Europe--Going to Londontown

I liked Edinburgh so much, and it was so nice to see Mom and Dad, that maybe it was a good thing that it was pouring and cold and nasty the morning we left.  The Hambelton Edinburgh Tour van dropped us off at the train station, and they braved the weather to park and see us off on the morning train to London. 

Just as we were all on the platform, they announced that we must cross the train station and board a different train that was set to leave in 5 min.  So we set off with the hurrying crowd, up stairs, down stairs (Europe is sorely lacking in escalators), across streets, and finally to the new platform with all 4 kids and 6 trailing suitcases accounted for.  Brian chucked the suitcases aboard and we scrambled for seats.  The kids sorely missed the table we had reserved, but I was grateful we had seats.  There were several people forced to stand the entire 4 hours.  Apparently there had been a  train crash earlier in the day.  With fatalities. 

At last we made it to London, took 2 trains on the tube, and ended up at our rented flat.  It had a red brick front and an elevator that looked like it hearkened back to the Victorian age.  But since we were on the 7th floor, we used it.  It was a nice, roomy flat that looked like the last serious update was somewhere in the 40's.  It would have all been quaint and charming if we hadn't seen a mouse go running across the floor when we walked in.  I quickly put all of our food in the fridge and scrubbed any dishes before we used it.  That night I swore I saw a bug moving when we opened the fold-out bed, and refused to let the kids sleep in it.  We pushed the two single beds together in the extra bedroom and slept all four kids across from headboard to foot board.  To be fair, the rest of the sheets were scrupulously clean ( I checked), and to my pleasant surprise, the shower stayed hot through 3 showers. 

After a snack, we headed back out to the British National Museum. They have the Rosetta Stone here as well as impressive Assyrian, Egyptian and Greek artifacts. We only had a couple of hours, but we were overwhelmed with the amazing things we saw. It is a definite must see. (It is also the place where Sadie and Carter have to steal an artifact in Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan--who knew I'd be drawing on my literary references from my kids' books)

 Rosetta stone

 Athenian Parthenon

 This is Athena watching a procession with Hephaestus.

 Assyrian

 Egyptian

We walked past the hotel Brian stayed at when he went to London for work, so he recommended a pizza place for dinner and the kids loved it. 

That night as we were taking the tube home, the train we were on was delayed and we had to transfer to another line and take a slightly longer route home.  There was a fatality on the track.  Two fatalities in one day on the train.  What are the odds?

The next day we did the We Only Have One Day to See Everything Tour of London. Which meant we got up early and got a taste of as much as we could, though we didn't get to really experience much.   We started at Buckingham Palace.

 Then took a walk through St. James Park to Big Ben.

And Westminster Abbey

And the House of Parliament

But we couldn't take the time (or the money) to go inside because we had to get to...