London!

I forgot to tell you, on our last day in Norway we went to two libraries and at the second one the librarian helped us find where my Dad’s ancestors lived before they went to the U.S. She even made phone calls to locals to see what they knew. We really appreciated her help. Unfortunately, the farm was merged with another farm and there is nothing there anymore.

We flew into London’s Gatwick Airport and took the train to Victoria Station. There we transferred to the circle line and got off at Royal Oak where our apartment was. We walked a little and got to our apartment. When the listing said there were a few stairs, it forgot to mention that a few was 40. With no elevator that was hard with all our luggage. The apartment smelled like antiques and bad taste in furniture.  We ate fish and chips for dinner and went to sleep. The next morning Dad had a business meeting so Mom and I went to the Princess Diana playground. One of my favorite playgrounds ever. We were there for over two and a half hours.

Over the next few days we had a great many adventures. These included:

• Riding the Metro
• Standing on the Prime Meridian at The Royal Observatory
• Seeing the Cutty Sark
• Seeing the Rosetta Stone
• Seeing the Science Museum
• Going to Hamleys Toy Store
• Word on the Water, a floating bookstore on a barge
• Went to an authentic Italian restaurant that everyone was speaking Italian except us
• Large flower market that went for multiple blocks that was very fragrant and colorful!
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We also learned lots about the culture.

• Their stores are much smaller. Their entire grocery store would fit in our produce section!
• They have much more security then at home. There are cameras all over the place. There are cameras watching you even on the streets.
• There are very few public toilets, you have to pay to use most of them. We discovered that churches like visitors so we could pee for free. 🙂
• They love talking to strangers and learning about where you are from.

Now we are off to Scotland. Home of haggis, kilts, bagpipes and Nessie. Thank you, London and I can not wait for Edinburgh!