Last days in London-
Our last full day in London we tried to fit everything in- Trafalgar Square, the palace, Hyde Park. But it was bitterly cold and we frankly didn't have a lot of fun doing it. And we were all ready to be with our family on the east coast instead. One memorable event from this day- we decided to go on the London Eye, the giant ferris wheel that rotates very slowly, taking half an hour to go the whole way around. We got there at about dark, but decided we needed some warm tea before we got on, so we made a 30 minute stop. That 30 minute stop saved us a few hours of misery, as just as Sven got to the front of the line to purchase his ticket he was informed that the ride was broken and everyone was stuck on the eye. As we walked to the tube we marveled at our luck during this unlucky stop. We just kept saying, "As long as we are together, everything will be fine. Even if we get don't get out of London tomorrow."
The day we were supposed to leave dawned bright, cold and clear. Woo-hoo! We checked our flight and it was supposed to fly that evening… We packed up our belongings, put them in storage at the hotel, and headed towards the Hyde Park Holiday market. The market was huge! Aisle after aisle of German Christmas products, hats, fudge, wooden products, etc. We loaded up on a few last-minute Christmas gifts then headed off to the rides. Bella rode on a merry-go-round in a double decker bus in the 30 degree weather (we thought she was a bit crazy.) By then our feet were completely frozen and starting to hurt so we raced into the big tent to see a real live circus with Russian trapeze artists and clowns and everything! Best yet, it was heated. Sven got popcorn thrown all over him by a clown and I spilled hot chocolate down the tall leather boot of a lady behind me. Time to go home. After the Christmas market we took the metro to the airport, unchecked our luggage from the left luggage and repacked our bags into 6 rotund packages. After doing this, we tried to head up to the departures floor a bit early but were rebuffed by the elevator guard- too crazy and crowded up there, we were told. Shortly after that I witnessed an elderly American lady trying to take the elevator upstairs to try to rebook her cancelled flight. She was told to go home and try to call the airlines. The poor lady tried to tell him that she’d been trying for 48 hours to get through (just to re-book!) and could not get through. He had no sympathy and sent her out the door. This sight made us feel very sad for all those trying to make it home (especially those poor college students who you knew had run out of money), and very fortunate that we had re-booked for today, when flights were again going.
All was well, though, we got ourselves to the gate and were about ready to get on the plane when Bella realized that she’d lost the purple unicorn that Sven had won for her by hitting the highstriker strength test machine with the big old mallet at the circus this morning so he raced back to try to find it. Of course, one was not allowed to backwards on the terminal train and Sven was forced to exit and re-enter though security and arrived back to us (sans unicorn, but that was ok because we all had each other!) as they were doing the last call to board the plane. Phew!
As we sat in our seats we then realized that we had been seated in Business Class (which I credit Sven with getting when he rebooked and impressed the airlines agent) and we settled into for a wonderful, smooth, easy trip to Boston.
Finally!
Bella with her Paddington Bear.
Daddy winning Bella a purple sparkly unicorn. Her losing it in the airport almost made Sven miss the plane.
The circus
Hard to see- Sven getting doused with popcorn by a clown at the circus!
Eilidh's picasso drawings
Van Gogh
Bella helping us pack.
Oscar Wilde Statue
Our arrival in Boston- We arrived very late and stumbled out to the rental
car shuttle area with our massive load of bags. We were greeted by
an extremely grumpy rental car agent- no smile in sight. So much for
American friendliness- We were on the road to Cousin Becky and
Branko`s house by well after ten and got to their house by 11:30.
They were a sight for sore eyes, all smiles and Christmas cookies and
a wonderful Croatian grandma to boot (Branko`s mom). Also there was
our other cousin Karen from Michigan. After a late meal and some
jet-lagged ridiculousness we were finally in bed around 1:30 am for a
luxurious 6 hours of sleep. Our stay with the Lexington family was
cut short by 2 nights and our stay in Cape Cod with Grandma (really
cousin) Doris was completely cut out by the London insanity so we were
extremely pleased to hear that Doris was going to drive up for
breakfast with us the next morning.
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