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| At the Turkish restaurant |
Over Easter weekend, we took the short hour and ten minute hop from Geneva to London--an easy flight allowing us to exchange the land of wine, cheese, and chocolate for one of theater, royalty, and bangers and mash. But most importantly for our crew, switching from French to English! Not that the French lessons aren't going fine (things appear to be clicking for SoulSwisster), but it's always lovely to be able to read signs and menus and actually understand them!
After collecting our bags, we jumped on the Heathrow Express for the 15 minute ride to Paddington Station and then took a quick cab ride to the hotel in the West End. Our chatty cab driver told us all about the preparations for the summer Olympics, including all of the ongoing construction. We quickly put our bags in the room (rooms, actually). For those of you still in the family planning stage, it's impossible to find a single hotel room in Europe that can take five people. Most take three at the most and quite a few boutiques only accept two. We, then, headed out for lunch.
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| On the Big Bus in front of the Texas Embassy |
In Geneva, there really aren't many different types of restaurants. There's Italian, Thai, Italian, the occasional steak place, Italian, and oh yes, did I mention Italian? Granted, it's pretty good Italian, but it lacks a bit of variety. Not so in London! Mere steps from our hotel door, we found traditional British pubs, Japanese, Chinese, Italian (of course), and a Turkish place that ended up as our destination. Great food in a fun atmosphere-the ceiling was hung with variety of different lamps that gave the place a lot of character.
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| In front of the Eye |
Afterwards, we went shopping. Mundane, right? But there actually aren't many different types of stores in Switzerland (or else they're hidden deep in underground bunkers and are Swiss-only), so finding a Gap was cause for celebration! We walked down Oxford Street a bit and enjoyed seeing names we recognized. We also walked through Selfridges, the huuuge department store that's the rival of Harrod's. CW thinks that the sum total of the stores in Switzerland would easily have fit inside Selfridges.
Friday night was our night at the theater. We went down to the Theater District to see The Lion King-the stage version of Disney's modern classic. It was outstanding, from the recreation of the opening sunrise to the animals coming down the aisles of the theater to the stage to (Spoiler alert!) the stampede which kills Mustafa. The talent was wonderful and the costumes and puppet work were outstanding. Our favorite characters were Timon and Pumba--they were hilarious. Although the show ran a bit late, only All American Boy got a little tired and then only near the end, but he perked up for the finale. All in all, a very successful first trip to a Broadway-style show. Our trip back to the hotel was no less exciting. Our cabbie, an older fellow, was a bit of a speed demon. Driving through the West End on a Friday night is a bit like trying to walk through an airport on the day before Thanksgiving. At one point, we had to slam to a screeching stop when a rather inebriated couple decided to cross the street and just stepped out in front of us. Fortunately, Mr. Cabbie was paying attention or
that would have ended badly. Alas, there were still several miles (yes, in London we can use miles, not kilometers--another plus) to go and at a narrowing of the road, another cab had
almost pulled over to let out his fare, but was still sticking out into the road. Our cabbie, while observant, wasn't the patient guy and tried to squeeze through. He didn't make it. A loud Screeeeeech shocked us, but did our cabbie stop? Oh no! He paused, exchanged hand gestures with the other cabbie, and kept on going. When we got out at the hotel, there was about a yard long scrape on the cab. CW noticed it as the cab streaked off into the night without a word from Mr. Cabbie.
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| Flying the Eye |
Saturday, we rose bright and early to cold, damp weather. In other words, typical London. And what do the Ahlstroms do when visiting a foreign city on a cold, damp, and rainy day? Why, we take the Big Bus tour and sit on the exposed upper level of the bus! (That's exactly what we did in Paris. Why break tradition?) We rode over to the Thames River where we hit the highlight of SweetSwissTeen's visit, the London Eye or Millennium Wheel, the giant ferris wheel that overlooks Big Ben's clock tower and Parliament. One revolution takes about 30 minutes and gives a great view of London. Afterwards, we took a little boat ride down the Thames past the replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theater and ending up at Tower of London. We continued on our Big Bus tour and stopped at Hambly's, a 5 story toy store that was utter chaos, but a bunch of fun, then ended up at our dinner destination--the Texas Embassy. Not the actual embassy of the Republic of Texas, it is, in fact, a TexMex restaurant. How the mighty have fallen. But, it's the best TexMex we've had on this side of the Pond since we left Texas (other than SoulSwister's, of course).
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| At Hambly's a 5 Story Toy Store--All Legos, All of the Time |
Sunday, we headed to Tower of London where we saw the Crown Jewels. No pictures were allowed of the jewels, though. As Easter is State Holiday, there was actually a very short parade between the Beefeaters' quarters and the chapel inside the Tower walls. The Beefeaters dressed in their official red and yellow garb. Also attending the special Easter service was a band of Korean War veterans. Mostly Scots by the look of them. And in among them, a lone Yank, which was neat to see, holding a California flag. CW, AAB, and SweetSwissTeen went on the guided tour, but SwissSis was a little worried that the stories might be too gory, so she skipped it and instead she and SoulSwisster watched some period actors entertain the crowd.
After the Tower, we took a quick trip over to the British Museum where we found the Rosetta Stone, as well as ancient Greek, Roman, and Babylonian artifacts. But by that point, we were a bit drained and decided to head back for dinner and some relaxation.
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| At the Embassy |
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| Know why they're called Beefeaters? Neither do they |
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| The State Parade |
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| Korean War Vets |
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| At the least the Yanks are smiling |
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| The Rosetta Stone |
Monday came too soon and with it, the trip back to Heathrow. From there, CW went to Houston and the rest of the fam returned to Geneva and the land of Italian. But it won't be our last trip to London. We're looking forward to many more!
Wait for it! AAB thinks he's the next James Cameron.
Scene: The Tower of London, present day
Take one. Action!
Saturday, we rose bright and early to cold, damp weather. In other words, typical London. And what do the Ahlstroms do when visiting a foreign city on a cold, damp, and rainy day? Why, we take the Big Bus tour and sit on the exposed upper level of the bus! (That's exactly what we did in Paris. Why break tradition?) We rode over to the Thames River where we hit the highlight of SweetSwissTeen's visit, the London Eye or Millennium Wheel, the giant ferris wheel that overlooks Big Ben's clock tower and Parliament. One revolution takes about 30 minutes and gives a great view of London. Afterwards, we took a little boat ride down the Thames past the replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theater and ending up at Tower of London. We continued on our Big Bus tour and stopped at Hambly's, a 5 story toy store that was utter chaos, but a bunch of fun, then ended up at our dinner destination--the Texas Embassy. Not the actual embassy of the Republic of Texas, it is, in fact, a TexMex restaurant. How the mighty have fallen. But, it's the best TexMex we've had on this side of the Pond since we left Texas (other than SoulSwister's, of course).
