So as it turns out, the internet connection in London was already very slow for uploading pictures, and now we\u2019re in the Netherlands anyway, where the connection is even slower.\u00a0 So I\u2019m going to write a few things down now, and then upload the relevant pictures (and add relevant links) later on, and will try to make this reasonably interesting for readers as well as just myself.<\/p>\n
As you recall, I\u2019ve been touring London with the boys while my husband works, and I\u2019ve been working a couple hours in the late afternoon\/evening.\u00a0 That also means we\u2019d been saving some of the highlights for the weekend, to tour all together.<\/p>\n
So, on Saturday<\/strong>, we headed straight for the Tower of London.\u00a0 Well, not actually \u2013 first we stopped at the office building where the company has its offices.\u00a0 Then we went to the Tower of London, where the lines the guidebook warned us about where not an issue after all.\u00a0 It was entertaining, there was much to see, and it was worth the price \u2013 even though it was expensive for a family of five.\u00a0 Highlights were the crown jewels and the White Tower, which interestingly, had been a tourist attraction for centuries, as the kings used it to demonstrate their legitimacy to the people in the Hall of Kings.<\/p>\n After that, we visited the Tower Bridge \u2013 specifically, the Tower Bridge Exhibition, in which you can take an elevator to the top and cross, with glass floors, partially, then view the Victorian engine rooms.<\/p>\n Sunday<\/strong> started with church.\u00a0 Conveniently, a Catholic church was located down the block from our apartment; in fact, it was the oldest Catholic church in England, by the historical accident that it was a decaying bishop\u2019s chapel which was bought at auction and restored in the years after Catholic worship was again permitted openly in the mid-1800s.<\/p>\n The church itself had a larger, and younger attendance than I expected \u2013 but then again, the congregation seemed to be international, with one family speaking French to each other as they left.<\/p>\n Then we went to Hyde Park, and, in particular, to Speaker\u2019s Corner, where there was indeed a speaker holding forth on why the UK should Leave, as well as another preaching Christianity and a third preaching Islam.\u00a0 Further into the park itself was a group of Remain supporters preparing to take a group photo in the image of the word \u201cIN\u201d; with a choir singing \u201cIN\u201d-type songs to warm up the crowd.\u00a0 In retrospect, I suppose that was fitting, that the Remain group was professional, and the Leavers were, basically, scrappy ameteurs.<\/p>\n Afterwards we walked over to Buckingham Palace, even though it was far too late for the Changing of the Guard, and then to the Churchill War Rooms, again, expensive but very worthwhile.\u00a0 It\u2019s the sort of place where you walk through with an audioguide describing all the rooms, and, to be honest, at some point it got a bit tiring, but it was still a \u201cmust-see.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday<\/strong>, the forecast was rain in the morning, and dry in the afternoon, so we started off in the Imperial War Museum.\u00a0 We even took the bus there, because it was a direct trip from the bus stop in front of our apartment (well, that plus a 7 minute walk, but there was no more convenient tube stop).\u00a0 We listened to a very animated docent describe the V1 and V2 attacks on London, then viewed the World War I exhibit (which was\u00a0 interesting enough for my older boys that my 9 year old and I waited for them as they viewed it in much greater depth than we did).\u00a0 Towards the end, the museum lost power, switching to backup lights only, but it was still possible to view exhibits, though without any video displays, for a while, but eventually they must have determined that the power wasn\u2019t going to go back on anytime soon, and kicked us out.<\/p>\n At this point, it was already 1:30 or so, and we were hungry, having only had a small snack that we\u2019d brought with us.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t really have any idea where we were, or what sort of restaurant options there were, so we headed vaguely north toward the Thames, and ended up in a shopping district just south of the Waterloo train station, which was itself just south of the Thames, and, near the London Eye.\u00a0 It was a funky sort of district, with second-hand shops, three (!) used and new bookshops, and a tunnel to the station covered in very elaborate graffiti.\u00a0 There we found a Chinese place for lunch, with cheap entrees and (I didn\u2019t notice this; only my son as we left) a three-star hygiene rating (where I\u2019m told that it\u2019s extremely rate to be rated less than the top 5-star or maybe 4.5).<\/p>\n We then took our time walking along the Thames, and ended up at another bus stop on the same bus line back home.<\/p>\n Tuesday<\/strong> we got out of town \u2013 well, sort of; we stayed within the greater London area but went to Hampton Court Palace, where we had yet another audio tour \u2013 but also enjoyed a \u201cplay\u201d that took place with the \u201caudience\u201d following the characters through the palace as the story of Catherine Howard unfolded.\u00a0 And the kids enjoyed the maze \u2013 the oldest such hedge maze in England \u2013 a great deal, and then ended the day at the \u201cmagic garden\u201d \u2013 which was actually a playground, mostly for younger children, but my youngest enjoyed it.<\/p>\n We also lost the guidebook, and our detailed map, on that train on Tuesday, since we had to change trains without a clear sense of what the stops were (this was a commuter line, not the tube), and jumped off when we unexpectedly reached our destination, with the guidebook sitting on the seat.\u00a0 Fortunately, by then we\u2019d gotten more-or-less oriented, and we still had another map, a bus route map which showed the major streets if not the full detail.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, having done the major sights, we went to Camden Market, a large market catering to hipsters, among others, but with a large number of food stalls as well.\u00a0 We could have walked around for quite a while more than we did, but we then took a canal boat along the canal to \u201cLittle Venice\u201d \u2013 which, I\u2019ll tell you, was actually a disappointment.\u00a0 Had I known, we\u2019d have just done a round-trip and spent more time at Camden Market.<\/p>\n We also met with my husband\u2019s colleague, also visiting London on business, and with her son, which had just graduated from high school, and whom my boys enjoyed talking to as we walked around London at night.<\/p>\n Thursday, I spent the morning in the office, so nothing interesting for you all, but a good morning for me, as I met with some local colleagues and managed to get connected to the right people to get involved in an interesting project when vacation is over.\u00a0 In the afternoon, we did a \u201cHarry Potter walk,\u201d seeing various sites associated with the films \u2013 then we got caught in the rain.\u00a0 We jumped in the first bus we saw at St. Paul\u2019s, which was headed to King\u2019s Cross, from which I knew we could transfer to the tube, and to the station at our apartment.\u00a0 Turned out, examining the route a bit closer on the bus, it actually swung to within half a block of our apartment (though we got more wet than would have been the case had I not gotten turned around and walked half a block in the other direction first).<\/p>\n A side comment:\u00a0 the night before it had been even rainier than it was on Thursday itself; various tube lines were delayed or even closed throughout the day.\u00a0 My husband\u2019s theory is that this could have made the difference in the comparatively lower turnout in remain-supporting London compared to the rest of England, as it would have been harder to get to the polls, or at any rate, might have left Londoners tired out after a long day made longer by delays in commutes home, and more likely to figure that Remain would win and they could relax at home.\u00a0 (Though,\u00a0 unlike the U.S., polls stay open until 10 pm in the UK.)<\/p>\n Friday<\/strong> was our last day in the UK.\u00a0 Conveniently, because of a pre-referendum Parliament recess, the Houses of Parliament were available for touring, when they otherwise wouldn\u2019t have been.\u00a0 Of course, I told you about Friday already.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So as it turns out, the internet connection in London was already very slow for uploading pictures, and now we\u2019re in the Netherlands anyway, where the connection is even slower.\u00a0 So I\u2019m going to write a few things down now, and then upload the relevant pictures (and add relevant links) later on, and will try […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[414,415],"class_list":["post-4748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-london","tag-vacation-2016"],"yoast_head":"\n