The Wandering Davidsons

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Day 8 - We return to London! Platform 9 3/4 and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Friday was probably my favorite day. We took the train back into London, but this time we had seats on the way in. It was the only day it rained on us, but it wasn't that bad, we had umbrellas, and we were mostly inside during the bulk of it. Our first stop was King's Cross Station and Platform 9 3/4. They are totally remodeling the station, so the real platform was behind walls and scaffolding. However, they put up a "brick" wall, and we still took pictures. The kids LOVED it! Aubree and I have read all the Harry Potter books, Chris is currently plowing through them, and we've seen all the movies so far, so it was pretty cool to go to the train station. After that, we headed to St. Paul's Cathedral!!! Oh, wow. It was really incredible. The price of admission included the audio tour. We were all able to get our own iPods with information about the cathedral. The kids had a different version than the adults that included fun facts and games after listening about the different parts of the cathedral. It was SOOOOOO cool! Nick was telling me things that he learned from his tour. Of course, we couldn't take any pictures inside, so if you want to see what it looks like, you'll have to search online for pictures. After wandering the cathedral floor, Buzz, Aubree, Chris, Nick, and I made the trek up the stairs. After 257 steps, we were 30 meters from the cathedral floor in the Whispering Gallery. We tried to hear Buzz whispering to us from the opposite side, but it was too loud. It was a gorgeous view, though. Up another 119 steps, and we were to the Stone Gallery. This is the level outside at the base of the outer dome, and we had a 360 degree view of London. It was still raining a little, so there were clouds, but we were still able to see a good amount. After walking around the whole thing, we went back inside to finish the climb. 152 more steps that got more and more narrow to get us 85 meters from the cathedral floor and to the Golden Gallery at the top of the dome. What an incredible experience! We were so high up, and could see so much more of the city! The walk around was much smaller than the Stone Gallery, but so much cooler. I took a picture of the bell towers from each gallery, so scroll down to see them for a little perspective. I am so proud of the kids for making it all 528 steps to the top! Nick was practically running up each flight, while Buzz and I huffed and puffed behind him. We all know, though, that what goes up, must come down. The flights down were these tiny circular staircases that were just a tiny bit frightening. We passed a girl that was almost hyperventilating about going down. We just made sure that either Buzz or I was in front and the other in the back, and the kids were holding onto the rail and the support post. We made it back down, and sat down. (Hannah will need to tell you the story of L'eah and the prayer cushions.) While sitting, a priest came out and we recited the Lord's Prayer with him, then had a moment of silence. (I know it was for something specific, but I can't remember right now.) After that, we explored the quire and the Crypt! The crypt was cool. Some of the tombs are so elaborate, and listening to the audio guide, we were able to learn a lot about the construction of the crypt and those buried there. St. Paul's was hands down my favorite place we visited. I think the fact that we got the audio tour pushed it into the top spot. I love learning about the places I go, and it was a fun way to get a lot of information at my own pace. Plus, my children learned a lot, and that makes me happy. When finished, we headed out to see the rest of London - but that's another post all together.

The original. (I found the picture online.)

Nick Bob

Chris

Aubree

Jeanae

St. Paul's Cathedral

View of the floor of the cathedral from about 85 meters up.
If you look closely, you can see where Hannah is sitting with L'eah
and Barty. She is in pink in the upper middle.

The floorplan of St. Paul's.

At the top of St. Paul's Cathedral!

View of the Millenium Bridge.

View of a church from the cathedral.

View of another church (across the street from the previous one)
from the cathedral.

The bell towers of St. Paul's from the Stone Gallery.

The bell towers as seen from the Golden Gallery.

