Visit to Jessie

We flitted over to London very late Friday night and then spent two days touring a couple of spots in London with Jess. I think we cut into her homework/study time and though we felt slightly guilty we were selfishly happy to have the time to spend with her. I think London is so far Number 1 in my top ten places to visit.

The museums are free (this is a big plus when converting dollars to pounds). Jess loves going to the museums there and was a great sport on Saturday she selected 1 museum specifically per parent. Of course we both enjoyed both museums. We started out the day at the Imperial War Museum, which displays information from WW1, WW2 up through lots of the modern conflicts. Part of the museum is dedicated just to the experience the London children had during WW2 and the blitzkrieg. It was amazing to see and heartwrending to read some of the things. Also, as an American you know that children were evacuated to the "country", but, did you know that children were evacuated to all over the world including the United States for the duration of the war. There was a display by 2 children that were fostered in Dayton, Ohio. It was amazing to read about and understand the war from that perspective. Then, there was an experience of going through a recreated trench including what the trenches would have smelled like - I can tell you it was disgusting, I am very grateful to have never experienced anything like it. They also have a "bomb experience" which was frightening and reminded me a little of the earthquake experience they used to have at the Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. They had displays of bombs, planes, rockets and other incredible pieces of war paraphenalia. We did not make it to the top floor which housed the holocust portion because by the time we went through the main exhibit it had been 4 hours and I needed a break. I do want to go back and visit the holocaust portion which Jess says is amazing. After a break for lunch at a lovely Italian Restaurant we headed over to the British Museum, home to the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. By far the museum that has most grabbed me out of the ones we have been in. They had some amazing things in there which you'll see from the pictures Adrian took, we said we would review what we quickly saw in the 4 hours we spent there and pick one or two exhibits to spend much more time in on another visit. We ended the evening at one of Jess's favorite restaurants - Maxwells. Very good food and then she was off to do homework so we made an early night of it.

Sunday morning we were up and unfortunately the two places I most wanted to go to do not allow tourists on Sunday (being churches and all) so next trip for certain will include visits to Westminster Abbey and St. Pauls Church. We did take Adrian over to the Tower and walked through more of that then Jess and I had previously done. The Tower is one of my favorite sites and I think we see something new everytime. Of course you can't take a lot of pictures in it but the crown jewels are incredible and learning the stories of some of the crowns and the jewels in them is fascinating. After leaving the Tower we went to lunch and then took a ride on the eye. As much as I detest ferris wheels I thought I would bite the bullet and take the ride for Adrian, but, I must admit, the eye gives spectacular views and it is not scarry at all, felt very safe in it. After that we walked through Hyde Park to Kensington Gardens and then to dinner near our hotel. That ended our trip as Jess had to get back and work on an essay that was due today and we had a 6:30am flight back to Shannon.

Enjoy the pictures.