London.

I have meant to update sooner, however, I have been paying greatly for taking this trip. I still say it was worth it and the girls have to learn someday that mommy needs a break! My quick, yet never rushed trip to London went off without a hitch! This said, I felt a few discomforts, such as knees digging in the back of my seat on the way over and coffee splattered all over me by a young woman with far too many suitcases to being carrying a cup of coffee in her hand. I also felt some embarassment when I realized that for all of the plane ride and Friday I had gum and a wrapper stuck to my butt. Hilarious I know! All of these small incidents paled in comparison to the joy I had in being "away" for a few days! I was hoping to have a great time, and to paraphrase a few conversations we had and overheard from the British people, it was a "Brilliant", and "Jolly Good" time. So, here is my trip from start to finish:

Preparing to leave:
Leaving was a busy business, since Craig was already on business and my girls were not happy about me "leaving" even if it was followed by, "I'm coming back." We survived the tantrums and whines and I was able to put everything together without forgetting anything except, of course, my London travel book! The night before my flight, the girls and I took some pictures together.

I purchased 4 white undershirts and ironed pictures and phrases onto the T-shirt. I told them that if they ever were sad when mommy and daddy were away they could put these shirts under their clothes and wear them next to their hearts. They liked them so much that they are still wearing them and since they are undershirts, if the picture fades -it's no big deal! I also stocked them with photos of the family, including the dogs!

Home, babysitters, Airplane.

It took me 30 minutes just to get out of our driveway last Thursday because of all the snow and ice that had accumulated. I took the girls to my friends house but didn't have time to make it back to my house to take a cab. Luckily I packed my bags in the car - just in case - and drove straight to the airport. I had checked in online and had no bags to check, so I made my way easily through all the security to my gate. I took two sweatshirts, two shirts, two pairs of jeans (one I was wearing), one dress, pair of boots, my toiletries, and something to sleep in at night. I opted for easy, low maintenance tennis shoes - which was the perfect option for this trip! My feet were comfortable the whole way!

Flight to London, train, taxi hotel.

The flight was 5 1/2 hours and despite my neighbor with her knees in my back and my neighbor in front who couldn't quite sit still - it was a good flight with out problems. Once in London, the walk from the plane to security was amazingly long - I thought for sure I was going to be walking all the way to the hotel. Once through security I purchased a round trip train ticket from Heathrow to Paddington Station.

At Paddington Station, I went to open the taxi door and had to ask the driver how to open it. When he said, "push it", I sheepishly got in and sat down hoping I didn't have to ask any more "duh" questions. I'm sure he thought I was doubly strange as I took this self portrait in the back seat. Craig was already staying at a hotel called the Cavendish - sounds posh, eh?! Well, it's a bit like a nice Marriott, and since Friday was payed for by his company, we splurged for Saturday night. All said, I was in the hotel room sleeping by 9:30a.m. and Craig had finished with work at 1:00 p.m.

Dinner, show, and the palace.

Ahhhh, a shower and a change of clothes, I was ready to hit the streets of London. For four days, I've been carrying some sort of bug with me, where everything I ate just doesn't settle well. The airline food wasn't doing it for me, so I hadn't eaten much. After planning what we were going to do, I convinced Craig it was time to eat dinner - at 3:00!

We purchased our theatre tickets at the Critereon Theatre in Piccadilly Circus and headed to an Indian restaurant Craig frequents when he's in town. It was so good that we ate at the same restaurant both nights! I've never been a big fan of traditional English food, and we haven't found a good Indian place in Montreal, so it was quite the treat!

Since our time is limited we decided to choose a shorter play and we chose an absolutely hilarious play called The 39 Steps. The characters in the play are based on the 1930's movie with the same name. There were four actors who played all the roles and if you've seen the movie - you have to see this play - so, so funny!

We took a great walk across Green Park to Buckingham Palace after the play ended. No one was there, of course it was about 10:30 at night. We called the girls from here and then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. We also got a chance to watch the South African and New Zealand cricket game.

Saturday.

Saturday was the only day we had all day with no flights or places to be and so we started it early and got a lot in on one day. We've been to London before and had hit the high spots, this time we wanted to do some of the unique things we didn't get to do the last we were here in 2001. Our first stop was 221 Baker Street! Can you guess where this is?

Yes! My dear Watson, the home of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. We wanted to hail a cab and say to the taxi driver "221 Baker Street, quick my boy", something like that, but felt a bit silly and chose the underground to get us to our destinations all day. We purchased and all day pass and easily rode the trains until night time when it got very very crowded. Both the buses and the underground were packed so we chose to walk many times - well I made us walk, because I can't stand small crowded spaces that move. Having somebody's armpit in my face being packed like sardines isn't my idea of fuN! But, during the day it was perfectly fine. Here is some of the tile at the Baker Street station:

The museum was really small and had all sorts of fun stuff on the 1st and 2nd flats, the 3rd and top flat were wax people imitating some of the famous Holmes stories - tackie - but the rest was really quaint and fun. The gift shop is also fun to browse.

After 221 Baker Street we headed here:

We thought for sure we would be the only ones there, but to our surprise there were about 10 other Harry fans taking pictures with this:

We were the only ones up on this walk way which is located right before Platform 9 3/4's. We think they filmed Harry and Hagrid on this Platform:

We then headed over to a British war museum, which depicted what it would have been like in London during WWII. It was over by the London Dungeons, a theme park of sorts - I've never heard of it, but the line to get in, tells me it is very popular. The War Museum was right past it. Over in this area was the New Scotland Yard, they've filmed Inspector Lynley here, one of my favorite shows - and yes, I was the only one getting her picture taken in front of this sign!

After this we headed over to the Tower of London, crossing the famous Tower Bridge on foot.

As you can see, by now it was very chilly with some drizzle. The angle of the bridge we found was much nicer from the Tower of London side. After this we looked in the gift shop, headed back to the Hotel and then to dinner.

After dinner we went over to Parliament taking these pictures and calling the girls from here. They know Big Ben as the Peter Pan clock and were excited to hear we were standing right next to it.

We walked across the bridge so that we could get a good view of Big Ben and Parliament. Once on the other side we snapped a few self portraits and called the girls. Some of the photos we used our night mode on them, so it's perhaps a little more a glow than perceived in person.

This is where I said "No", to riding the trains back to our Hotel. It was just too crowded and I don't like these small moving spaces. Before heading back, I wanted to do one thing and that was to take a picture in one of these red phone booths. Despite it smelling, we got the photo and with Big Ben in the background!

Sunday and home again.

Our flight on Sunday wasn't until 3:00, so we had the morning to see a few sites. The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace was supposed to be scheduled at 11:30 a.m., but they start it about 30 minutes or more prior to that time so that the band and the Welsh guards can march into the palace. Anyway, this is Craig and I running to catch at least some of the pomp and circumstance before it was over. We were also running to get in front of the band to take some pictures!

It was really crowded, but we did get close enough to take the photo above. After this, it was time to call it a trip and we headed back to the hotel to catch a taxi to Paddington Station, which would take us to Heathrow.

The best thing about the whole trip was having uninterrupted conversation with my husband and uninterrupted thinking time for me. The fact that I had no laundry, cooking, cleaning was just an added bonus. I know I've missed soooo much - but I'll be on your sites soon to see how you are doing!

Thanks for your well wishes - I had a great time!