Weekend in London
Tomorrow (Monday) is a bank holiday. Weeks ago we started thinking of some trips - we're interested in visiting Bath and York eventually - but Margo had a hard time finding available rooms. We decided that Sarah and I would take an overnight in London, giving Margo some time to work on a paper for the class she's taking for her job. London is easy since I've got a monthly rail pass, and there's so much to do.
We left for London after Sarah's morning swim class. She's on the left; they're practising the arm motions of a crawl. I don't normally bring a camera to swim classes, but happened to have it for our trip, and I thought the scene was a little silly.
Margo dropped us off at the Ipswich train station afterwards. I'd brought some cards and a little chess set, thinking we'd have the normal trains with tray tables, but because of some engineering work being done, different trains were in use. Sarah asked if I'd brought my iPod, and wanted to listen to music, so we took an earbud each and I got to put on a live DJ set until her attention ran out.
I'd reserved us a family room in a Premier Travel Inn, a fairly bland chain of family-friendly hotels. We stayed in one while in Liverpool, and I remembered it as being convenient with on-site dining facilities, and besides, anything more fancy or authentic would be lost on Sarah anyway.
After checking in and relaxing a bit, I came up with a menu of activities for Sarah, and she chose a walk to nearby Regents Park, so we walked a ways down Euston Street to the park.
It's another massive park like Hyde Park. There are gardens and open areas and lots of paths. This path reminded me of the parks in Paris.
We found a play area and spent lots of time there.
Sarah persuaded me to join her on a ... uh ... spinning-arm-thingie-with-chairs. She spun it and I took some pictures.
Then I remembered I had the power of Shutter Priority and slowed things down to 1/8 of a second.
Soon afterwards, the dark skies started to empty on us a bit, so we made our way back to the hotel, grabbed my brolly, and went one block further to the same old "Pizza Express" Italian restaurant where we had our first London dinner last summer (our hotel was just blocks away from the bed and breakfast we'd first stayed in). Then it was back to our room with plenty of time to catch Doctor Who. Then, while I read and tried not to listen, Sarah watched the latest elimination show where Andrew Lloyd Webber gets viewers to choose his latest West End theatre lead ... this time for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Sarah even called Margo to discuss the evening's contestants since they usually watch it together. But afterward I was pleased to catch a new BBC documentary, The Seven Ages of Rock - the evening's theme, Art Rock, explored the early careers of Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground, David Bowie, Roxy Music, and Genesis.
Sunday morning we went downstairs to get the buffet breakfast. Then we packed, checked out, checked our one suitcase, and took the Tube to South Kensington, the Station of the Museums, where on a rainy weekend, many of the UK's families and tourists can be found. London on a weekend is hugely cosmopolitan. I heard bits of German, Russian, French, Japanese (I think) and English with Scottish and American accents. On the Tube, and in the underground tunnel from the station to the museums, I kept hearing the same two words that I'd used to entice Sarah to our next destination, the Natural History Museum: "dinosaur bones".
We arrived just before the 10am opening, and unfortunately had to endure a lengthy queue in the rain (thankfully under my umbrella), but were rewarded with our promised dinosaur bones immediately in the central hall - a Diplodicus, no less.
Looking over the map, we first decided to visit the blue whale, but unfortunately that was closed for cleaning until July. (As the signage cheekily put it, "It takes a long time to dust and clean the world's largest animal.") But we did take in marine invertebrates along the way, including an octopus and a giant squid.
Then we visited the dinosaurs. There were lots of bones and lots of very interesting displays. One highlight was the obligatory robotic T-Rex. Though I must say, this one was more sophisticated than most, with blinking eyelids and complex combinations of motion. Say cheese!
Hmmm, perhaps the flash has upset it.
Afterwards, it was about time for Sarah's feeding, so we got tea for two and treats: a brownie for the shortie and a flapjack for me. Watch the terrifying monster attack its prey.
Next we decided to see some earth science exhibits on volcanoes and earthquakes. By the end of that, Museum Fatigue had set in and we decided to head home. It was a longer trip back, there being more of a wait for trains on Sunday, and we were glad to get back home to Ipswich and an early dinner with Margo.
