Ring Around the Rosie

So London really was a nice trip. It was nice to be with just our family and notice the change in dynamics. For example, A was much cooler and this trip was really good for me to see another side of her.

We got there Thursday night at about 10:30 London time (12:30am our time) so I put the kids to be right away and then they woke up at 5 the next morning...I kept them in bed for like an hour and a half more but it was too late...we were all up. I took them down for breakfast and it was so nice to have more American like food. The pastries and fruit and cereal and pancakes! It was joyous. Then we all got ready and headed out to Lego Land for E's birthday. It was a kid's amusement where almost everything is made of Lego's! I couldn't believe it! Of course it rained and was freezing the whole time but I was really impressed how good of a sport everyone was about it. Especially A...she never tried to cut it short or complain, even though her suade shoes were soaking and she hates to be cold. Even after she got to the point where she had had enough, she merely stated it and waited patiently until we could all make our way back.

After we all got cleaned up we went to Scalinini's for E's birthday dinner and they brought a cake from Harvey Nichol's. I had veal...and some kind of alcholic drink D offered me. It was quite good.

Saturday...it all kind of blurs together. I know we went to Herrod's...several times. It's unbelievable the amount of stuff they have in that place. We saw Wicked...the kids didn't like it at all. A asked me why American's cried when they were moved. Etc. One day we went to Hamley's (one of the biggest toy stores). One day Musuem of Natural History. One day London Dungeon's...a haunted house type deal that depicts all the famous killers from the area...Jack the Ripper, Sweeny Todd, etc. We were all kind of worried it would be too much for E while Df made fun of A for being scarred...but Df was the one too scared to sleep that night. And A asked me if she could hold my hand. I was surprised but of course said yes.

On Sunday I had made several comments about missing Easter and as we drove by a church D said, "It's your holiday. If you want to go you can meet us later." I was very thankful they offered but they didn't understand the concept of finding out the times of the services, I had no money to get back, I didn't know where they were going, and my cell phone didn't work there...so it wasn't plausible which made me sad but still appreciative. A asked me what Easter was exactly and I was excited to answer but somehow the subject got changed.

A left on Monday for New York and they had tickets for Oliver Twist that night but hadn't been able to get me a ticket so D said I could go do whatever I wanted. I said I really wanted to do one of the double decker sight seeing tours so I could do something really Londony. He said when they did it, it was a waste of time but how else would I get to see those things?! So I left them in Covet Garden after exchanging some money and took a taxi to the nearest hop on point. I got on to ask about tickets and he said I had just missed it by 20 minutes...they stopped selling tickets at 6. He gave me a map and told me my best bet would be to take a taxi down to Parliment Square and try to see the sites myself. I asked a cabbie how much it would cost (because I only had so much) and he said about 8 pounds he thought but could only take me so far because there ws a hunger strike demonstration down there and everything was blocked off. It ended up being 12 pounds but he only charged me 8 because that's the number he had given me. Isn't that nice?

I walked around by Big Ben, House of Parliment, Westminister Abby, Buckingham Palace etc. and absolutely everything was closed. I saw on the tourist map that Kensington Gardens had a Peter Pan statue in it (because that's where JM Barrie, the man who wrote the play, met the family he wrote it about) and I thought...this will be the saving grace of this wild goose chase. So I get in ANOTHER taxi who takes me down and it's 8 by then. Apparently the park closes at dusk, "Better hurry" the cabbie said. "And I think the statue is right on the right around the corner" Well this is the size of the Kensington Gardens:

(It's the tiny black mark in the top right-I came in on the left bottom red dot)

And right around the corner was more like in the middle of now where, miles away. I hunted for this thing like the holy grail, thinking if I can just see this ooooone thing, it won't be a waste. But alas, I never found it so I tried to take some pictures at least, proving I was in the same place JM Barrie once was, and then the police came and told me I was going to get it stolen and that the robbers came out at night SO I headed on my way.

I walked alllll the way back to the hotel thinking, I'll at least grab myself some dinner along the way because I don't have enough for dinner and a taxi. Well it turns out, silly me forgot we're staying on the street where only they have upscale shops. No food. So at this point, I'm so irritated I say, I will order the cheapest thing on room service. I look and it's a chicken sandwish with "crisps". Perfect, after all of this, by god, I will at least have fries.

It comes up later (1o by this point) and I open the tray to see the sandwich and LETTUCE. "It said it came with crisps! Where are the fries!" I cry out in despair. "Oh, sorry love. Lettuce are crisps." Don't you "love" me. "OF course, thank you very much."

So that was my wild goose chase adventure. They got back around 10:45 and went to bed. D and I were up until 12:30 packing everything. We got up the next day, went to breakfast, went to Hyde Park, and met a friend of D's for lunch. Along the way, I bought postcards and a Tshirt, determined to do something touristy, and a bear for Andrew from Herrods. (I had to get something there.) Then we headed to the airport, waited, boarded, etc. Luckily, I got a seat on the aisle next to them and the kids slept the whole time. They went to bed when we got back and luckily slept past 8 each morning until they went back to school on Monday.

I don't even want to talk about the time inbetween Tuesday and Monday when they went back to school because it was not a pleasant experience. Kids coming and going all the time while we never left the house...E was whiney and cranky as could be..his friends were little poop heads...I got a taste of what summer would be and began to feel very hopeless. But I'm past it now. A came back on Sunday and spent some time yelling and screaming to re-establish herself as the head honcho but things are starting to settle in now.

The kids have NATIONAL CHILDREN'S DAY tomorrow and Friday off...only in Turkey.

I am not pleased.

So I took my day off yesterday but that is another blog I think.

Enough time in front of the computer. I need to get out of my room some before E gets home.

Laura is still in Morocca and Patria's been working. Everyone else has been busy so I've had NOTHING to do, which has been bad for my head. Next week will be better. Back to normal.

Love to you.