London was fantastic! We did do some very touristy things but we found our way around the city on our own quite well. Maureen displayed the drill instructor side of her personality and ensured we all got over our jet lag quickly and didnt miss a step. On our first day we were allowed a one hour-ish nap and then we were barked up and out and into the streets. we walked to Piccadilly circus and checked out the sites there and took some pictures (see Facebook) and the kids even got in a little shopping.
Day two Dad was banished from the shopping excursions and was given the day to himself with only the instructions to meet up at the Hard Rock at 2pm. I am somewhat directionally challenged and the hard rock was quite a long walk from our hotel so i decided to give myself plenty of time. i left the hotel around 11am and walked around Buckingham Palace for awhile and took some pictures and did some serious people watching...pesky tourists everywhere.
I finally made it to the area near the Hard Rock at around 12:30 and decided that rather than sit in a bar for an hour and half and meet my family on shaky legs i would sit in a cafe and do some reading. I sat there for about 20 minutes when a real life British Tout came up to me and started to try to con me out of money. i was impressed in that he somehow guessed my birthday and was able to guess the number between 1 and 5 i would pick (3) and the flower (Rose) i would choose. Finally he told me that he was looking for 50 pound and would tell me my wife's name if i gave him that amount. I informed him that i already knew my wife's name and promptly got up and went to the bar. Well, I tried to be good.
I spent my time in the Hard Rock taking pictures and looking at people...young people apparently like to lick each other's tonsils in public in London. Maybe it was like that when i was that age but i seem to remember staring into my beer and grumbling...some things don't change. the family arrived on time and we got a table and i managed to look somewhat sober.
We had some great walks around London and some great meals. Most of the meals were in oriental type restaurants though. We did manage a real London Pub on our last night and Dylan had some traditional Fish and Chips while the vegetarians had some odd cheese dishes. There are lots of choices for vegetarians in London which was a pleasant surprise for Oona and Maureen.
We boarded the bus for York this morning and it took us over an hour just to get out of London due to some traffic redirection for a Bicycle Race this morning. The bus ride was fine although it took 4 hours to get to York and we were all ready for a stretch of the legs.
Our walk around York was really interesting. This town was both a Roman and a Norman stronghold and you can see evidence of their handiwork around the city. There is a wall that runs around the city that was started by the Romans and finished by the Normans. Much of the city was also destroyed by Henry VIII in his crusade against the Catholics.
Once the historical portion of the tour was complete i was dismissed by the family so they could go shopping in peace. I am sensing a trend here. I went into the Guy Fawkes Inn to sample some local flavor and found myself among a group of tragic alcoholics sitting staring straight ahead as they drank their beer. As Dorothy said, "there's no place like home".
Speaking of Dorothy; I neglected to mention that we saw Wicked while we were in London. It was a fantastic play that took a different view of the wicked witch from The Wizard of Oz. We all enjoyed it and we had great seats to see it.
We are off to Edinburgh tomorrow for two nights. we're all looking forward to it!
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