Day 14

Yesterday was sunny. Jack had his heart set on the London Eye ever since he saw the London Eye on a video on the British Airways plane, and it seemed like the perfect day to do it.

We had all planned to go until we learned it would cost $200 for 5 people. Ryan took Jack and they had a great time. Since they went at 1130am, they got a bird's eye view of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. They got a great view of London for miles because it was a clear day.

Meanwhile, Kate and I attempted to take the kids to the Natural History Museum. Something has happened to Sonia these last couple of days. At first I thought she was getting sick because she was so cranky. She is crying constantly, won't follow directions and picks on Kate's youngest constantly. I got to see a few things at the museum but Sonia wasn't interested.

Entrance to museum:

We met Ryan and Jack in front of their amazing Science museum that is next door. This was marginally better since Sonia slept for a while and Jack got to play at a dedicated kids area. Once Sonia and Kate's youngest woke up, everything became chaotic. The kids were running in all directions. So we decided to go outside.

We went to Hyde Park. The sun was shining. It was warm and the kids were happy just running around. Jack and Kate's son played with sticks until that ended in the obvious way. We hung out in front of the Prince Albert memorial. He died in 1861 and the Queen wore black to mourn his death for 40 years. She also built a huge memorial to him. I asked Ryan if he'd mourn my death by building me a memorial and he laughed. Hmm. We in the 21st century are not so sentimental I guess.

Ryan had spent the afternoon in the Science Museum so Monday evening, I went out for a few hours on a walking tour around Westminster. I loved hearing all the facts about the area. The Abbey was built in the 11th century. William the Conquerer was the first monarch to be crowned there in 1066. Every English monarch since has been crowned in Westminster Abbey. While standing in front of the abbey, we watched Camilla Parker Bowles- the wife of Charles - drive out (or rather be driven out) in a big black car -- no tinted windows and a royal flag waving on the car. I learned the famous Parliament building and Big Ben were built in the 1800's after the original Westminster palace burned down. We toured a residential neighborhood that looked a lot like Georgetown in DC where houses sold for no less than 10 million pounds. A big highlight was touring the Parliament building and watching a debate of the lower house. The debate was on the issue of taxation -- removing tax loopholes I believe. I learned that the average British family of 4 earns 20,000 pounds. 14,000 people earn over a million pounds a year. Many, many people must earn well into the 6 figures here. I see so many luxury cars and it is wildly expensive to live here. The home we are staying in costs more than $4000 a month.

I jumped on the bus around 10pm and returned to Kate's. I've been listening to the Hunger Games. Wow. What a great read! The movie is advertised everywhere here. I'll have to catch it when I return home.