London

 

After a 5 hour flight we landed in jolly ole, England.  Even though we were staying the night at a hotel very close to the airport we didn’t feel like messing with buses so we jumped in a taxi. We had forgotten to remind the kids that in England they drive on the other side and they shrieked a little when we turned right on the left side of the road.  Scared the taxi driver a little I think. The 5 of us flopped into our 2 double beds and slept well until the next morning.

We strapped on the backpacks and decided to take the public transit to save a lot of money rather than one of those cool taxis again. We walked for 10 minutes to get back to the airport that contained the train station.  The first day in London requires a bit more focus than many other cities, specifically, getting used to looking in the opposite direction when crossing streets. It actually took us most of our time in England to get used to that.  We didn’t feel that bad as most of the roads have large signs written on each sidewalk reminding ‘visitors’ which way to look. 

Once back at the airport we found the train line, transferred to the tube station and then to the DLR line (docklands light railway) and then walked to the flat we were renting. It was a trek but we survived. We rented a 3 bedroom place in the Canary Wharf area. It looks out to the Thames and the O2 stadium.

Everyone scoped out their rooms and Mom and Dad got the top floor bedroom and bathroom. That first day we stayed in, with the exception of a trip to the market and to do the much needed laundry.  We all were in dire need of some warm clothes so the next day was all about shopping for winter and back to school clothes. 

It was a big mistake to do this on a Saturday in London, one month before Christmas. We made our way to Oxford Street to do some shopping.   The sidewalks had been extended to the first lane of traffic but it wasn’t enough for the crowds.  30 people wide for as far as the eye can see – did someone say there was a recession.  You’d never know it!

 Not many deals to be had but we found just enough.  We found new jeans, jackets and runners for everyone. I have never…and I mean never, waited in line ups that long.  I’m not so good with long lines. My instinct was to throw down the stuff and say FORGET IT!! However, London was cold and my kids couldn’t walk around in short sleeves and hoodies the whole time so I endured the line ups.

When we were in Kalkan, Turkey some vacationing British kids told our boys about Hamley’s, the biggest toy store in Europe - apparently…who really knows. So we had to check it out. The entire European Union had to check it out at the same time because it was a madhouse but we toured the 6 or 7 floors and managed to get some cool Harry Potter stuff for Devin’s upcoming birthday. We could detect almost every language: Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Arabic and Swedish to name just a few. 

The shopping sure took a lot out of us so we found a pub and settled in for a pint, fish and chips with mushy peas and bangers and mash!  A true Brit lunch.   It was very good and very filling so we worked some of it off with some more shopping. The streets and shops were all decorated for Christmas which was really exciting for us, having been in Muslim countries for the last 8 weeks.  The boys loved to see the bright lights and Christmas trees.  The shopping day was a success for the boys - Mom and Dad, not so much. 

The next couple of days were all about sightseeing.   There is so much to see and do in London.  We visited Big Ben first, which the boys renamed mid to below average size Ben.  They expected it to be much bigger.  We walked over the Thames to that huge futuristic looking Ferris wheel, called the London Eye. I had seen the Eye in some Hollywood movie and thought to myself, that I would never go on that and there I was.

It moves at a snail’s pace and takes about 40 minutes to complete the full rotation. Of course, it provides a great view of the entire city and it was a beautiful sunny day so we really got to see beyond the city. It’s a great way to get your bearings from the bird’s eye view. 

Just around the corner is Westminster Abbey, the Parliament buildings, a few castles and seventeen world class museums and galleries but we were focused on something bigger, something better – a bit of Hollywood in London.  We were invited to meet and greet some super stars that were in London for a premier.  JLo, Brad P., Jessica Alba, Britney, etc..  It was the 'who's who' of London and we managed to get tickets.  With nothing but jeans to wear, we thought.....what the hey!, let's go. 

