On August 24, we took the Eurostar train from Paris to London (notice the Tower Bridge above Betsy's head in the picture). It's a lot less exciting than it sounds -- even for the kids -- to go under the English channel on a train, but it is pretty amazing to make it from one city to the other in less than three hours. For some reason, we never took any pictures of this train experience, but then again, it's a train and it looks pretty much like most other trains. Except (handy travel tip) you have to go through security and customs before boarding, more like at an airport. Don't think you can just walk right on the way you do any other train. Not that we thought we could do that. Or realized just in the nick of time that leisurely sipping coffee in the train station near the Eurostar tracks while waiting for our departure was not where we needed to be. Of course not.
We stayed in London at the beautiful house of a friend of Dave's from college, Tamsin, and her husband Jean-Marc and 3-year-old daughter Charlotte. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and stayed through the bank holiday on Monday, leaving on Tuesday morning and completely obliterating Tamsin's family's three-day weekend. They were extremely gracious hosts nonetheless, especially Charlotte. Charlotte had met Molly a couple of months previously, at Dave and Tamsin's college reunion, and she seemed incredibly happy to have Molly ACTUALLY STAYING AT HER HOUSE. And this time, she got to meet Molly's sister too (!!). In the picture, we're making biscuits. (American biscuits, that is, which do not appear to have an English equivalent.)
Did I mention Tamsin and Jean-Marc were gracious? Tamsin managed to get a couple of corporate tickets to the Chelsea-Portsmouth football match (you Americans, that's "soccer game") at Chelsea's home stadium. Dave and Jean-Marc went to watch some of the best players in the world, particularly on the side of Chelsea, whose mega-rich Russian owner has been buying them up right and left. Chelsea won 1-0 (Frank Lampard shown celebrating the goal at left in the undoubtedly copyrighted picture I found on the web.
Link to writeup here). The game and the atmosphere were incredible!
In London, we got a chance to visit Dave's old colleague from Penn State, Jouni (shown here wearing a paper flower that Molly had fashioned for him). The weather was very cooperative and we had a great time catching up with Jouni while traveling all over the city. I'm happy to report that after we arrived at Coram's Fields and Molly and Betsy scampered off to climb on things, we really were approached by a staff member and asked whether we were accompanied by any children.
With Tamsin and Jean-Marc, we went to a giant festival on Sunday and saw a few of the more traditional London sights -- Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the new Tate Modern Gallery -- on Monday. Of course, the kids were not at all interested in the standard stuff. Their highlights: At B.P., we got to see horses galloping by and hear the band (changing of the guard) and there was a nearby playground where the toilets are
only for children. Big Ben was where we got on a boat to ride down the Thames. And the Tate has this really cool gigantic concrete ramp (known to adults interested in art installations as the Turbine Hall). It's so big that kids can be allowed to run up and down. Two very smart men parked their ice cream trucks parked just outside, right by the entrance to the
Millennium Footbridge.
On August 24, we took the Eurostar train from Paris to London (notice the Tower Bridge above Betsy's head in the picture). It's a lot less exciting than it sounds -- even for the kids -- to go under the English channel on a train, but it is pretty amazing to make it from one city to the other in less than three hours. For some reason, we never took any pictures of this train experience, but then again, it's a train and it looks pretty much like most other trains. Except (handy travel tip) you have to go through security and customs before boarding, more like at an airport. Don't think you can just walk right on the way you do any other train. Not that we thought we could do that. Or realized just in the nick of time that leisurely sipping coffee in the train station near the Eurostar tracks while waiting for our departure was not where we needed to be. Of course not.
We stayed in London at the beautiful house of a friend of Dave's from college, Tamsin, and her husband Jean-Marc and 3-year-old daughter Charlotte. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and stayed through the bank holiday on Monday, leaving on Tuesday morning and completely obliterating Tamsin's family's three-day weekend. They were extremely gracious hosts nonetheless, especially Charlotte. Charlotte had met Molly a couple of months previously, at Dave and Tamsin's college reunion, and she seemed incredibly happy to have Molly ACTUALLY STAYING AT HER HOUSE. And this time, she got to meet Molly's sister too (!!). In the picture, we're making biscuits. (American biscuits, that is, which do not appear to have an English equivalent.)
Did I mention Tamsin and Jean-Marc were gracious? Tamsin managed to get a couple of corporate tickets to the Chelsea-Portsmouth football match (you Americans, that's "soccer game") at Chelsea's home stadium. Dave and Jean-Marc went to watch some of the best players in the world, particularly on the side of Chelsea, whose mega-rich Russian owner has been buying them up right and left. Chelsea won 1-0 (Frank Lampard shown celebrating the goal at left in the undoubtedly copyrighted picture I found on the web. Link to writeup here). The game and the atmosphere were incredible!
In London, we got a chance to visit Dave's old colleague from Penn State, Jouni (shown here wearing a paper flower that Molly had fashioned for him). The weather was very cooperative and we had a great time catching up with Jouni while traveling all over the city. I'm happy to report that after we arrived at Coram's Fields and Molly and Betsy scampered off to climb on things, we really were approached by a staff member and asked whether we were accompanied by any children.
With Tamsin and Jean-Marc, we went to a giant festival on Sunday and saw a few of the more traditional London sights -- Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the new Tate Modern Gallery -- on Monday. Of course, the kids were not at all interested in the standard stuff. Their highlights: At B.P., we got to see horses galloping by and hear the band (changing of the guard) and there was a nearby playground where the toilets are only for children. Big Ben was where we got on a boat to ride down the Thames. And the Tate has this really cool gigantic concrete ramp (known to adults interested in art installations as the Turbine Hall). It's so big that kids can be allowed to run up and down. Two very smart men parked their ice cream trucks parked just outside, right by the entrance to the Millennium Footbridge.
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