Friterie

After having the best breakfast of crumpets and jam, we were on our way to the train station.  We took a train from London to Brussels.  Underwater!

We didn't stay in Brussels.  We immediately got on another train to Bruges.

That yellow and blue house is where we stayed.  It was very interesting.  It had several different levels (like 6!) and one very creaky, very steep, spiral staircase.  It wasn't the safest accommodations, but it was the kids' favorite.

After checking out our place, and ditching our stuff, we walked around a bit.

Bruges is seriously so awesome.

Market Square.  We had fries for dinner there.  Fries are everywhere, and they serve them with a variety of sauces.  Most (all?) of them mayo based.  We tried several of them, but our favorite, which we went back for, was the black pepper sauce.  We're pretty sure it was just mayo and a bunch of pepper, but it was awesome.  Try it next time you have fries.

Cutest city ever!

Canals.

Then we went back to our place and watched the World Cup before going to bed.

At Least He Tries To Be Funny

I'm going a little out of order so I can post about back to school.  I happened.  Again.

I didn't get pictures of the oldest 2 girls.  We had a very busy morning that day.  Trey ended up being in Beijing for a layover the night before, so we were out late.  Then I took him back to the airport that morning.  I got home in time to send them off though.  BA - grade 8.  Rhon - grade 7.  I assure you, they looked beautiful.  :)  Middle school started one day before the elementary kids, and the elementary kids only had a half day the first day.  Starting at 11:30.  So I had lots of time to take pictures.

Mads - grade 3

Dare - grade 5

G - grade 1

Here they are at school!

Everyone was pretty enthusiastic when they got home.  Mads and G especially.  I think they like their teachers.  Dare is cool with anything, and middle school is, well, middle school.  Even with all my hoping and praying, I don't think they'll escape drama this year.  And not the class drama.  Like drama drama.  I'm excited for all these kiddos, but I miss them already.  Summer is too much fun!

Galindafied

The next day, our last day in London, we saw Wicked.  It was a complicated process.  From everything we read beforehand, we thought we would just be able to find a show we wanted to watch, buy some tickets, and go see it.  Easy, right?  Well, we thought that Lion King would be better for the whole family, but realized, probably too late, that it was way too expensive.  About 70 pounds a ticket.  And since we left seeing a show to the last day, we were lucky there was another one that we all wanted to see.  So we decided we would try and get tickets for the Wednesday matinee of Wicked.  So in the morning we were off to find the tickets.  We got to the ticket booth and found out there weren't 7 tickets together for that show.  So we had to think about what we wanted to do.  Out of line.  We had more questions about the rows, and how many we could get together.  Back in line.  There were 3, 2, and 2 in the cheap seats.  Hmm... out of line to think.  Do we want to sit apart?  Is it worth that?  Back in line to ask about more expensive seats.  There was a group of 7 seats together in two different rows, but 3 of them were a bit more than the cheap seats, and 4 were even more than those.  We needed to think.  Back out of line.  Ok, we'll do it.  Back in line. 

We bought the tickets, and since it took so long, we had to go straight to the theater.  We grabbed sandwiches on the way (Tesco!), and we were in such a hurry I remember making G take big bite after big bite before he could even swallow.  We made it to our seats after a super rushed bathroom break.  We had to run because we heard they won't let you in after it starts.

It was awesome.  So awesome.  We all loved it.  Even the boys were rapt.  It was relaxing and entertaining, and it was a perfect way to finish up our time in London.

On the way home, we did a little shopping, and stopped by a Indian food restaurant.  Then we took one last walk through Green Park and went home to finish laundry.

Love London.

There Was A Moat

The next day we planned on going to the Tower of London, and the British Museum.  We walked along the Thames an across on the London Bridge.

I really wanted to take the tour from this guy, but there were just too many people there.  We didn't think we would be able to hear what he was saying anyway.  He's a Beefeater.  And I'm sure he would have given us a very entertaining tour.  Maybe next time.

Inside the Tower of London.

The boys in the armory.

The Tower of London also houses the Crown Jewels.  We saw those too, but there were no pictures allowed.

Tower Bridge.

Laura was able to join us that day.

We were on the way to the museum, and we needed lunch.  Yes, we got sandwiches again.  At Tesco Express.  But the funny thing about this trip was that after we grabbed the food, we took it to an alley to eat.  There were delivery trucks and plenty of exhaust.  But it was delicious, and we had somewhere to sit.  We even got fruit and vegetables at that stop.  Hopefully Laura wasn't regretting her decision to come with us at this point!

Rosetta Stone.

The museum was beautiful.  I could spend days there.  But since we travel with kids, we have to take the brisk 1 1/2-2 hour breeze through.  We catch all the highlights, take a lot of sitting/bathroom/drink breaks, and that's it.  I still loved it.  I would always prefer to share museums with my kids than to go alone.

