First, an addendum: I made a serious error yesterday and forgot to report what Sam considered the highlight of the day, which was a quick stop at King's Cross Station to view Platform 9 3/4! It's complete with a luggage cart halfway through the wall for any tourists who want a photo op. What I want to know is how many children have actually tried to run a whole cart through the wall in the hopes of making it to the Hogwarts' Express. It's got to have happened at least once. Here are the boys duking it out to see who will make it through first.
Now, on to today. I'm posting a little earlier today in the hopes of getting to bed a little earlier tonight. (I didn't realize how long it takes to write out all we've done in a day! The boys were definitely sound asleep before I got it all done last night.) Andy and I spent the morning exploring Cheapside, an area which all literate people should remember as the home of Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner from Pride and Prejudice. A few interesting bits of trivia: our word "cheap" actually comes from this particular street in London, which was a merchant and financial district that was not particularly high-class. (Hence the Bingleys' disdain for the Bennett relatives in this area in P&P.) Our word "shopping" also apparently comes from the same street; one would originally say, "I'm going cheaping" which then got slurred into "shopping."
Ironically, today it is a relatively nice area with lots of upscale restaurants and shops. Andy and I wandered into the Royal Exchange which was once a trading house and now contains luxury stores like Tiffany & Co., Omega Watches, etc. We didn't stay inside long because we were underdressed (not to mention underfunded) but we took lots of pretty pictures outside. Then we visited the Bank of London museum, which contains lots of examples of currency over the ages. There was also a neat exhibit where you could hold a block of gold that was worth 145,000 pounds (about $300,00!) We discussed trying to make off with it, but it was inside a glass case that only your hand could fit through, and to be honest, I couldn't even lift it all the way. (It was heavy!) So Andy and I are still not rich. We also wandered around and saw the outsides of lots of beautiful old churches--one of which had a Starbucks attached! Talk about consumer culture. The insides of the churches were largely closed except for worship services. We also got to take a few pictures outside of St. Paul's Cathedral, where we will hopefully attend a Christmas Carol Sing tomorrow.
Then back to meet my parents and Sam for lunch at--you guessed it--McDonald's. (Sam is feeling sick, poor kid, so he stayed in this morning and my parents let him choose where he wanted to eat.) Now we're back at the hotel briefly while Sam takes another nap, and then hopefully we're all going to head out to Picadilly Circus to do some Christmas shopping and experience all the craziness of Christmas Eve in London! Then we have tickets to some Christmas cantata--not sure where yet but it should be good.
Update on the Christmas dinner disaster: I had compiled a list before we left for London of all the Top 50 London restaurants that were still in our price range. There were only 2 that I couldn't get in touch with last night, and since all the others were booked solid or closed I figured they would be too. But I gave my mom the list when Andy and I left this morning and she promised to try calling again. Because of some confusion, she called the same place 3 times--the first 2 times they said they were booked, but the 3rd time they miraculously found an opening for us all for dinner. (It reminds me a little of the story of the persistent widow from the Gospels.) She had no idea what this place was, however, because I had just written down a name and a phone number. So when we got back to the hotel, we looked it up, and it is a pub owned and run by Gordon Ramsay, a famous London chef who is better known in America as the host of the show Hell's Kitchen. He doesn't seem like a particularly friendly guy, but I'm really excited because I think the food will be amazing (and the atmosphere, at the very least, amusing). I also think it's fun that through all the blunders we stumbled upon such a great place.
That's all for now. I'll try to update more tonight if more that is interesting happens. Otherwise, Merry Christmas Eve! (I heard a boy on the Tube today eagerly reminding his father, "Santa comes tonight!!")
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