Days 8 and 9

On Tuesday, we traveled about an hour out of town to see the Royal Air Force museum. It is similar to the Museum of Flight in Seattle in that there are airplanes from throughout the 20th century on display. One big difference is that the RAF museum has German WWII airplanes procured after the allied victory. Some of the planes had been shot down and were on display in their bombed out state. The museum also (unintentionally I am sure) told the story of the decline of the British Empire. As the 20th century displays progressed American history played a more prominent role in the exhibit. I was reminded of the exchange between Kevin Kline's character and John Cleese's wife in the movie 'A Fish Called Wanda'

Otto: Don't call me stupid.
Wendy: Why on earth not?
Otto: Oh, you English are *so* superior, aren't you? Well, would you like to know what you'd be without us, the good ol' U.S. of A. to protect you? I'll tell you. The smallest fucking province in the Russian Empire, that's what! So don't call me stupid, lady. Just thank me.
Wendy: Well, *thank* you for popping in and protecting us.
Otto: If it wasn't for us, you'd all be speaking *German!* Singing "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles..."

It makes me wonder who will bail out the US one day..

The trip home from the museum was really long so we returned to Kate's house. The kids played and later we went to the park across the street.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. Kate and I went running through the Holland Park neighborhood then a few hours later, we took the kids to Hyde Park. Ryan ventured out to find half price tickets for a show. We toured Kensington Palace. The public part of the palace is newly remodeled. One of the exhibits was dedicated to Diana and it displayed a few of her dresses and many photographs. Another showed where the King received visitors. There was a lot of Renaissance art. The exhibit also had some very modern aspects. One displayed 44 small boxes -- each in front of a light so you could see the different miniature scenes inside. The room told the story of a change in the rules of succession that ended the rule of the Stuarts. Queen Victoria lived at Kensington Palace. Diana lived there and Cate and William live there now.

View out the window from inside the palace

The Princess Diana memorial playground is very close to the Palace. It's a beautiful playground and the kids played there for several hours. Kate and I enjoyed the sun. The playground only has one exit so the kids could play freely.

That's Jack at the top to the mast.

We decided to go to afternoon tea at the palace. We wandered around the park waiting for 3pm to roll around. There were lots of interesting things to watch -- we went to the pond pictured above. A family was sailing a model sailboat that they told us was almost 100 years old. It was a model of the English sailboat that was supposed to sail in the America's cup in 1914. The boat never sailed because of the war. The boat entranced the kids for quite a while.

Then we were off to tea. Ryan joined us. The kids all drank tea and enjoyed their little sandwiches and desserts. The setting was lovely and the kids did well likely because they were so tired from all the hours we had spent outside.

As an aside, London must be one of the most expensive cities in the world. I try not to convert pounds to dollars because it makes me feel like I come from a third world nation. The above pictured tea cost $160. I am grateful for the experience but it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime event.

By the time we got home it was 5pm. We had scheduled a babysitter and quickly left to have a quick dinner and see the musical Wicked. It was an amazing production. It was playing at the Apollo Theater in Victoria in the center of London. It's been playing for 6 years and was nearly sold out on a Wednesday night. I have not been to a musical in probably 20 years. It was so much fun. I marveled at the set and the talent of the performers. The singing was unbelievable.. It's amazing that there are musicals like this one occurring all over London with people of equal talent.