To end our European vacation, we spent the last week in London. We stayed at the lovely Rubens Hotel (beautiful welcome treat for the girls above) across from Buckingham Palace, and kept an eye out for the Queen. While we never spotted her, we saw evidence of the recent Platinum Jubilee, celebrating her 70 years of rule, all across the city.
It was a welcome relief to arrive in an English speaking country, and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring London. We found the British to be friendly and chatty, and again, we were amazed at their long history relative to America.
Here the girls marvel at all the pomp and fancy of their London digs.
On Queen watch outside Buckingham palace.
Artists designed 19 colorful corgies, the Queen's breed of choice, that we found all over the city.
We rode the London Eye, a great way to get an overview of the city.
"Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament."
Afternoon tea with a science theme. A rocket ship held treats, and dry ice provided the "ignition". The girls enjoyed their own beakers and droppers, and added a bicarbonate powder to make their own fizzy lemonade.
Space bubble cocktail.
Tower of London, where the priceless crown jewels are located and old housing site of both royals and prisoners. It seems odd that royalty, criminals (some of whom were also executed on site) and expensive jewelry would all be located within the same castle walls, but that's apparently how it was in those days.
Our tour of the British Museum included the most famous rock in the world (sorry, Dwayne Johnson), the Rosetta stone, which first allowed ancient, Egyptian hieroglyphics to be translated.
Our terrific British Museum tour guide, Dr. Lawrence Owens (lawrenceowens.org), is a PhD bioarchaeologist and physical anthropologist. Although we can't explain what that means, we can tell you he was incredibly engaging and knowledgeable about all things history, politics, British culture and humor, etc. He is seen here staging an important Assyrian art sculpture, which naturally involves Georgia mauling Sydney. In place of a historically accurate weapon, Georgia is wielding a 60 million year old Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth. Our tour was heavy on potty humor, like the fact that "Mad" King George III peed purple (believed to be due to porphyria, a genetic disease), and William the Conqueror's corpse exploded from post-mortem gas buildup due to a failed medical procedure that involved plugging up his butt with medicinal herbs. Needless to say, the girls loved the British Museum...
Interesting Trafalgar Square sculpture involving ice cream with a cherry on top, and a giant bug and drone.
Massive lion sculptures at Trafalgar Square.
London had some beautiful, spacious parks that provided quiet respite from busy, everyday life.
We toured the Harry Potter studio, where over 10 years, they filmed the movies. Here we are on a set of Hagrid's cottage, where furniture and spacing illusions helped make Hagrid seem enormous. Georgia is playing our Hagrid here.
Butterbeer, the famous drink from the series, seen here.
4 Privet Drive, home of Harry's awful Muggle family. Aunt Marge seen floating away in the back.
Gringotts Bank was one of the most impressive sets. It truly seemed like a beautiful, old bank.
Sydney strolls the famous Diagon Alley.
Our last museum was in the Bank of England, and featured a real gold bar. This bar weighed 13kg, almost 30 lbs, and is worth about $900,000. There was a hole in the box where you could lift the bar. It was so heavy, I can't imagine trying to steal a stack of gold bars.
And of course, we finished our time in London with a visit to some British parks! All in all, it's been a truly amazing summer. The girls were mixed on returning to America: Georgia thinks she could live in France, with their long, drawn out meals where she could sit at a cafe for hours and read her book and fit right in. Sydney wanted to keep traveling after London, ready to see the rest of the world. However, we all agreed that we were also very excited to get back to our home in Oakland!
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