The London Eye (TM)

C: The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel, owned by British Airways. It takes a half hour to go around, you see pretty much all of London, and it costs about $100 to ride, and you get one turn around for 30 minutes. [editor's note: It actually cost 30 GBP ($60) for two kids and one grown-up, and we paid 3 GBP for the photo guide so we could tell what we were looking at.]

The pods were weird looking egg-shaped capsules, with a small table to sit on in the middle, and a rail to hold onto, on the outside. It was right next to the river Thames, and the capsules were made mostly of glass and metal.

We rode in the evening. We saw lots of lights. We saw big buildings, including Big Ben and the houses of parliment. It was over 400 feet in the air. There were 30 people in each car.

And I also saw Waterloo Station, which is where we caught the Eurostar to Paris, the next day.

Our Day in London

Sam: Me and Mom woke up in the morning at 3 O’clock. Then we went for a walk at 6 o’clock. We saw a park, we saw Russell Square.

C: I woke up and watched TV for a little while [Cartoons. And, you get Sonic the Hedgehog on TV in America]. Then me and Dad went down for breakfast in the Windsor Room, and I had three pieces of toast with strawberry jam (2 with butter and Jam). Then we had tea.

Sam: When we went to Coram's Fields, I liked the big kid’s playground because it had a zipline and an awesome swing.

C: We got the European version of the Harry Potter 5 book. We got it at a thrift shop. They call them Charity shops. In the book, the Ford Angelina is a Ford Anglia. It has a different color, and there are no pictures at the beginning of the chapters.

Dad: I thought the British Museum was amazing. They had some really nice ceramics in the Islamic section, especially lusterware. It would be nice to be able to go back and see the whole collection.

Mom: I thought we had a nice meander through a nice part of London, and got to see some of how the real people live, in the Bloomsbury neighborhood. Lots of bike commuters, some interesting shops (like the comic book store we found, and the charity shop, and the small grocery). Tonight we are going to take the double-decker bus to the London Eye. The kids have also been taking photos of different familiar features (mailboxes, phone booths, doorknob, playground, ambulance, etc) and we’ll post them here too. Coram's Field playground was a real highlight. It would be worth it to stay in this neighborhood while travelling, just to be able to enjoy a visit. We bought a tea towel they were selling to support the park. Photos posted here.

Sunday Turns into Monday

C: I watched a whole bunch of movies and cartoons on the plane and it was really fun. And, I stayed up all night. [our plane left at 7pm on Sunday from San Francisco, and arrived in London at 1300 hours on Monday. We had 9 ½ hours in the air, but London is 8 hours later].

Sam: I watched a lot of cartoons and I fell asleep and I didn’t know that my cartoons were still playing.

At first I thought I’d hate London, because it smelled bad [like diesel], I was dizzy, it was crowded, and my stomach was hurting. Then, when we finally got to the tube, I was really relieved that I was out of the bad smell. And C was snoring like mad on the tube. He was lying in this really akward pose. . .

C: Well, you try falling asleep on a subway!

Sam: And then when we got to the hotel room, I was really relieved because I was feeling better. Then when Mom & C went to find a place to eat, and then we ate dinner, and came back to the hotel.

Mom: It was a very long, very tiring day. But, now we are going to go to sleep, and hopefully when we wake up, we’ll all feel much better.

[Dad thought the people we met on the train today were very nice and helpful. Since there were six of us, everytime we tried to get on or off, we had to schlep all of our bags. And the vomiting incident was pretty exciting, too. Mom said “Tomorrow will be a better day” and Dad said “Oh, of course, it HAS to be!”]

Let the adventures begin!

Our Trip to the Theatre

We went to the Sierra Reperatory Theatre for a guided tour behind-the-scenes. Mom told us to be very behaved because we were the only ones who got to do it and it was very special.

[Sam] It was really cool, I liked the Salem's Store. I liked the Green Room too. My favorite character was Jen Faith Brown.
[C] I thought it was really cool, as well, I liked the stage, props, Salem's store, Jake's Palace Bar, and outside Jake's Palace. And the bean cans were pretty cool too. I really liked the Irish Character called Greg.

We also worked on our journals for the trip, today.

Trip Expectations

Mom: What do you imagine London to be like?

C: Very citylike. Its like a flat San Francisco, except bigger.

Mom: What makes you think its flat?

C: I don't know.

Mom: What do you know that's there?

C: King's Cross station. I want to go on the London Eye. I want to ride double-decker buses. And I want to go to that huge department store.

Mom: Which one was that?

C: The one where the guy asked for an elephant, and they said "Will that be African or Indian, sir?"

Mom: Oh, Harrods. What about Paris, how do you expect it will be?

C: A lot like London, but with the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. And with a lot of french speaking people.

Mom: Are you going to try and speak French?

C: The phrase I want to speak most of all is "Es cou vou comprenez l'anglais?" (do you understand English).

Mom: What else do you want to do in France?

C: Go to the Louve. The top of the Eiffel Tower.

Mom: What about the food, how do you think it will be different?

C: Some of it will be home-grown, probably a lot more of it. A lot of people around here just go to store and buy their food, and its not usually locally-grown. In the English countryside, it's probably a lot more likely to be locally grown. In France I want to get a Brioche. One from each bakery, because then you get to try all of the different kinds.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

K-girl states that from this point onward, she wants to be called "Sam" on the blog. She says this is the last time she is going to change her name.

Getting Ready to Go

We are getting ready to leave on Saturday, for our trip to the UK, and France. We've been studying, packing, getting the house and pets ready--Whew! A lot of work!

Mom: What do you think will be different about London?

Sam (formerly K-Girl): There are going to be a lot of big buildings. And we are going to pass a lot of cool museum and parks on the way to our hotel.

Mom: What do you want to do in London?

Sam: I want to visit some museums. One of them is the British Museum because the Rosetta Stone is there. I want to see Kings Cross Station because that is where Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasely, and all of the other students of Hogwarts got on the Hogwarts express. It is called platform 9 3/4. I want to go on the London Eye, because its like a gigantic ferris wheel.

Mom: What do you think is going to be different about England when you get off the plane, that will make you know for sure you aren't in the USA anymore?

Sam: People will have English accents. I know one word in English accent. The "loo" means bathroom.

Mom: What do you think will be different about people in France?

Sam: They are all going to speak French.

Mom: Are you going to try and speak French too?

Sam: Yeah, but I don't know much.

Mom: Do you know how to say bathroom?

Sam: No, but you know how to say "lost".

Mom: What are you looking forward to about France?

Sam: Pastries. I want to go to the Louve because it has the picture of Mona Lisa. And I want to go to Notre Dame because I want to see what it looks like and see if there is really a bell-ringer. I want to go to the Eiffel Tower.

Mom: What about the Narrowboat trip are you looking forward to?

Sam: I want to go to Llangollen because there is a train. You get to go in a boat, and I never spent the night on a boat before. You get to run alongside the boat. I'm looking forward to seeing my Grandmas, and because I haven't seen Grandma Kay in a long time.