We left for London after Sarah's morning swim class. She's on the left; they're practising the arm motions of a crawl. I don't normally bring a camera to swim classes, but happened to have it for our trip, and I thought the scene was a little silly.
Margo dropped us off at the Ipswich train station afterwards. I'd brought some cards and a little chess set, thinking we'd have the normal trains with tray tables, but because of some engineering work being done, different trains were in use. Sarah asked if I'd brought my iPod, and wanted to listen to music, so we took an earbud each and I got to put on a live DJ set until her attention ran out.
I'd reserved us a family room in a Premier Travel Inn, a fairly bland chain of family-friendly hotels. We stayed in one while in Liverpool, and I remembered it as being convenient with on-site dining facilities, and besides, anything more fancy or authentic would be lost on Sarah anyway.
After checking in and relaxing a bit, I came up with a menu of activities for Sarah, and she chose a walk to nearby Regents Park, so we walked a ways down Euston Street to the park.
It's another massive park like Hyde Park. There are gardens and open areas and lots of paths. This path reminded me of the parks in Paris.
We found a play area and spent lots of time there.
Sarah persuaded me to join her on a ... uh ... spinning-arm-thingie-with-chairs. She spun it and I took some pictures.
Then I remembered I had the power of Shutter Priority and slowed things down to 1/8 of a second.
Soon afterwards, the dark skies started to empty on us a bit, so we made our way back to the hotel, grabbed my brolly, and went one block further to the same old "Pizza Express" Italian restaurant where we had our first London dinner last summer (our hotel was just blocks away from the bed and breakfast we'd first stayed in). Then it was back to our room with plenty of time to catch Doctor Who. Then, while I read and tried not to listen, Sarah watched the latest elimination show where Andrew Lloyd Webber gets viewers to choose his latest West End theatre lead ... this time for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Sarah even called Margo to discuss the evening's contestants since they usually watch it together. But afterward I was pleased to catch a new BBC documentary, The Seven Ages of Rock - the evening's theme, Art Rock, explored the early careers of Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground, David Bowie, Roxy Music, and Genesis.
Sunday morning we went downstairs to get the buffet breakfast. Then we packed, checked out, checked our one suitcase, and took the Tube to South Kensington, the Station of the Museums, where on a rainy weekend, many of the UK's families and tourists can be found. London on a weekend is hugely cosmopolitan. I heard bits of German, Russian, French, Japanese (I think) and English with Scottish and American accents. On the Tube, and in the underground tunnel from the station to the museums, I kept hearing the same two words that I'd used to entice Sarah to our next destination, the Natural History Museum: "dinosaur bones".
We arrived just before the 10am opening, and unfortunately had to endure a lengthy queue in the rain (thankfully under my umbrella), but were rewarded with our promised dinosaur bones immediately in the central hall - a Diplodicus, no less.
Looking over the map, we first decided to visit the blue whale, but unfortunately that was closed for cleaning until July. (As the signage cheekily put it, "It takes a long time to dust and clean the world's largest animal.") But we did take in marine invertebrates along the way, including an octopus and a giant squid.
Then we visited the dinosaurs. There were lots of bones and lots of very interesting displays. One highlight was the obligatory robotic T-Rex. Though I must say, this one was more sophisticated than most, with blinking eyelids and complex combinations of motion. Say cheese!
Hmmm, perhaps the flash has upset it.
Afterwards, it was about time for Sarah's feeding, so we got tea for two and treats: a brownie for the shortie and a flapjack for me. Watch the terrifying monster attack its prey.
Next we decided to see some earth science exhibits on volcanoes and earthquakes. By the end of that, Museum Fatigue had set in and we decided to head home. It was a longer trip back, there being more of a wait for trains on Sunday, and we were glad to get back home to Ipswich and an early dinner with Margo.
posted by Michael Nelson at 9:13 am
1 Comments:
Hey Guys
sounds like a good little trip. thanks for the bloggies!!
love
dave
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