OK. Here we are again. Another day in London. We started out the day with a bit of tension. Genci is so done with being here. He wants to go home and he wants to go home now. We spent a couple of hours on-line and on the phone with a travel agent, but we don't really have any kind of plan. The Queen Mary II cruise ship has a transatlantic journey to New York leaving April 22nd, but it's fully booked. More and more airports are closing. We've been thinking about & dabbling in research on taking a train down to Italy, and trying to fly out of there, or just taking a train to Italy and a ferry over to Albania. But the thing that has Genci the most worried (and me too a little bit, I guess), is whether or not we'll be able to get back to America when our trip is supposed to be over. Genci doesn't want to lose his job. I don't think he'll lose his job, but it's amazingly expensive over here, and an extended period of hotel stays, paying for transportation, eating out, and entertaining ourselves would really add up. I think it's the uncertainty that's the hard part. If we knew it would be 1 week or 2 weeks, we could come up with some sort of travel plan, and concentrate on enjoying the time. I've been kind of in that camp - lets enjoy the time we have here. But if it turns into a 3 month air travel ban and we're stuck as permanent tourists, we will wish we had tried harder to find a way out of here before it got worse. It's hard to know which path to take, since we can't predict this volcano and the wind patterns.
Today we got up at 11am (I thought it was 12, but I forgot the time difference is 5 hours, not 6 hours). We stayed in our tiny hotel room for way too long. (The kids need to be relatively quiet so we don't bother other people.) We were trying to do computer research and to wash our clothes in the sink & hang them up. By the time we left the room, everyone was fried.
Genci wanted to see the Transport Museum, so we headed to Coventry Garden, where that's located. Once there we saw/watched mimes, magicians, and musicians - it was very much like the area outside Quincy Market. It was a beautiful, sunny day - very pleasant. We went into the museum, which I figured only Genci and maybe Nathan would be into. Well, they gave the kids a chart/map with 13 numbers to get punched at various locations. That occupied Luke. He barely saw a thing there, but he had a great time running around & punching his card. Nathan enjoyed being a subway driver in a simulation machine. Genci didn't seem to enjoy anything, which he attributed to a need for caffeine.
When we left there, we sat and enjoyed a street musician while Genci visited Starbucks. With his mood magically improved, we made our way (via subway) to the nearest park, Green Park. I had brought a tennis ball, a plastic bat and 2 kid-sized baseball gloves. We had ourselves a great little baseball game. The kids had a fabulous time, especially since we never seemed to be able to get them out. Finally we left and got some food to eat.
I think the highlights of the day for the kids were: the statue mimes, baseball in the park, and right now - at the Internet Cafe. All 4 of us are sitting at computers, happy as can be.
For me the highlight was sitting outside at Coventry Gardens, listening to someone play James Taylor and Cat Stevens songs, soaking in the beautiful early evening air. Genci's favorite parts of the day were playing ball and drinking coffee. (I just asked him.)
On the subway, we talked to an American who's here for a few months. He suggested going to Brighton, which is on the ocean. That sounds nice. We just have to figure out how to get there, and where to stay. Oh yes, and we need to visit the people at British Airways first. Logistics, logistics, logistics. They take so much time away from the actual doing.
I forgot to put my battery back in my camera before I left this morning, so I couldn't take any photos with my camera today. I did use Luke's old camera, though. It's a 1 megapixel point & shoot that we got from Craigslist last year. Tonight I'll see if any of those photos came out(I didn't take that many), and see what the kids' pictures look like. At least I think I will. We need to get to bed quicker tonight, so we can get up earlier. With only 1 bed and 1 light, if we don't go to sleep, the kids don't go to sleep. I tried taking photos of our room yesterday morning. I might try to post those.
If anyone has any ideas of what we should do in London, or England, or anywhere else... let us know. Remember, most of the trains and ferries out of England are totally booked right now. (that may change - I hear they've been adding trains). I don't really want to join the crowds of people who are truly desperate to get out of England. We're not that desperate, at least not yet.
Hi to everyone back home! I hope people with kids are enjoying school vacation.
Today we got up at 11am (I thought it was 12, but I forgot the time difference is 5 hours, not 6 hours). We stayed in our tiny hotel room for way too long. (The kids need to be relatively quiet so we don't bother other people.) We were trying to do computer research and to wash our clothes in the sink & hang them up. By the time we left the room, everyone was fried.
Genci wanted to see the Transport Museum, so we headed to Coventry Garden, where that's located. Once there we saw/watched mimes, magicians, and musicians - it was very much like the area outside Quincy Market. It was a beautiful, sunny day - very pleasant. We went into the museum, which I figured only Genci and maybe Nathan would be into. Well, they gave the kids a chart/map with 13 numbers to get punched at various locations. That occupied Luke. He barely saw a thing there, but he had a great time running around & punching his card. Nathan enjoyed being a subway driver in a simulation machine. Genci didn't seem to enjoy anything, which he attributed to a need for caffeine.
When we left there, we sat and enjoyed a street musician while Genci visited Starbucks. With his mood magically improved, we made our way (via subway) to the nearest park, Green Park. I had brought a tennis ball, a plastic bat and 2 kid-sized baseball gloves. We had ourselves a great little baseball game. The kids had a fabulous time, especially since we never seemed to be able to get them out. Finally we left and got some food to eat.
I think the highlights of the day for the kids were: the statue mimes, baseball in the park, and right now - at the Internet Cafe. All 4 of us are sitting at computers, happy as can be.
For me the highlight was sitting outside at Coventry Gardens, listening to someone play James Taylor and Cat Stevens songs, soaking in the beautiful early evening air. Genci's favorite parts of the day were playing ball and drinking coffee. (I just asked him.)
On the subway, we talked to an American who's here for a few months. He suggested going to Brighton, which is on the ocean. That sounds nice. We just have to figure out how to get there, and where to stay. Oh yes, and we need to visit the people at British Airways first. Logistics, logistics, logistics. They take so much time away from the actual doing.
I forgot to put my battery back in my camera before I left this morning, so I couldn't take any photos with my camera today. I did use Luke's old camera, though. It's a 1 megapixel point & shoot that we got from Craigslist last year. Tonight I'll see if any of those photos came out(I didn't take that many), and see what the kids' pictures look like. At least I think I will. We need to get to bed quicker tonight, so we can get up earlier. With only 1 bed and 1 light, if we don't go to sleep, the kids don't go to sleep. I tried taking photos of our room yesterday morning. I might try to post those.
If anyone has any ideas of what we should do in London, or England, or anywhere else... let us know. Remember, most of the trains and ferries out of England are totally booked right now. (that may change - I hear they've been adding trains). I don't really want to join the crowds of people who are truly desperate to get out of England. We're not that desperate, at least not yet.
Hi to everyone back home! I hope people with kids are enjoying school vacation.
How about taking the train to Edinburgh? And stay in hostels that have family rooms...much less expensive than hotels. Hostels also have wonderful kitchens so you can cook instead of eat out for EVERY meal. I am sure that you know this already. :)
ReplyDeleteYour photos are great! I also enjoy reading about your adventures, your stories are great. I travel alone, as you know, and I cannot fathom what it's like to travel with 3 other people, 2 of them being kids!
We've paid to be in this hotel through Friday, since we hate having to pack everything up & traipse (sp?) around with it all, but could investigate that possibility after that (especially if our Saturday flight gets cancelled). What's in Edinburgh?
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