We've been back for a couple of weeks now, and I thought I would share our summer holidays with everyone. We had 3 lovely weeks in the U.K, hope I can do it justice.
We left Doha with temperatures reaching almost 45C and humid, and landing at Heathrow to 15C, was a shock to the system. We went through immigration effortlessly (I still have a few years on my visitor's visa) and then we collected our bags. While Craig found the stop where we would catch the courtesy coach to the hire car company, I stocked up on some snacks & drinks for the boys, as well as bought a sim card (£10). Got it topped up at Boots, and then we went to wait for the bus. We had hired a VW Passat through SIXT. We got to the depot, he finished signing the papers, and we loaded up the car. Got the boys settled in, punched my friend's address into the satnav and we were off. This was the first time we had used a car wit satnav, so it was a real luxury. Normally I am geared with a folder of all the directions/instructions, and we plan our trips in advance. This was great! I could actually relax and enjoy the drive, Craig would not be stressed because I wanted him to follow the exact directions & hopefully we wouldn't get lost.
The drive from Heathrow to Maidenhead took about 40 minutes, and we were pleasantly surprised when we reached their house. We hadn't seen our friends since we had all met in Goa almost 5 years ago, so it was really great catching up. Their sons are 7, 6 & 11 months old, so our boys got along just fine. After an hour or so of catching up with all the gossip & news, we got the children ready & we were off to the station.
We bought day tickets on the circle line, and took the tube first to Paddington station, and then changed trains to go to South Kensington.
At Paddington Josh had to buy a souvenir and a gift for his aunt, and take pictures. One point to note was that the London underground is not a place to travel with littlies, especially if you have strollers. We had to climb up & down 2 flights of stairs, we got given absolutely awful looks, like we were aliens. What were we doing on this busy staircase, where everyone is obviously so busy and we are trying to struggle with 2 buggies, 3 boys, one granny, 2 flustered mums and one poor dad. Oh well, like my friend said, they have to deal!
By the time we reached South Kensington station, it was almost 1pm, and we'd been in the U.K. 5 hours now. My friend walked us to the National History Museum, and we arranged to meet at the garden 5 hours later.
The museum is just amazing, the building has gargoyles right at the top near the roof, and we were just standing there for a few minutes, drinking it all in.
We stood in the queue and bought a museum guide, and then we were in. Went through security and then Joshua said, LOOK! There they were, the bones, the skeleton of the Diplodocus. Just like it looked in the film, Night at the Museum. The next few hours just flew by. Craig & I were amazed how much Josh knew, how much he was absorbing. Jamie, being only 25 months old, didn't fuss once. He was in awe of the bones, the displays & the size of everything. He kept making growly noises and trying to ask questions. It was just super. Considering we had been travelling for a long while now, they were just great, not complaining. The dinosaur displays are fantastic. The fossils, the recreation of what a T-Rex would have looked & sounded like, the interactive displays where children could 'touch' the skin of a T-Rex, or measure the thigh bones.
I must admit, dinosaurs are a favourite in our family, before Jamie was even born, he was given gifts of blankets & clothes with dinosaurs on them, and Joshua reads up on them. So we didn't realise that we had only 2 hours left and we still had heaps to see. A quick whizz around the gift shop, and he decided he wanted to buy cookie cutters, as then we would always have dinosaur memories. Then we went on to see the fossils, the bugs, the birds, and then to the Red Zone. There they walked around sculptures, saw a piece of moon rock, saw a Mastodon skull and crystals & rocks.
By this time I was really tired so I walked back to the park, for a much needed caffeine/nicotine break. Then I saw this car, the licence plate was cool.
It was really nice just being able to sit outdoors, under trees and just relax. Not do anything.
Craig & the boys joined me a while later, and we sat and shared a coffe while the boys ran around. We waited for our friends to finish their visit to the Science Museum, and then we all trudged back to South Kensington station again. Everyone was tired, we were even more so. We decided to stop off at Paddington to grab something to eat, as well as we get some nappies & toiletries at Boots. Our friends asked us to spend the night at their house,which was greeted by whoops of approval by the boys. After an assortment of sushi, sandwiches, croissants, donuts, coffee & some colas, we all set off for the last leg of our journey from Paddington.
We bypassed 3 trains till one stopped, and it had a carriage that didn't look too full. So we got on, this nice gentleman with a bicycle helped us on and we found some seats. The 3 boys were busy chatting, they were all fuelled thanks to 'Krispy Kremes' and we were just shattered. Craig, Jamie and I dozed off for this leg of the journey, and then we all got sleepily off the train and walked back to their house.
We were almost there when I put my hand inside my pocket & realised my mobile phone wasn't there. So waited for Craig & Oni to catch up, asked him if he had it, he didn't. He rung it right away, and a man answered. Turned out to be the gentleman from the train, he had found my phone and tried to find out if anyone knew where I lived. Unfortunately he had rung people in India, none of whom answered, given that it was half 8 at night. Craig got his address and then drove off to find his house, which was a good half hour's drive away.
We were so lucky to be able get the phone, that someone was honest enough to return it. He refused a token reward, Craig said he seemed offended. Bless him. In this day to find someone like that is refreshing. By the time he got home, showered & changed it was past 11, we were all ready for bed. That was the end of day 1.
I will upload photos later, for some reason I am unable to upload any right now.
More later.