I meet the "Family" - Day Three

I think there must have been something in that Irn-Bru cause I didn't sleep so well that night. I woke up at about 2am and had trouble falling back asleep. Then I kept going in and out of sleep until I decided to get up at about 7. I was sharing a room with Silas and Beck and that night I was sleeping in Silas' bed, Silas was in Beck's bed, and Beck was sleeping on the floor with a bunch of boxes walled around him?!? In the middle of the night I woke up to Beck crying. In his sleep he had smashed through the boxes and was now on the other side of the room. I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I want to be over there" and pointed at his makeshift bed on the floor. I told him to crawl back then (stupid kids). He got back in his bed, I tucked him in and refitted the boxes around him. In the morning it was all destroyed again.

We played for a few hours until everyone else woke up. Had our breakfast, talked for a bit, and then back to downtown London we went! Our first stop was some big monument thing in the business district.

I wanted to climb it but Robyn was too wussy. Actually, I was sooo tired. We went to Starbucks and got ourselves something to help jolt our systems. I don't think it helped me much. Our next stop was to look at the Thames River and see the Tower Bridge and London Bridge.


After that we zipped back to the Parliament building area and I took some pictures.

Next stop was Buckingham Palace. We got there just as they were changing the guards. That was mildly exciting. There was a lot of people there!

It was now time to have some lunch and head over to the theatre to see Mary Poppins! This would also be my first encounter with...the "Family".

As we made our way into the theatre, Robyn spotted some of them and pointed them out to me, but it wasn't enough to make a first impression. Later on, when we found our seats, they made their way down the aisle and into my life (I don't know why I'm making this so dramatic, it wasn't that big a deal). Anyways, the kids were super excited to see Robyn. They showed her all the candy they had bought (which is a very big part of their lives) as well as a number of magic tricks they had bought (foreshadowing!). They didn't talk to me much at first, they were more excited to see Robyn of course, but after awhile I felt pretty comfortable talking to them.

The play began and our seats were pretty terrible. We were the absolute last row at the highest point in the whole place. It was soooo hot up there and my legs could hardly fit. When the play started I was impressed right away. The production was quite something. The set design and the costumes and special effects were incredible. They were all great singers and the dancing was choreographed quite well. But overall, I have to say it was pretty boring. I hadn't seen Mary Poppins for a very long time, so the story was new to me, but still, it didn't really pull me along for the ride. By the intermission I was ready to get out of there. It was something to see her flying though! So that was a little disappointing, but what can you do?!? I'm glad I got to experience it at least.

I took this photo of the National Gallery that evening

Afterwards we left to get our bags from the Watts' and head to King's Cross to meet up with the "Family" again for our voyage home on the "Flying Scotsman" (that's a train). Did you know King's Cross is where Harry Potter catches the Hogwart's Express??!? I found out just the other day that they have this set up for tourists:

Next time that'll be me pushing the cart!

The train ride was nice. In no time we were in Newark, but unfortunately there wasn't enough room in the car for all us. Robyn, the "Mom", the "Daughter", and I waited about an hour for the "Dad" to drive the others home and come back to pick us up. By the time we got back I was about ready to fall asleep. Nothing could prepare me, though, for what adventures awaited me the next day!!!