As I joined the extremely long multicultural queue in Aldi, I again reflected on the sheer number of people who live in London. The long queue in Aldi persists for its entire opening hours. Everyone shops with baskets and dashes to and from the queue to get items they've forgotten. Everyone is patient and no-one seems to mind!
School was reasonably successful today but it still a grind. I do hope that at the end of the year, the kids are at least up to date with their year levels at school and will slot into their previous schools seamlessly. Otherwise, I'll take the blame forever more!
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| Please take care of this bear... |
Trying to gather everyone for an outing
is always a challenge between protests and getting ready and sometimes
seems to takes ages! That was today! Tim ended up going for a long
walk and run on his own and Luke really wanted to go to the Natural
History Museum but Annika didn't and so on.....
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| Seated on the book |
Finally we took off up the street. As we approached Warwick Avenue we
turned right for a change and approached the canal from a different
angle which gave is the chance to see some other residential streets.
The houses seem to be 4 storeys high, each floor an apartment with lofty
ceilings. We saw inside of one which had a mezzanine floor which would
be the best way to gain some extra space.
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| Station clock with familiar Roman IIII instead of IV |
Once
on our familiar canal path we walked toward Paddington Station. We
thought we should at least take a look at the statue of Paddington
Bear. There he was, sitting in bronze on Platform 1, underneath the big
clock.
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| Paddington and me |
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| Cute photo |
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| And there was Paddington - again - in Norfolk Square Gardens |
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| Electric or pedal power? |
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| Shackleton |
Annika decided to take the Tube home from Paddington Station as she
resolutely didn't want to continue to the museum. We were fairly
certain that Tim would be home by the time she arrived and he was.
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| Pteranadon |
Meanwhile Luke enthusiastically continued the longish walk to the
Natural History Museum. This time our goal was the second floor so we
strolled past the Stegosaurus and took the escalator to the Volcanoes
and Earthquake zone. It was magnificent especially as Luke loves
geology after looking through a thorough but simple Geology 101 course
with Karl. We spent a good two hours at the museum which was perfect
and not too tiring.
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| Up to the second floor of the Natural History Museum |
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| View from above |
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| More about the stegosaurus |
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| Magnificent marble table with lots of fossils embedded in it. |
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| Wooly Rhino |
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| Underground poetry |
We took the Tube home. It was a beautiful sunny day to be wandering through London.
Helen, I'm guessing your kids will be ahead of their stay at home counterparts rather than behind! With the added bonus of rich un-measurable experiences and knowledge gained along your travels. Luke especially seems to be soaking up so much! How brilliant that he gets to explore every day outside the confines of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteOne question on another subject- are you finding train travel really expensive in London?
Luke is certainly a hands on learner and just absorbs all the information. I am so glad he is having a break from formal education as his writing (or lack of writing) skills meant he was never in the groups who were challenged because he never finished his work in class. He can give fantastic oral presentations of his learnings which shows he has taken it all in! As for the older kids, I do hope they can "make the grade" as that is what they want, even if we take a broader view of education. It is part of their life story now which we hope won't be a regret!
DeleteRe Transport in London - yes it is expensive. We try to walk one way to the museums (about 6 kms) for both the walk and the saving - and then take the tube home. We have Oyster cards, like Mykis (but efficient and when we finish with them we get our deposit and any remaining money on them refunded!). Luke is free and Annika is half price. And we walk locally as well for shopping and parks etc.
DeleteHi Helen et al - still loving your blog! We are all well in sunny Videix -
ReplyDeleteI thought that Luke might be interested to know that recent research shows that rhinos were in the past much more successful, varied and widespread than they are now - some were wooly and many were much more massive than their relatively diminutive contemporary cousins - and their downfall seems to have been the rise of the elephant which was/is much more adaptable and able to glean food high and low.
Safe travels - I envy you your easy access to the Natural History Museum - one of my favourite places in the planet and I've spent a ridiculous amount of time in its library!
All the Best, Rod and the gang
Lovely to hear from our friends at the best Airbnb EVER in Videix! We can walk to the museums from Kilburn through Kensington Gardens, passing the squirrel convention centre (as we have named it) and also the geese and moorhens on the canals - a city nature walk which Luke loves. He was interested in your rhino information...and we'll be back there. He was talking about Sasha and their ability to control the weather (!!) with their super powers! We are now planning to go back to France, somewhere rural-ish near Lyon (not yet decided) for 10 days on our way to Milan. We loved rural France so we hope we can find a nice gite again (and some nice kids as well!) Hope you are all well and well settled in your life in Videix. Cheers for now! Helen, Karl and wild ones
ReplyDelete