With all of our recent postings about play centres and feeding horses, you must be wondering, "But what about ENGLAND?? What about all the history and culture? What about all the unique experiences you get from travelling around the world?" Dontcha worry. We're on it.
We packed up the kids, hopped the train, and went back to London.
Such a proud daddy.
You've got to do what you can to make the train ride interesting!
She looks interested, don't you think?
With my girl.
How cute are they in this weird giant chair made out of astroturf?
I was really enthusiastic about taking a 'flight' on the London eye. We spent a small fortune on drop-in, skip-the-line tickets. We figured we couldn't risk it with 2 small kids on the long weekend before a week-long school holiday.
Notice anything weird? It's only connected on ONE SIDE of the hub!
See? One side only.
We had a few concerns about taking the kids:
(1) Aili might freak out. But I figured that I'd be able to calm her down, especially if I sat on the bench in the middle of the capsule.
(2) Tomi might get bored and freak out. It is a thirty-minute flight, after all. I came armed with a snack and some new toys that they'd never seen before.
(3) Aili might need to pee. This one was easy to resolve with a quick pre-flight potty break.
And guess what? They LOVED it! No problem at all. Tomi was a dream, Aili didn't freak out, and no one peed themselves....
... except me.
I had, in my enthusiasm, forgotten that I am really quite terrified of heights. On the way up I couldn't stop thinking of all the terrible things that could go wrong (capsule falls off; entire wheel tips over into the water; terrorists; strong winds). On the way down I realized there were a whole bunch of other things to worry about (capsule above us falls off and crashes into us; glass fails and child falls into the river below, forcing me to LEAP out of the capsule to save him).
Of course it goes without saying that the London Eye has been looking at the city for twelve years and it didn't choose our flight to reveal its design flaws. Our ride was easy, lovely, and flew by remarkably quickly.
On the way up. I was a bit nauseous and light-headed. I felt better on the way down.
This photo is too small for you to see how white my knuckles are.
I didn't want to to let on how afraid I was because I didn't want the kids to pick up my fear of heights! If they end up afraid of something I want it to because it genuinely scares them, not because they're copying their big chicken of a mama.
See the panic in my eyes?
The view really was spectacular, even though it was a cloudy day. Not as dark as the photos look, however!
Pretty bridge with lots of double-decker buses.
Buckingham Palace
On the way down - one capsule below us and the river curving around the bend beyond.
Parliament buildings and Big Ben.
I just liked the curved roof on this building.
Through the hub.
The line from above. Good thing we bought the skip-the-line tickets! Totally worth it with two kids.
Almost down, and they're still fascinated. What a great time!
(By this time I was breathing again and the Tums had kicked in, and I was feeling much improved.)
You may think I'm being paranoid about my fear of terrorists making a big splash with the London Eye, so to speak, but the management didn't. At first Johnny and I thought they were cleaning the capsules after each group on but before the next group embarked, but no: two employees went through the empty capsule with angled mirrors on sticks to check under the bench and above the ceiling panels for things 'left behind'.
Quite something. Wish I'd noticed before I got on; it would have been one less thing on my list to freak out about!
Giant fox made out of straw. (???)
After seeing the straw fox, we knew we had conquered London - or as much as you can with a 2- and 3-year old in tow and a naptime looming. So back on the train, home to Litlington. It was a wonderful, perfect adventure.
