London (where they speak English!!!)

July 24 - 28, 2003

After being countries where the people speak French, Dutch, German, and Italian, we finally made the trip to England, where the living is easy if you are an Anglophone! Kevin had business in the London area, so the kids and I decided to piggyback on his trip. Our friends, Randy, Lisa, Jesse and Ethan, also planned to be in London at the same time, so we were able to travel together. We took the Eurostar through the "Chunnel," which was quite a thrill and very convenient. After settling into our Novotel (great deal and we love Novotel), we tried to get to Kensington Garden's Orangery for tea - but missed the last seating by 5 minutes. So we had Chinese food in Notting Hill and let the kids play on the Princess Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington Gardens.

On Friday Kevin had to work (well, somebody has to!) and the rest of us went to Shakespeare's Globe Theater. We had a nice tour and got to see the new, rebuilt theater where they have live theater all summer long. We got to see some of the actors rehearsing on stage. On the right, Will and Ellen shelter themselves from the rain in the open-air part of the theater.

After our visit at the Globe Theater, Will, Ellen and I made a beeline for Starbucks. Randy, Lisa, Jesse, and Ethan said something about "real food', but we weren't rational at that point. I haven't seen a Starbucks in 7 1/2 months - Grande Decaf Mocha with Soy and for the boy a Caramel Frappucino. Once a day while in London! As you can tell from the photo, Ellen doesn't think much of Starbucks, but made do with a chocolate muffin. Lunch. At least it gave us the energy to climb to the top of the dome at St. Paul's Cathedral that afternoon! (Photo on the right.)

On Saturday we all headed out to do an "open-top" bus tour of London (part of our hotel deal). But the Gay Pride Parade and massive road construction work resulted in long delays sitting in traffic. While our friends went in search of half-price theater tickets (they got tickets to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - one of my favorites!), we found ourselves at the Golden Hinde (a replica of the ship Sir Francis Drake sailed - seen below), which was closed, but we got to see it from the outside. Next we spent 90 minutes at the Tate Museum of Modern Art (at the bottom of the page). Saw lots of Picassos, naked people, thought-provoking, and disturbing art.

For our family, the main goal of this trip was to see "Bombay Dreams". (Click to see clips and hear music - it's coming to NYC next spring!) This is a musical produced by Andrew Lloyd Weber. It is a love story in the "Bollywood" tradition. We are now completely addicted to the music. The choreography was fantastic. The story was weak but who cares - it was just fun! Ellen now wants to move to Bombay! We got the giggles over the drunk lady sitting next to us who kept snoring. Goal met!

Click to see more of our trip to London. Click to go back to our homepage.