Day 11

(By the time I get around to writing about our day I am tired. I am just trying to put down enough info for me to remember the trip and often I am not happy with how this comes out when I'm writing but I figure better something than nothing. Hopefully I will rewrite some of this when I go to make my scrapbook of our trip.)

Hoping to get to the Tower of London before the crowds, we got up fairly early this morning. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize how bad rush hour is here. We went down to catch a tube (the subway) and it was crowded. I don’t mean just a little, I mean that we couldn’t even get on the first two tubes that went by because the cars were full with people sitting and standing. Those right by the door had to be careful not to get closed in the door.

We took one tube to the next stop where we would have changed tubes but because it was so crowded we made a change of plans. We ended up taking an open bus city tour. The weather was overcast but it wasn’t raining yet. The traffic was terrible but we didn’t care; we enjoyed the ride. About half way through, Alex and I went to the bottom of the bus because she was cold. We got off at the Tower of London stop and got something to eat and bought Alex and me sweatshirts before going into the Tower of London. We really enjoyed walking around there. There was a more medieval feel to this castle then the two we visited yesterday. The main tower in the middle had an exhibit called Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill. Nathan especially loved it as it featured armor, shields, and weapons from the medieval times. Alex began to lose interest by that point (we had been at the Tower about two hours already) so I tried to keep myself from being too frustrated with her. I really didn’t get to see much at that exhibit. At the end of that section though there were a few interactive things the kids could do and that perked Alex up.

After the Tower, we caught the city boat on the River Thames. It started pouring rain about 5 minutes into the ride. When we got to the end and it was time to disembark, it began thundering and lightening. Alex began to cry a bit and say she was scared. I prayed over her and comforted her. We decided to wait and were the last ones off the boat. We had purchased two umbrellas earlier in the day when it started drizzling and were glad to have them as it had rained off and on all day. We decided to try to find a place to eat and then catch the tubes back to our apartment as it was rush hour again. We figured if we ate then rush hour would be over. Unfortunately, with the rain and thunder and lightening it wasn’t so easy. The first couple of places we saw were packed with people. We stopped at a doorway for a minute when the pouring rain got even harder. It was still thundering and lightening too. After being there for just a couple of minutes, it started hailing. Both kids did great dealing with this delay. Finally we thought we would catch a taxi back to the apartments and deal with dinner there, but all the taxis were full (not exactly surprising given the time and weather). We finally found a small deli that had empty tables and ate dinner. Afterwards we caught a bus back to the apartments. We were back by about 7:00. It was nice to get back a bit early and not feel rushed to get everyone to bed. I helped the kids with showers and then they played a bit before I read to them and Oystein started some laundry for us. Tomorrow’s plan is to go to Buckingham Palace in the morning to watch the changing of the guards and then to two of the free museums here-a science one and a nature one. We will be able to sleep in until about 8:00 tomorrow.

We have kept our plans flexible knowing that we have only three days here and we can’t do everything we would like. We are also trying to keep the kids in mind and the museums appear to have some hands on things the kids can do.


Observations: In Norway we noticed that the delis and bakeries we went into had two prices for their items. One was an eating in price and was typically 4-8 Kroner (Norwegian money) higher than the take away price. (Take away is what they call take out here.) That’s about a dollar more per item to eat in.

In all the places we have stayed so far we have found that it is hard to find places to plug things in. The plugs are also in strange spots. For example, our bathroom here does not have a plug at all. At our last hotel, the bathroom plug was above the mirror-I couldn’t reach it. I ended up using a plug that was right outside the bathroom door.

Europe has a different voltage then the US. Almost all of our electronics (computers, cell phone chargers, and camera battery chargers) are already equipped with cords that convert the voltage so we have only had to use the plug converters. In Norway the prongs are skinny circles while in England the plugs have three prongs. We only have one converter for England but two for Norway.

The bathroom we have now has an interesting shower. Picture an American bathtub with a shower, but there isn’t a shower curtain. There is only a half glass door on the tub/shower at the end where the shower head is. We have to be careful not to get water everywhere. The shower head is pretty neat though. You can move it up or down on a pole so when the kids take a shower I can have it lower and Oystein can move it higher for his.

There seems to be fewer boundaries concerning personal space here. When we were at the Tower there are many narrow staircases. People just go without regard to others and I had to watch that all four of us stayed close. At one point, we started heading upstairs with Oystein first followed by Nathan. A few other people came from the left side of us and walked right in front of Alex without regard for anyone. I tried to say “Excuse me, we are together” but I don’t know if they heard me or understood me. Basically it was like when we were kids and someone would cut in line in front of you. When walking around and touring places we keep a line of Oystein first, Nathan second, Alex third and me last with Nate and Alex occasionally trading places. We do this because if we get separated it will most likely be that each child will still have an adult with them. When we were in line for the city tour boat, we had a large group of people walk up beside us and basically get in front of us. In the US there would have been an organized line, but that doesn’t seem to be common here. I have a hard time remembering that I need to reflect the love of Christ and not get angry about it. It isn’t even that I care if I am first, it’s the selfishness that bothers me. When people get in front of others who were first, they are disregarding others.