Today was my first time taking the kids into London alone. At ages 9, 6, and 3 this is somewhat of a challenge, especially considering the stroller that needs to be carried up all those stairs and escalators we encountered, as well as hands of little ones that need to be held, tickets to be distributed, collected, and redistributed (we counted 11 times today)! We take a short, 5-minute train to Slough, transfer to get on a 20 min train to London-Paddington, and from there hop on whatever Tube will take us to where we need to go. We also decided to go to King's Cross/St. Pancras in the late afternoon so Skylar could see her beloved Platform 9 3/4, being the Harry Potter fan that she is! One thing I learned is do not, I repeat do not decide to go home during rush hour! I did not even pay attention to the time when I realized that we were in literally a sea of people in the Tube stations...when I realized that it was 5 pm, aka quittin' time for all the workin' folks downtown, it was too late as we were already engulfed--and we better move! So, our first stop at our arrival in London was Trafalgar Square where the National Gallery is located. The Gallery is free (a big plus in this expensive city!) and full of beautiful, old, and interesting art. I have to say Skylar, age 9, was somewhat interested, although after a while painting after painting of strange-looking people (admit it, they were weird looking 500 years ago!) was getting a little monotonous even for an art-lover like her. Braden, age 6, was another story...he liked a few but I think he had his fill of naked cherub's early on! Miss Ava, well, I guess you can't expect a 3-year-old to appreciate the paintings after about 5 minutes! But let's not forget about mom! Mom has an opinion, too! I loved it! I could have stayed for hours. I loved how some artists are able to perfectly capture light. Others bring facial expressions to life. The impressionist art section was my favorite. I absolutely love Claude Monet's paintings, with the water lillies and Japanese bridge being my favorite:
We also saw a drawing from Leondaro da Vinci, which was incredible as well. A funny one was of a jolly old man with white hair and beard (are you picturing Santa? 'Cause that is *just* what he looked like!) only he was NAKED and falling over drunk! The kids laughed out loud and asked what Santa was doing? I finally said, let's go! I do love art, but sometimes even I don't "appreciate" it! From there I had a coffee at the cafe while the kids dined on water and jellybeans. While relaxing, I whipped out my uber handy London Children's map...Skylar had been wanting to visit King's Cross/St. Pancras station to see the famous platform 9 3/4 that takes you to Hogwart's. We figured out how to get there via Tube Thankfully a worker there happily showed us exactly where to go! It was really cool to see! She was in awe that this was the station that J.K. Rowling drew her inspiration from.
S at King's Cross Station
We had just enough picture taking and oohing and ahhing time before a large group found it and started their picture taking escapades so we decided it was time to head home. Three tube transfers and two train transfers later we are home sweet home...well home for now. We felt a relief when we got off at the calm Windsor station, compared to the hustle and bustle of London. It was so nice and peaceful and familiar. Funny enough Skylar just said today, "this feels like home"...
