It is Semana Santa in Spain. AKA Spring Break. No school for the kids. Arel and Kristin are in Paris with Mimi and Lydia who flew from SF... a long-planned rendezvous.
And Dorian and I are in London.
Dorian really wanted to come to London when he wasn't jetlagged and could actually see some spots. The little guy's been here quite a few times now.. but always in groggy transit as we stop here on our way to somewhere else.
He is asleep now. But it's 4 AM .. so that's a good thing. I can hear him breathing in the next bed.
Our first day here was really nice. In the morning, I went for a run with my uncle Michael thru Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill. We ran about six miles... which I can handle pretty well.. but I needed to run more slowly than Michael who is in incredible shape. He literally ran circles around me, which (despite the way the phrase is typically used) is a great solution for two people with somewhat mismatched abilities to still run together. Running with somebody meant no music. Which meant I could hear things I don't usually. One of my favorite parts was toward the end as we ran through an area with many dried, fallen leaves. It was totally silent in the middle of what was, until just a few decades ago, the largest city in the world. The only sound were feet on leaves. Really peaceful.
Dorian and I then took a bus into town. We decided to be, well, tourists. Not as peaceful as the heath... but really nice nonetheless. We bought tickets for a hop-on-hop-off tourist bus.
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| We got on. |
We got off at Hamleys toy store which was kind of a pilgrimege spot for my parents and me when we came here lots when i was about Dorian's age. We then got on again, drove past various places... Trafalgar Sq., 10 Downing Street, Parliament//Big Ben.
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| We got off at the London Eye --- Dorian's been wanting to go on this thing forever. And it is pretty cool. I don't think I would have gone on it were it not for DD... so I'm glad he wanted to. |
The bus included a ride on a boat.. so we road from the Eye to Tower Bridge. On the way we sailed past some amazing buildings... from the really old to the really new. I love the mix.
We actually could have stayed on the boat and kept heading for Greenwich.. .where DD could have really felt the time zone. But were were tired.
So we got off the boat. Got on a tube. And headed home... for tasty supper with Michael and my aunt Ziona. Both DD and I fell asleep early.
Tomorrow I think we'll go to Cambridge.. or someplace a little quiet. I am going to try to keep work to a minimum for the next couple of days.
Cheers
As they say.
