We're home...in a way. After a day full of travel (Ursula drove us to the Highgate Tube stop, where we took the Northern line to King's Cross station, then just made it on to the East Coast direct train for a 5+ hour train ride up the coast to Leuchars) we returned to St. Andrews. We were travelling with four suitcases and various bags, so it was not an easy trip. But we managed without incident, and were quite proud of ourselves when we arrived, at last, to our rental car at the Leuchars train station. It was strange to be so relieved to be returning to a house that, three months ago, we had never been to, but since the house included a washer/dryer and clothes that had not been worn at least four times in the last two weeks already, it felt like a real luxury! We quickly unpacked and performed a sort of laundry triage--prioritizing the things that needed to be bleached over those that simply needed to be washed in extremely hot water, and giving top billing to those that were so dirty with Tube-grime that they could almost board a train by themselves. And then there was the pile of John's things that had made it through two nosebleeds and one breaking-of-his-adult-front-tooth-at-our-friends'-house-incident that probably just need to be thrown away!
Despite our desperation to be home, however, our last day in London was quite a success. It was a gorgeously sunny day (warmer in London than in the Mediterranean, we had noted in the paper with a bit of satisfaction, since we had earlier been jealous of our students who were continuing on to Portugal and Spain...), and the kids and I thoroughly enjoyed the climb up the 311 steps to the Monument, where we could see all of central London. The kids were given certificates after their climb, and I took them to a Pret a Manger for smoothies to reward their hard work. Then we went to Covent Garden market for a little souvenir shopping, and to watch the street performers. It was a bit touristy, but since we're tourists, we didn't mind a bit. We met up with David (who had been navigating some of London's bookshops) for lunch at Belgo, which is a Belgian restaurant with a Trappist-monk-meets-post-industrial-warehouse
kind of theme. The dining area was downstairs, and the walk down felt like a Star Trek set. (Even the bathrooms were trendy...a unisex layout with a big foot-pedal-operated fountain in the middle that served as a sink, but that had apparently confused so many people that there were copious instructions signs posted all over the walls). The lunch was fabulous, and I went for the fixed price menu that included a small portion of mussels and a glass of white wine. What a way to spend the afternoon!
After lunch, we went to the Lion King at the Lyceum Theater on the Strand. The theater was packed full of kids in school uniforms, so we were a little worried that it was going to be pretty loud. But the show was so riveting that they all stayed pretty well behaved. Our kids loved the show as well, and spent the rest of the afternoon singing all the songs. After the show, we
stopped at Kensington Garden for one last trip to the huge playground, then launched ourselves head-first into the madness that is the London rush hour. At one point, we had to let two Tube trains go by without getting on because they were already packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people. Then we had to wait in a queue for a bus that must have been a quarter-mile long. Two school boys who were walking on the other side of the road actually
stopped in their tracks and pointed at all the people in the very back of the queue and laughed, in their North London accent, "Ha...they'll nevah get a bus...ha ha!" Ughh...I have no idea how people do that day after day! We finally made our way back to Muswell Hill to meet our friends for dinner...only 45 minutes later than we were supposed to be there. But we had a great fish-and-chips dinner, then walked back to their flat. Emma and John were walking just ahead, holding hands with Sophia and Johanna, and singing Lion King songs the whole way back!
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