OK, you probably figured it out…..not really! Noah has wanted to visit a wax museum for a while and so we did the incredibly touristy Madame Tussauds.  It was great! We had a blast.  Having said that, once we entered the Red Carpet room with all the Hollywood Celebrities I was VERY excited!!  

Had my picture taken with Leo, Brad, George and Justin Timberlake!  Yes of course I knew they were made of wax but they were looking right at me…really they were.  Calvin spent an unusual amount of time with JLo and Jessica Alba.  At the end of the exhibit there was a Marvel Super Hero 4D movie that was fantastic. It had water, fog, bubbles, and things poking you in the back with a bit of an electric shock.  I know that doesn’t sound that fantastic but it was really well done and it got a few little screams out of me.

My very cool cousin, Jamie, who just happens to be handsome and a talented artist, lives in London.  He’s on his second two year visa - he finished his Masters in Fine Art last year and was able to renew his visa to work here. It is an expensive city to live in but he is working hard and at the same time researching his new project while producing a bit of art.  While in London, we were able to get together for a few dinners with Jamie and his girlfriend, Katherine, another fascinating artist from Montreal. They provided many free tours of some very cool neighborhoods and galleries. 

We met at St. Paul’s Cathedral, walked over the millennium bridge and into the Tate Modern museum. We also went for a walk along the Thames with all the trees lit for Christmas to an eatery called Canteen. This place has carved out a successful niche in an overcrowded London diner market by providing traditional real “British” comfort food in a modern way. It was a really tasty meal and it was followed by a delicious bread pudding dessert.

Have you noticed that political unrest or environmental disaster seems to follow us?  It’s not like we are the catalyst but it is becoming more common than we are comfortable with.  The day after we left Italy, there was a large demonstration in Rome, then earthquakes in Turkey as we were leaving, serious rioting in Athens the day after we left and we exited Egypt on the day the second revolution began. 

We thought we were out of the thick of things when we arrived in London……well; London is turned out to be no exception.  One of the largest demonstrations in 40 years was planned for the midst of our London trip.  The news predicted up to 2 million protestors – government, schools, immigration and all non-essential services were being shut down for the day.  We decided to stay close to home to avoid being part of the demonstration. 

The ‘demonstration’ turned out to be a bit of a flop and a rather refreshing ‘fair and balanced’ news report indicated as many Londoners were against the demonstration as for it.  Times are definitely changing.

The next morning, we decided to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.  How many people could be there on a brisk December morning……VERY many is how many.  There were thousands of tourists (same crowd from Oxford St. shopping?!?) and it was hardly worth the fight to get close to the gates to see, but it was an experience.

 Aidan was expecting to see the red coats on the guards but it was so cold that they were wearing the grey long coats and so he was disappointed by this.  It was quite a show – a marching band, armed guards and a horse parade.  Not sure if this is normally this long but we lost interest and the feeling in our finger tips and decided to find some hot chocolate. 

 We stopped by at the Horse guard area to try and make some guards flinch (they didn’t). Aidan also wanted to tell them some Knock Knock jokes as he was sure this would crack a smile, but sadly we couldn’t get close enough. It was then on to Trafalgar Square to climb a giant bronzed lion and to see the countdown to the 2012 Olympics clock.

We ventured over to Piccadilly Circus to see some punk rockers but they must all be parents now at home with their kids.  The lights at night are pretty exciting. Kind of a watered down Times Square feel. This was a busy sightseeing day but we planned a few days of dedicated schoolwork so we wanted to accomplish a lot.  We did two days of school work where the boys plow through a week or more of material.  NO chance we could ever home school but it’s now easy to see how the kids can do more in less time without the distractions of their buddies. 

 Back in to the explorer saddle with a trip to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. There is a pretty outdoor ice rink that is set up for Christmas and the boys were keen to lace up some skates and so we sent them down to check the prices. First of all there were no helmets. In fact they looked at me sort of strange when I asked about them (for me not the kids) and it was going to cost the equivalent of $50 for the whole family to skate for an hour!