We came down these stairs...

and still had all of these just to get back to the Whispering Gallery level.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Day 7 - The day of rest

The entire time so far had been fantastic! The downside to all the going and doing was the missed naps for the 2 littlest ones. They had really and truly had it. We had originally planned to go into London on Wednesday and Thursday, but changed our minds after realizing how late the girls would get in after Wicked, and dealing with an unhappy 2 year old. So, Thursday morning we slept in a bit and kicked back to enjoy the day. The boys played the Wii and watched a movie, L'eah got a nap at naptime, we stocked up on food (again), and had a yummy chicken dinner at Nando's. I'm sure there was something else we did, as well, but I can't think of it. Not a lot of pictures from today, so I'll share a few that otherwise wouldn't get posted.

Chris and a happy Xander!

Xander loves his cousin Nick!

The building way out there is a boarding school for girls.

"Mom - take a picture of me. Cheese!"

I loved the layers of buildings here.

This house is one of the only houses NOT divided into flats. It is owned by...

this actor, Steven Coogan. He was in the Disney remake of "Around the World in 80 Days".

A beautiful sunset in London.

Loved all the crocuses coming up!

A huge rosebush behind the fence at Buckingham Palace.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Day 6 - Tower of London, London, and Wicked!!!

We took the train into London!!! Even waiting to take the second train after peak hours, we still didn't have a place to sit. Someone was finally kind enough to offer Hannah a spot so she could feed Xander, but the little old lady next to her glared daggers at her the rest of the way in. The English are not what you would call really friendly and helpful. Anyway, it took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get from Hove to London Victoria Station. We walked out of the train station, and got right on the Underground. No, I didn't take a picture of the "Mind the Gap" sign. After living in the DC Metro area for a few months, I figured the Underground was similar to the Metro. It is, and it isn't. It is in the fact that it is an underground train that takes you from point A to point B. It isn't in the fact that it is completely inaccessible to anyone in a wheelchair, crutches, or pushing a stroller. Buzz carried the pushchair down stairs just to have to carry it back up another set 10 feet later. In the one station that had elevators, we walked a half mile to get to the elevator that took us up just one floor, then another quarter mile to get to the next one to take us to the surface. It was insane! Sometimes it felt like we walked farther underground than we would have walking to the next place we wanted to go. Crazy! It will be very interesting to see how they manage during the Olympics. Anyway, enough complaining.

Our first stop of the day was the Tower of London! We walked along the ramparts that connected the outer towers, ate lunch, walked through Bloody Tower, went through the Armoury, and saw the Crown Jewels!!! We couldn't take pictures in the vault, so I bought the book. The boys LOVED seeing all the armor and weapons. Aubree and I loved the jewels! The whole complex that makes up the Tower is so cool! We had a great view of the Tower Bridge, saw Traitor's Gate, and got to see the spot on the Thames where they filmed an episode of Mud Men (one of my favorite British shows).

After we finished with the Tower, we headed into London to see what we could see. We saw the clock tower that houses Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, and 10 Downing Street (or as much as you can see it from behind the barricades) on our way to Trafalgar Square. The kids were total troopers as we hoofed it from one place to the next. Even though the buildings we were looking at had no real significance to them, they were interesting enough to keep them from complaining.

After we saw all we wanted to see, we ate at a pub at the train station. It was really good food, and a nice time to just sit and relax before we completed our day. Just before 7, we sent Buzz home with Chris, Nick, L'eah, and Xander. The train was PACKED and they ended up standing the whole time, again. But Buzz said that Chris and Nick played with L'eah and were a huge help to him. Aubree, Hannah, and I went to see Wicked!!! We had fabulous seat in the second row of the balcony - we could see everything really well. We agonized over where to sit, so it was a pleasant surprise that our seats were so incredible! I had already seen Wicked, but it was the first time for Aubree and Han, and they loved it! I think we're all plotting how soon we can see it again! After it was over, we went back to the train station to wait for our train back to Hove. We were all able to sit and share a table. The train also had a lot of girls on it that had just been to the Justin Bieber concert. (Aubree's friend Alli had wanted to come with us to be able to go to the concert - they went to Rome instead.) We had a super fun but exhausting day.