So.... today was not as upbeat as the previous days. Yes, all is well. We tried getting up a little bit earlier (9am adults, 10/10:30am kids) today to try to get used to the local time, even though we didn't get to sleep until around 2am. Genci & I were fine, but the kids were seriously dragging. They looked like zombies on the subway ride into London - eyes open, but not much going on behind them.
We were going to go to the Natural History Museum (dinosaurs, etc.), but changed our mind and headed to the Tower of London instead. The name Tower of London is misleading, because it's really what I would call a castle. It's a big, well-maintained castle in excellent shape and full of good exhibits, including the crown jewels and an extensive armour & weapon collection. There were lots of areas to explore, walls to walk on, prison towers to go up (with carved graffiti from famous prisoners), and beautiful grounds. It seemed like the perfect place for Genci & I to get a taste of history and the kids to see a real castle and explore.
Unfortunately, from about 10 minutes into the experience, Nathan decided he was done with the place and kept pushing me on & asking if we could leave. After spending about $80 for us to get in, I didn't feel like just leaving, besides the fact that the place was very cool & I figured he would get into it at some point. Besides, *I* wanted to see the different parts of the castle, and I didn't think he would be happy anywhere.
I spent most of the afternoon (we didn't get there until around 1:30pm) trying to stay upbeat and ignore his complaints. By 5pm I was shot. Everyone wanted to know what was next, and I just didn't have it in me to bother trying another place. We started walking around looking for somewhere to eat, but there wasn't any real - sit-down food near there. Luckily Genci recognized the situation for what it was, and decided to get a taxi cab to take us somewhere to eat. After a delicious meal of Indian food (Luke and Nathan ate rice and bread, but Luke had had a hotdog during that food-search walk), I felt much better. We played cards while we waited for food (not long), and afterwards. Then we headed to this internet cafe.
I won't download today's photos until I get back to the hotel, but i don't remember taking anything worthwhile. Perhaps I did but didn't notice.
The kids had the most fun today at 2 times: 1. tossing a football on a grassy area inside the castle grounds. Luckily it took them 15 minutes to decide that we weren't allowed to do that. Apparently you are allowed to picnic on the grass, but not run around., and 2. After we left the castle, the kids each bought a fake wooden sword at the gift shop. They spent at least 15 minutes dueling outside the shop. I wish we had had those swords for the castle time. Perhaps they could have gotten into the role-playing better.
Nathan told me earlier today that he misses his friends. I asked what he would do with his friends if they were there, and he mentioned that Jack would pretend that they were knights, and they would form this band of knights that would protect the castle. When I suggested that WE do that, he wasn't interested. Apparently me & Luke don't cut the mustard.
This morning I extended our stay at the Yotel until Monday. There almost weren't any rooms available for tonight there, but a guy that had a reservation was leaving to try to make it to Ireland by ferry. I had very good timing, and we negotiated for him to get a refund & me to take the room. I've had a lot of good timing, helpful coincidences, and personnel willing to make exceptions on this trip.
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