of his siblings he could get his hands on.

Posing for one of the kids.

We also went to the Tower of London (which we just looked at from the outside), and Tower Bridge (which the kids were too tired to walk across), so we caught a bus to catch the tube to catch another bus and another bus and after fighting Rugby World Cup crowds for two hours, finally made it home. It was exhausting and not very satisfying, but at least the weather was beautiful that day. It did me in enough, though, that the next day we went to the playground instead of on my third planned trip--to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. It rained really hard, so I was glad we weren't stuck downtown with all those rugby fans.