I explained to the kids that no self-respecting Canadian family could pay $50 to skate when we are the founders of ice and blades and can do it for free on any pond or lake back in the motherland! Now it was their turn to look at me kind of weird and tell me they hardly ever skated on outdoor rinks back in Canada. True I said, but we are not paying $50!

Our next stop was King’s Cross station which is the departure point for students of Hogwarts School, where Harry Potter attended. The Hogwarts Express departed from Platform 9 3/4′s and to acknowledge Kings Cross Station’s role in the mythology of Harry Potter a “Platform 9 3/4″ sign had been erected on a wall close to the real platform 9. We had some fun pretending we could also pass through the wall. By this time we were all pretty hungry and tired so we headed back to our neck of the woods in Canary Wharf and decided to try Jamie Olivers’ Italian restaurant.  Service was great and the food was pretty good.  Not amazing but pretty tasty and portioned well.  London is an expensive city and so we have to keep that in mind.

 

Another sightseeing day was spent at the Natural History Museum, which houses a large dinosaur exhibit as well as great human biology demonstrations and experiments.  The building is worth the trek on the metro.  Beautiful architecture inside and out.  We walked for hours and stopped for a snack but I would say the experiments were Noah and Aidan’s favourite area and Devin’s was the dinosaurs.

He said that it was the most dinosaur bones he had ever seen but I think the ROM in Toronto has more, he just has forgotten being there – I think he was three when we visited the ROM.  

Jamie and Katherine had another free night to see us so we met them at the Shoreditch tube station and they took us to Brooklane which is little Bangladesh town. On each side of the street EVERY single space is occupied by Indian/Bangladesh restaurants and they call out to you to come and look at their menu or yell out incentives if you come and eat at their establishment.

Every restaurant has an award or seven listed on their sign – Best Indian Food London 2009 – 2010; Winner of Indian Culture Carnival; Best Curry London 2007; Most handsome Indian waiters, etc.  We stopped at a pretty decent looking one called Mango and the man offered 25% off our food bill and a round of free drinks. It sealed the deal for us and we were in. Luckily the food was really tasty and the place quickly filled up within minutes, so it seemed to have been a good choice. It was great to spend this extra time with Jamie.

He is turning 30 in December and I was there at the hospital the day he was born and went on to babysit him and his sister every chance I could when they were babies. There he sat, a mature, intellectual man living abroad with his girlfriend…I felt old!  I think I need to get my hair done.  After dinner we walked through some of the small streets and got a good feel for the neighbourhood. I love London’s vibe. There is so much to do and see. We said our goodbyes to Jamie and Katherine and planned to see them in Paris for Jamie and Devin’s birthdays.

On our last day in London (which was a Sunday) we decided to visit the Columbia Street flower market that Jamie had told us about. It offers so much more than flowers. It is a special street of vendors yelling back and forth to each other in great east end Londoner accents, Christmas trees being sold and really great little shops line the streets with everything from distinct jewellery to fabulous hat stores.

I bought a few little Christmas gifts and we stopped to listen to a trio of musicians playing a bit of Rockabilly music with the big bass and all. Our favourite memory of the Columbia Street market was seeing a person (we think) sitting up in a second story window, embroidering …wearing a large full head fox mask, like it was the most normal thing to be doing on a Sunday morning. We heard one of the Londoner Dad’s, proclaim…”A fox doin’ embroidery, have you ever?”

 

After the market we walked around exploring the neighbourhood a bit and then took a ride on a double decker bus before we left the city. Since it was Sunday and this was our last British meal we headed to the Canary and Cat pub and had their Sunday roast beef, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puds, and for dessert we all had sticky toffee pudding with ice cream. Oh yeah, it was good.   

We hung out at the flat the following morning before walking to the metro to make our way to the train station for our train to Paris.  Life is good!