Mads was feeling the effects of jet lag and 4 very busy traveling days.  G was doing pretty much the same thing, but on the floor next to my feet.  I kept having to move him when he would edge into the walkways. 

Outside the museum.

We were making our way to Hyde Park.

We found an ice cream shop!

Laura had YW that night, and her church building is near the park.  We hung out there until it was time for her to go.  She invited the girls to go along.  Rhon and Dare went with her.  And that's pretty much how that day ended.  We wanted to visit the British Library also, but we ran out of time and energy.

Bubble and Squeak

Even though our Tesco Express breakfasts were delicious, we wanted a true English breakfast, a "full English breakfast" or "fry-up".  So the next day we sought out a cafe far off the tourist path.

On the walk to the cafe.

Houses of Parliament.

Here it is!

Beans and ham, fried tomatoes and black pudding, toast and potatoes, bacon and sausage, and eggs.

We got OJ instead of coffee or tea.

It felt like a real diner.  It was totally awesome.

This place was a bit of a walk to get to, and we were nervous because we read about how all the locals go there.  It is busy, and they don't want to mess around with people who don't know what they are ordering.  But it was totally worth it and awesome!  We got there at a perfect time.  There was no line, and the guys working there were super nice.  We easily found a table for our clan, and had a wonderful experience.

Then we went to watch the Changing of the Guard.

Waiting.

We were early.  We waited a long time.  But it was good because by the time it started, there were people crammed in all over us.

This ceremony is packed with details!  First they did an inspection.  They looked the soldiers up and down to make sure they looked acceptable.  Then they gathered and marched.  There was a band and they did all kind of other things that I couldn't see.  But it was fun to see all the uniforms.

Here are the Scottish guys.

This guy was like the head Scot.  He was cool.

Marching band.

Afterwards.
That grass was perfect for after-ceremony cartwheels and handstands.

Victoria Memorial.

Buckingham Palace.

Climbing a tree in the park.

Then we walked to Westminster Abbey.

I don't like taking pictures with a hundred strangers in them.  So picture taking was really hard in London.  There were always a ton of people everywhere.  Hence, things getting cut off, and weird compositions.

We took a tour inside, but there were no pictures allowed.  It was incredible.  We saw the place where Prince Charles (or William?) will become king and the coronation chair.  The tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary I are there.  Together.  And Poets Corner was cool.

We found a yummy cookie shop on the way to the Natural History Museum.  It was called "Ben's Cookies".

Here we are picnicking out in front of the museum.  One of my favorite picnics of all time.  I can't really say exactly why, but we were just enjoying ourselves.  Plus we were starving.  And we had those yummy cookies.  And fun sodas to try.

If we weren't eating sandwiches from Tesco, we were eating sandwiches from Pret a Manger.  We had a lot of sandwiches!  I think this is when Nate described our vacation as "21 days of sandwiches."  Let's face it - it's just not practical for a family of 7 to have a sit down meal all the time!  We felt very grateful those pre-made sandwiches made it so easy for us!

My camera was dying in the museum.  I got a couple of pictures, but they are all bad.  The museum was fun.  Mads especially liked the deep sea section.  And the big blue whale was a hit.

After the museum we went to Hyde Park.  I'm so sad I wasn't able to take any pictures.  The kids loved it there!  The fun started by rolling down any and every hill they could find.  We played at the Peter Pan themed playground for a while, but their favorite part were the patches of grass where they let it grow really long.  It was about thigh-high to most of the kids.  They loved just running through it.  G would get down and act like a predator.  Such a beautiful park! 

Gather Gather

The next day we did the tour bus thing again.  We may have gotten a little bored this time...

We did not use those for our ears after that.

Then we took the boat tour on the River Thames.

We were all a little chilly, but the guy on the microphone kept us entertained with his dry humor and his dramatic pauses.  I don't think he thought anyone on the boat could understand him.

Tower Bridge.

Just out on the streets of London.

There was a Harry Potter walking tour included in our tour bus tickets.  We were totally into it!  That's what we did next.

That is our guide.  He was very enthusiastic.  Most of the places we saw were in Deathly Hallows Part 1.  He is pointing at Rhon because she just got one of his questions right.  He asked what almost happened to Harry, Ron, and Hermione after they disapparated at the wedding.  She knew.  :)  And that's right where we were standing! 

We also saw the cinemas sign.

And here's where Ron looked back at Harry when they were on their way into the Ministry of Magic.  We tried to recreate the scene. :)

I found some more phone booths.  Nothing to do with Harry Potter, but one of my favorite pictures.

My beautiful kids.  Plus, this is apparently one of the streets J.K. Rowling would stroll along and gather inspiration to write about Diagon Alley.

One of the stops on the tour was this sweetshop.  They had Harry Potter themed candy.  Ridiculously expensive chocolate frogs and things.  But we went back later to get some of the other, less marked up, stuff.  We stood there on the street and tasted the most sour candy any of us had ever tasted.  It was the best.