Ok, so we woke up Monday morning and had to get ready and re-pack. Luckily, we were able to check a smaller luggage bag for Reid. And so we wouldn't have to lug our huge suitcases all over London, we planned to use this bag as our luggage for all 3 of us to London for 2.5 days! Well, it worked. 2 backpacks, 1 large carry-on luggage and a stroller later, we were in the car on the way to the train station to head to LONDON!!!!!
The train left about 9:30am. There were stops all along the way, but they were anywhere from 15-30 minutes apart. So it was a nice casual ride. The part we loved is that at one stop, we had to wait for some higher priority train. So we ended up being about 5 minutes behind schedule. After they picked everyone up at each stop afterwards, they would come over the speaker and apologize for being behind schedule and explained that they had to wait for another try. But our favorite part is that they kept saying they were "endeavoring" to correct this, or to get back on schedule. I think the rest of the day Matt and I were "endeavoring" to do anything. It was so much for fun to say that word that "trying" or "working" ... it was fun!
Reid had fun playing (flirting) with the girls in front of us between the seats.
We got to London Kings Cross station around 12pm-ish. (we had brought lunch on the train, so we were good on food) Well, we did the obvious first... Went and looked for Platform 9 3/4!!!! Duh! We were so bummed, when platforms 9-11 were under construction, so only people with tickets were allowed in. ARGH! Oh well, 1 less site we got to see.
So then we headed to the subway. Hopped on what became our good old friend the whole stay, the Piccadilly Line. It took us to a stop 2 blocks form our hotel. Perfect! I do have to say, I was quite impressed with Matt's skills of carrying a backpack, a suitcase in 1 hand, and the front of Reid's stroller in the other hand going up and down LOTS of subway stairs. He was a champ! London is not so stroller friendly... but we were determined not to let that set us back! We also had to buy passes for the subway, which was exciting to sit there while Matt was in line and watch people from all over the world wonder around one of the busiest subway stations in the world. Fun stuff!
Anyways, we get to our hotel. It was a small little bed and breakfast. All the American hotels were booked, but we were kinda excited to experience a London B&B. Well, Europe is different, and we were cool with it, cuz we knew things are smaller there. But it is still fun to think about it. The breakfast part however was nasty. We hit the delicatessen on the wait out the 2nd day.
"Our street" for 2.5 days
So there were 2 ways to get to our hotel, the slightly longer one had a grocery store on the way, so that was perfect! They also had a community fridge for all the guests. Perfect! So, that took care of all of my worries for Reid's milk!
Once we got settled and everything... we headed out for the afternoon. We decided the British Museum was going to be our fun for the day! We wanted to go to at least 1 museum, and Matt really wanted to see the Rosetta Stone, so this was a perfect fit!
We also saw some very cool Egyptian artifacts.
And some cool Roman columns. Keep in mind, these aren't just some sculpture of what the Roman columns looked like... they are the ACTUAL Roman columns!
Reid was adorable this whole time. He either slept or made friends. Some Asian lady tried to talk to me in Chinese or Japanese or who knows what, and I'm like, yeah, I don't speak that language, so I just smiled.
Afterwards, we let Reid run around outside the in the museum's gardens. He had a lot of fun with that.
By then it was after 5pm, so we headed to Piccadilly Circus, so we just started looking for anything that looked yummy. There was a whole lot of American places, but we did not fly across an ocean to eat American food! So we found Nando's! It was scrumptious! Reid loved it too. It has some South African and Portuguese influence, but we didn't get the really spicy stuff. Then we continued to look around at the shops. It was sad though, because I realized, I'm a tight wad and didn't want to spend pounds on something I could get for cheaper in the U.S. I think it was catered to Americans, so nothing seemed really fun or exciting to buy for me. Oh well, I'm lame.
Reid had crashed, so we figured we'd head back to the hotel and put him down for the night. Well he showed us! He woke up when we got to the hotel and stayed awake for about the next 5+ hours. (I don't know, I lost count when it hit midnight) At that point, Matt and I each took an edge of the bed, and laid there while we let Reid run around on the bed. It was a long rough night. I finally got Reid to go to sleep at some point, so I kicked Matt off the double bed, and we went to sleep. Then at like 6am, since our room was on the floor below ground level, our window was at street level... yeah, all the cars started to leave. So of course Reid woke up... Awesome. :)
Well, time to do it all over again.
DAY 4
We headed to Big Ben! And wow, it is RIGHT there when you come out of the subway station. So we did the obligatory Big Ben pictures. Then headed to find the boats. (thanks to my bro-in-law's recommendation) We took a boat ride along the Thames River to the Tower of London. On the ride from Big Ben to Tower of London you get to see tons of sites: Eye of London (big ferris wheel), St. Paul's Cathedral, Globe Theater, Museums, IBM. Not to mention all the bridges... and yes, London Bridge did fall down. And yes we did see what is now London Bridge #4. But Tower Bridge is sooooo much cooler!
