*Note: Because I don't have the patience to type a ton of text on an iPhone, I'm transcribing my travel journal. The following entries were written while we were in the UK; I have edited down the number of exclamation points in the original so that you don't think I'm an easily excitable moron.
Finally in London again! This first day has actually been a little rough. We had an overnight flight, and, all things considered, Charlotte slept pretty well. Still, she probably only slept for about four hours--not quite enough! Our flight was delayed, so things didn't go quite as I had planned. (That's what I get for trying to be organized. I should know better than to go against the natural order of things.) The plan was to reach the hotel, drop off our bags, head out to the British Museum, have lunch, and then explore Covent Garden before meeting my friend John in the City for dinner. We lost out on a couple of hours due to the delays, and then we had a hellish time finding our hotel. Charlotte, I must say, was a total trouper. We must have walked for about 45 minutes (at least!) trying to find it, Charlotte pulling her little suitcase all the while. She was starving and low on sleep, but she didn't complain. I was impressed and, frankly, surprised. She would have been perfectly justified in melting down right there on the sidewalk.
So we made it to our teeny-tiny (but perfectly adequate) hotel room and changed our plans. We had lunch at the first place we saw: Wildwood Kitchen, just across from the hotel. Charlotte had pasta and chocolate milk; I had tomato soup and a fresh mint lemonade (which was delicious and exactly what I needed). Charlotte really liked the restaurant and asked to go back tomorrow, but I think that's because the kids' menu came with monster stickers.
Then we came back to the room. Charlotte relaxed and played with her stickers while I took a shower (to feel slightly human again). Then we were--finally!--off to the British Museum. A bad idea, really, for a punchy and exhausted child, but dammit, it was on the list. We didn't linger, but we did see some amazing things: the Lindow Man, Cleopatra's mummy (!!!) and some of her personal effects, a huge carved Native American totem, African artifacts, etc., etc.
We altered a plans a bit more to accommodate being exhausted: we're now resting in our room, and John is going to meet us here instead of us going out to the (into the?) City. Our loss, but getting home earlier can only be a good thing. Sleeping in a bed is going to feel fantastic.
No comments:
Post a Comment