Guess where we went?

Yes, we hopped down to London over the weekend! We meant to go Friday night, but then decided we should really go to a family dinner at Stephen's college. That was good, because we met some other families with kids and found out about a chess club near here Wednesday evenings. But it meant that we were in a scramble to get out of here Saturday morning, and got to the train station as our train was leaving. No matter... We did get there, hand off our luggage (toothbrushes and underwear for 4) to Barry, and get to the big museums for the afternoon.

Stephen and Arthur went to the Science Museum, where they saw the real and genuine Puffing Billy, and the ladies took in the V&A, where we saw, amongst other things, Queen Maud's dresses. Also ironwork, musical instruments, pottery, textiles, paintings, stained glass, silver reliquaries in the shapes of heads (and guess what kind of relic they held?) and the coffee shop. And probably more.... It's an amazing collection of everything designed.

Here's Arthur and the Puffing Billy, and here's Elaine on the beautiful mosaic floor of the V&A.

Then, thanks to the miracle of mobile phones, we met the guys at the Natural History museum. We were a few days late to see the Diamonds exhibit! But still, we saw the dinosaurs, and you can't beat that. There was a real live T Rex! Well, ok, not really, but a motorized model of one, who growled and turned his head to and fro. It was grrrreat!


At the end of the dino exhibit, there were various cartoons speculating on the cause of the mass extinction. "Overwhelmed by their own dung" was a good one, but this one suggests cataracts. It's a terrible picture, but the big T Rex is saying "That's just great! My arms are too short to put my glasses on..." and the little guy in the corner says "And you've got no ears to speak of," as the rest of the herd stumbles around and off cliffs in the background.

Finally we were all a bit pooped after an afternoon of walking, so we made our way to a restaurant for dinner (bottomless frozen yogurt for the kids!) and home to K&B's. Barry is a big softie, who sees kids this close to Christmas and decides to get out the fiber-optic tree and put something under it! I wish we'd taken a picture of the tree, but since the thrill is in its slowly changing colours, a still picture does it no justice. Of course, the kids were delighted to get gifts, and they played reasonably quietly while the grown-ups had a glass of wine, and we all went to sleep....


Sunday we decided on the tower, and see, I took my knitting. We went to St Paul's, took the footbridge across the river, then took a boat back across to the Tower. Very fun. And lucky for us, some of the big attractions in London have put together a deal whereby you get 2-for-1 tickets if you've come to town on the train. Anything to discourage more cars! So, while forking over large amounts of money to the Queen, we felt we were getting a bargain... We saw Henry VIII's armour, old fireplaces and garderobes (kinda like toilets: seats with holes in, emptying out the castle walls... a bit draughty!) and piles of swords and muskets and gunpowder barrels. And of course, the crown jewels. That place is made to hold about a squillion people. They have winding paths for the tourists to walk along, and films playing of coronations, pictures of the orb and maces and the special coronation spoon... and in August, I bet you get to see them all 5 times, as you slowly make your way to the big stuff. But we went relatively quickly to the moving sidewalk that takes you past the crowns, sceptres, orbs, which are plastered with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, pearls and whatever else twinkles and sparkles. Mere mortals are not permitted to take pics of them, and besides, I'm sure in the dim light, through glass, any pictures one tried to take would be awful. Elaine was quite taken, and we especially liked the teeny little crown Victoria favoured, since the others were too heavy.

Another big day. We retraced our steps back to Katherine's for a cup of tea, then grabbed the train to Cambridge, and back to real life here.

And now you'll have to excuse me, as I'm a bit behind with my Sudoku.

Late breaking news:
The nuts at Going Jesus have started the Christmas season with a look at tacky angels. Angels We Have Heard Are High! Don't forget last year's hilarious Nativity atrocities, and the Passion of the Tchotchke. Just don't try to look at them all at once, or you'll overdose for sure!