It was great weather, and Reid loved it! So I would recommend the boat ride to anyone!Then we got to Tower of London. Tower of London was once London's main fortress. It has anything and everything that you have seen in your Robin Hood / Arthur and the round table movies.... it was so cool!
My personal favorite was these holes where you shoot your arrows at the oncoming enemies.
Of course there were lots of towers, so that meant spiral staircases. Did mention London is NOT stroller friendly? Yeah, stroller, spiral staircases, yeah, it was exciting. I guess the good news is that Reid slept through most of Tower of London, so we didn't have to chase him around, simply had to carry the stroller around.We also got to wait in line for about an hour so we could be put on a people mover while we looked at THE Crowned Jewels through a heavily guarded case. Really... it was really cool. I would so do it again. Cuz well, they are jewels and they are HUGE!
I think one of the highlights for Reid was chasing the pigeons. It was funny though, cuz they also keep ravens there at the Tower of London. It's part of the superstition that if ravens ever leave, the Tower of London would finally fall. Anyways, a raven flies up near us, I pick up Reid (cuz I know that this is not the kind of bird you want to mess with). But this girl, about 8 years old, runs over to the raven thinking she will scare it away. NOPE, the bird doesn't even flinch when she runs right up to it. So then, she takes her pointer finger and tries to touch the raven. That bird snapped at her so fast... We're not sure if it got her or just scared her. But she went running back to her dad, who was laughing just as hard as everyone else around him.
We took the boat back to Big Ben's and headed to Hyde Park for some chill time. Reid loved it. He ran around chasing more pigeon's and strategizing how to catch them.
Then we headed to this steakhouse for dinner. Well, it was a huge disappointment and not worth blogging about. Plus, Reid was so tired and barely ate anything.. On our way back to the hotel, we were trying to keep Reid awake, so Matt put him on his shoulders... Yeah, it didn't help.
So we get back to our hotel, put Reid down on the bed to sleep, and he sleeps 1 hour, yes 1 hour. That's it! And then, the fire alarm goes off! Did I mention we were on the same floor as the kitchen, and they let their guests cook in the kitchen, and someone burned something. So we went upstairs to let the smoke clear out. It was fun chilling out there with all the different guests on the sidewalk in front of the hotel.
Then, we continued with another miserable night of Reid being awake. I finally got him to lay with me on the twin bed, because it was darker in that corner. And he finally fell asleep. I think I may have only battled with him for 3-4 hours, and actually got 5 hours of sleep.
But don't worry, 6am came, and so did the cars... and Reid was awake!
DAY 5
Our train was leaving at about 2:45pm that afternoon, so we tried to pick things that we could fit into a small window for that day.
We got ready and packed up our belongings. We checked out, and left our bags at the hotel. So we headed off to see the queen. Ok, not really. We went to Westminster Abbey first. This is the church where all royalty is buried, and where all coronations take place. The ornate nature of all the graves were beautiful. Due to aging the colors are very dark, so I wonder how vibrant they were when they were new. We saw cool memorials, like Shakespeare, and Handel (his had a piece of sheet music carved in his), Chaucer, lots of others. The bummer is no pictures inside.
Here is the obligatory outdoors shot:
And then the butresses... man, their architechture is so cool!
Reid learned that these big stone buildings had echos in them... especially when we were in the smaller enclosed areas. So he had to test his voice by doing louder and louder shouts. "ah" "Ah" "AHH" I tried to keep him quiet, but the sweet clergymen told me to just let him shout because there was no service, so no worries. (I just felt bad, cuz it is still a church!)
After that we really did head off to see the Queen! But we were late for the changing of the guards, but oh my, the other 10,000 people were not. And I am NOT exaggerating the 10,000 number either. The place was packed! We caught the end of the changing of the guards, took our pics and were so tired, and it was noon. We started heading back to our hotel to get some lunch at the grocery store, grab our bags, and head to the train station.
Buckingham Palace
All of the sudden, they we were, leaving London after an AMAZING whirlwind of a trip. It was a blast, and even though I did not describe it in all its grandeur, we loved every minute. Well, except lying in bed awake involuntarily at night... but we love Reid and are so thrilled we were able to bring him, and that he was such a trooper!
Dad picked us up in Leeds, and we headed back to their house for a nice home cooked dinner. Reid went to bed a little after 9pm like a champ! He really did. Then we stayed up chatting with my parents a little bit, and then called it a night ourselves. Reid would wake occasionally, but would go right back to sleep. My favorite was at like 5 or 6am, he woke up and climbed in bed with Matt. After a little while, he decided he wanted mom. I thought it was so sweet that he wanted Daddy first.
So now the adventures of Northern England await!
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