The big city!!!

Dec 4th
Today was a biggish and culture adventure. We had to buy a day-rover type ticket where we got to ride as many trains or buses as we pleased. This week we are staying in Kingston, which is a beautiful town-ship. The houses are lovely and as we walked to the train station today, we saw many examples. The funny thing about London, is amongst beautiful houses and Volvo cars, you can have huge apartment buildings – 5 or so of them in a row, boxed together to house some of the 12 million people. It’s not the most pictureisque but it’s what it’s like. We caught a train from Norbiton to Waterloo (where we tried to sing Abba’s no) and then an underground to Leicester Square where we walked to Trafalgar Square.
The girls had anticipated visiting the Lions at Trafalgar Sq and were pleased when we came around the corner to spot the huge beasts. Even huger when we were up close and personal with them! Livvy screamed with delight when we spotted big Ben and they graciously posed for some photos of course! It was fun spotting some of the Christmas decorations as we walked down Oxford St, heading towards Hamleys toy store. We spent ages in the shop, trying not to be sucked into the sales pitches of the many demonstrations.
Before the toy store, we went to the London National Gallery. It was an amazing place, which we were able to enjoy for a short time. Livvy lost interest after awhile so we headed out for lunch in the square. I was really pleased with all that we got done on our first trip to the city. I was pretty tired at the end of that but there is nothing like a coffee and a chocolate pastry twist at Waterloo station, to heighten energy levels. I was also pleased with the photos I was able to take. I kept my camera in my pocket without it’s case and it was just so easy to pop it out when needed. I tried to get a picture of the squirrel that Liv noticed on our walk to the station, but I was too slow. Or the squirrel was too fast.
We came up with nick-names the other day for a few of us: Livvy – plate face (due to the mark on her eye from the plate hitting her as she walked past me in the kitchen) or Grandma: neck face (due to her having to wear her neck brace from her whiplash experience with a garden!). Livvy mocks the lady’s voice on the bus “85 to Kingston”. She replies”You’ve already said that old lady”.
The girls love sitting up top on the double decker bus and balancing against the bar by the front window. The bus and it’s sudden starts, keep the girls entertained for most of the trip to wherever we may be going!